Art on a stone flake: a translucent head shaped flint with two simple faces

Human head in left profile.  The flake was found by Dennis Boggs, Boardman, Oregon, in the valley floor potato fields growing right alongside the Columbia River near Irrigon.  The location is about 45 miles downriver from Kennewick, WA.

Side 1 again.  Click to expand, this is a nice photo.  Forehead, eye, nose, mouth, chin all seem to be present in micro-carving.  Click photo to expand.  The photo left side of the flake as shown here has been worked to take advantage of the translucence of the flint.  Shown above with morning light streaming from behind. The left edge of the flint has been re-touched by the artist to refine the facial features.  The features are highlighted when one holds the flake up to low angle sunlight.

Side 2 with natural morning sunlight illuminating from behind.  It depicts a face in right profile view.  A small incised line makes for a mouth in the bottom right of the artifact here, the dark spot is maybe a nose, right eye in center, part of left eye seen on other side of the nose on edge of artifact.

Side 2, artifact on a 1cm grid to provide scale

Right eye has been ground into the cortex surface. It is located in the center of the artifact here and the left eye is on the screen right edge of the flint looking like a crescent shaped gouge. Because of the left facial profile view presented by the artist, the left eye is seen only in part because it is partially hidden by the nose.  This seems to be a rather complex visual technique for the artist to accomplish.  Most all of the flint observable here is the rind from the original stone cortex- weather battered except for the two eye holes and an incision for a mouth.  Side 2 is from inside the core.

Side 2 as back lighted as a lithophane

Side 1, artifact as back lit in a dark room as a "lithophane."

Side 1, inside the cortex exposed by this flake removal were some beautiful crystal formations.  Artifact on centimeter(cm) grid for scale.  The flint fractures here appear to be well-weathered which attests to some combination of time and abrasive environmental forces acting on the piece.  All the crystal formations look like brains inside the head or maybe head hair.

This whole flint nodule, not just a flake made off one, is of the same material as the flake art piece and shows a precedent for making facial icons out of this beautiful orange/red translucent lithic material in the locale of the Columbia River, Irrigon, Oregon. A similar grinding technique was used to create all four eyes on the two figure stones.

http://portablerockart.blogspot.com/search?q=lithophane

Another earlier posting of a human head left profile utilizing translucent material, from L Jimmy Groen of The Netherlands.Artifact from Neanderthal strata ca. 45,000 to 55,000 years BP from L Jimmy Groen, stone tools expert from The Netherlands.  Ken Johnston detected what could be a human facial profile in the translucent material, Neanderthal in nature, and then it was confirmed the find context and site dating made it entirely possible.

http://portablerockart.blogspot.com/2011/02/neanderthal-cameo-from-netherlands.html

Columbia River valley fish sculpture may have been inspired by wavy inclusions in the rock material

Fish sculpture from Irrigon, Oregon, Columbia River valley may have been inspired by wavy sedimentary inclusions in the stone material itself.

Found and hypothesized to be humanly flaked reduction by Dennis Boggs, Boardman, Oregon. The artifact is interpreted as an intended fish sculpture by Ken Johnston after examination and study. The fish stands upright on a perfectly flat "belly." It also stands, albeit precariously balanced, upright on a short, perfectly flat, "tail," hinting toward human design in the piece, not just the hands of Mother Nature.

Please note the possibility of an eye and side fin as being depicted at one time in a dark pigmented material once in contact with this stone

Click photo to expand view to see wavy inclusions in the stone material which may have inspired the artist to make a fish.

View from above as the artifact stands upright on its flat belly

The fish sculpture is remarkable in that the base of the tail is at at a near 90 degree angle and the fish actually stands upright on the base of the tail in an anthropomorphic head and neck shape.

Click photo to expand

This is the same photos as the one above, only with mark-ups indicating possible residual material on the rock which may indicate a representation of a human face in a pigmented substance painted on this sculpture. The rounded upper eye orbits are also in contrasting surface relief on the stone.

Water-like waves in the rock material shown up close. It is hypothesized the waves were recognized as significant in pre-history and inspired the artist to make a water creature, a fish, out of the stone material.  The fish seems to have some salmonoid qualities and may have been representative of a particular fish species from the nearby Columbia River.  

Click photo to expand view to see these little waves up close.  Nature provides the starting ideas for many portable rock artists of the past.

Feline figure of head and neck may be portrayed in finger held pebble resembling a scimitar cat profile

Dennis Boggs collection, Irrigon, Oregon

interpretation as possible scimitar cat made by Ken Johnston

Animal neck and left head profile on pebble which is shaped for optimal finger holding and has a smooth, shiny, patina of possible human handling. Perhaps it was a little icon used by a child as a "toy" or perhaps to learn about animals in the surroundings. It is almost like a little finger puppet.  The long, narrow, neck is suggestive of Homotherium serum or the North American scimitar cat, a predator of Pleistocene megafauna, including humans.


This artifact was found in the context of other worked stone material including both crude stone tools and other suspected iconographic pieces. A significant amount of cultural information would need to be communicated regarding the appearance and behaviors of predatory carnivores like the scimitar cat.

Note the bump in the line of the lion's neck in the artifact photos.  This may be attempt to represent a visually prominent and distinguishing feature of the animal among other felines, seen in the Wikipedia illustration below as a "breast plate bump" at  the base of long, narrow neck.  

A possible face form is found on the front of the artifact, two eyes, nose, and mouth are worked into the pebble.  The face is shared by the lion head profiles on both sides of the artifact.

Based on the archaeological record of human skeletal remains, an estimated 7% to 10% of early humans lost their lives to animal predation.  A cultural focus on deadly animals in iconography, including the scimitar cat, would aid survival odds.  A piece such as this could have served to relay information to children about the deadly scimitar.  Here is a link to more information about this now extinct big North American cat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium

Amateur archaeologists independently identify Oregon and Tennessee face-like icons exhibiting similar left-oriented, smiling, look

Sherry Hill find, Carter County, Tennessee

Dennis Boggs collection, Irrigon, Oregon

artifact is pictured on a centimeter(cm) grid for scale

In the first example, the lip begins just slightly right of the vertical center line of the face.  Most of the smiling lip line is oriented toward the left side of the face (right side of photo).  In the second example, the entire lip line is seen in this photo, all of it on the left side of this face stone. The suspected artifacts are about 6cm and 5cm in length respectively.

Mask-like stone has possible head effigy in place of right eye

Mask-like stone has head effigy in place of right eye

Dennis Boggs collection, Irrigon, Oregon, Columbia River valley

Close up of right eye area

Close up of quasi-anthropomorphic head facing left

With scale

Similar effigy example from collection of Jan van Es, Netherlands

A second head effigy from Netherlands, collection of Jan van Es

A bird icon with crested head, eye and beak is perched atop the head here.  This is a recurring motif in many of these facial profile depictions.

Translucent head-shaped flint nodule with worked face elements interpreted as a possible "Lithophane"

Translucent flint nodule with worked face viewed as a "Lithophane"

artifact from Irrigon, Oregon, USA, Dennis Boggs collection

click photos to expand size

Moving the stone slightly in relation to the hole allowing light to hit it from behind while in a dark room changes the image slightly.  I created a camera obscura in the strict sense of the words (a dark chamber) in order to see what the artifact might look like when illuminated from behind by the sun in a darkened hide tent.  I used a 75 watt full-spectrum bulb for the light source.

A circular flake was removed from the cortex to make a "wide open mouth" seen in the white creamy flint circle toward the bottom of the artifact as seen in photo right.  The horizontal crack in this creamy flint makes the lip line of the mouth.  The flint work on the core flake removal seems to be heavily "rolled" by environmental forces like soil and water. Please note how the mouth can take on different looks at different viewing angles as seen in the top and bottom photos.

click photo to expand size

In the first/top photo, the artifact is back lighted to demonstrate the translucent nature of the stone selection made by the artist here.  It would have been possible to achieve this type of back lighting by placing the stone over a hole in a very dark hide-based shelter and view it in darkness while lit by sunlight from outside the dark tent, much like a stained glass window.  I call these "lithophanes." 

The illuminated image seems to convey the "one eye open, one eye/ closed/missing" motif that the front-lighted version does not.  The eye and nose pits were ground into the stone material. There is a hair line or forehead line in darker flint in the top photo which is among the features not seen in broad daylight without the back lighting. 

The likelihood that there were opportunities for "discovery" of this type of back lighting (holes in tents), which could have been used for translucent flint pieces such as this one, is addressed in Matt Gatton's paleo camera theory. 

http://www.paleo-camera.com/

Close up view of the right eye when illuminated from behind as a "lithophane."  It appears a black, pitch-like, substance was applied to the hand-ground eye socket and residue is still found in the crevaces.

click photo to expand

reverse side in broad light

reverse side of face, as illuminated as a lithophane

A stone which light could pass through would likely have been an object of great interest to people of long ago.

-kbj

Interpretation made of artifact in March posting of Incised Composite Golden Ellipse

Composite Golden Ellipse (with interpretation of incised lines)

Allen Deibel of Canfied, Ohio, archaeologist and naturalist, has "The stone cat collection,"  a large number of mostly quartz feline themed figure stones from the Mahoning River Valley in north east Ohio.  Al informed me of a cat visage on the right side of this stone "from about one to seven O'clock."  I had noticed a cat and a bird figure but Al's cat did not square up with mine.

I interpreted the bird icon as being depicted as emerging from the egg shaped feature marked in white above.  If one incorporates the yellow bird, the white egg and the blue cat, it is a bulging cats mouth (the one Al reported to me) as if the cat has consumed the bird and the egg (which it did if one is able to visually combine the three colors into another cat face).  It looks like Sylvester with Tweetie Pie stuffed into his mouth, without the yellow feather sticking out.  The lines to the left, highlighted in blue, are interpreted to be a standing water bird mother feeding her chick, the two beaks making contact  to transfer food.  

This art piece depicts the theme of the cycle of life/death, predator/prey, iconography on a composite golden ellipse.

What is suspected to be residue of a manganese oxide based pigment, blueish, is seen on the left side of this artifact.  This is what leads to the interpretation of the standing water bird as a "blue heron."

From this link you go right to the original posting of this sculpture:

http://portablerockart.blogspot.com/2011/03/branching-lines-incised-on-composite.html

-kbj

Maryland and Oregon artifacts demonstrate similar artist use of stone material in a pebble inclusion to feature reflective eyes

Reflective eye with wink (one eye closed theme)

Mark Jones collection, Piney Point, Maryland

From Maryland, near the confluence of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.  Found by prehistoric art and fossil hunter Mark Jones of Piney Point.  Please notice the two nostrils depicted here.  Nostrils are sometimes present on zoomorphic and anthromorphic portable rock art and are an element which can contribute to determining artifactuality.  Perhaps they were made to "add the breath of life" to the art creation.

"One eye open, one eye closed/missing" is a well documented, recurring, theme in "old world" Paleolithic portable rock art.  According to James Harrod, Ph.D., it may have endured to the Nourse/Celtic times with the mythological "One-eyed Oden" being a more recent manifestation of this meme element.  Please see Harrod's OriginsNet web site on side panel for more information.

Oregon example from Dennis Boggs 

The reflective eye is on the photo right here
Click photo to expand size

Closer view of Oregon sparkling eye

Click photo to expand size

Very up close of sparkling eye of Oregon artifact.  There may be another face depicted in micro-carving in the reflective stone material of the eyeball.

Click photo to expand size.

Reverse side depicts another face, perhaps exhibiting the enduring theme "predator bite out of head," first seen in the Oldowan and perhaps persisting to the Middle Paleolithic, as described by James Harrod in his "Four Memes..." paper with link on the right side panel.

This is my interpretation of a face, represented in green, and "bite out of the head" zone on the artifact represented in red.  In yellow is a possible second face nested within the bite zone, perhaps depicting predator taking the bite out of the head.

In another interpretation a third face may be represented on this figure stone.  So, this could be a (face(within a face))within a face))).

Five faces, two on one side and three on the reverse, may be depicted in this figure stone.