Hoard #1 and #2 of 7: presented as components of a compound sculpture action scene depicting the feline head taking a bite out of the human head

The Buckeye Lake, Ohio, flint sculpture hoard #1 and #2 as they may have been associated in the Stone Age, where the lion is depicted as taking a bite from the human's head. (click photo to expand)

Coincidentally, sculptures #1 (human head in the round) and #2 (lion head panel) were standing rather close together on their bases on my deck railing when I noticed a concavity on the head was at the right height and size to accept a convex aspect of the lion, its chin. I moved the two sculptures right up against each other and a tight fitting of the two sculptures was made in an apparently designed "ball-in-socket" type relationship. Both sculptures weigh 12lbs. 12lbs. is an anatomically correct weight for a 150lbs. human head. The sculptures are also the same height withing a couple of millimeters.

It is not a coincidence the two sculptures have such a true and tight fit when standing next to each other on their designed bases on a level platform. They create a coherent, dramatic, picture.

It appears the two pieces, found together, were components of a compound sculpture action scene which depicts the lion taking a bite out of the human head. The human head was noted to have what appeared to be the left eye out of its socket and on the cheek of the human face. A line of vertical visual distortion made by grinding down the stone runs along the left side of the human face down to where the chin of the lion nests into it. Therefore, the sculpture may also be an expression of the known "one eye open, one eye closed/missing" motif in world palaeoart.

(click photos to expand)

Later, I learned of the work of early religion and art scholar James B. Harrod, Ph.D. who has described the "predator bite out of the head" as one of the primary memes of early human art. These memes could have persisted for very long periods of time, as is evidenced by the Acheulean handaxe's continued use for one million years. Harrod has aggregated tool and art (and proto-art) data from over 500 old world sites. The large felines have a prominent role in early human ideologies, it seems driven by the paradox of them being both life-givers and life-takers. Lions kill prey and leave carcasses with substantial amounts of nutrition still available to humans and other scavengers. Based on worldwide archaeological data from skeletal remains, 8% or so of early humans were also victims of predation. So, the big cats were big components of the world view of humans who had to contend with them. The movie "The Ghost and The Darkness" is an excellent way to acquaint oneself with the power of lions as it may have been experienced for most of human time. It is based on a true story and is set in British Colonial Africa. The Ghost and The Darkness are now stuffed specimens on display at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History.

A protrusion, like an eyeball out of its place, underneath the left eye socket is circled above. The face is frowning or grimacing with a vertical line of visual distortion on the left side with a white arrow pointing to the place where the lion's chin nests into the human head.

Photo is Copyright (c) Ursel Benekendorff, All Rights Reserved. Do not copy or distribute in any way. Used with permission. This German example of a human head sculpture from the Gross Pampau site also has a vertical line of visual distortion along the left side of the face. A sea urchin fossil serves as the closed or missing left eye. Ursel Benekendorff is a pioneer in the field of Pleistocene rock art and has the largest collection in the world with 2000 photos available for study at her website, Schafftwisen. Benekendorff noted her sculpture has strong inclusion of calcite as I noted with the Ohio, U.S.A. sculpture.

As the subject of an earlier posting, this possible sculpture depicting a lion head with a human head inside it (another example of lion eating human head theme) is from Flint Ridge, about 10 miles from the find location of the Buckeye Lake, Ohio, hoard of seven sculptures.

-kbj

Hoard #2 of 7: feline head in relief with perspective from front left, speculated to be a depiction of the now extinct American Lion

Hoard sculpture #2 of 7, feline head, from Buckeye Lake, Ohio

(click photo to expand)

This is a standing feline head panel with a sculpted form in relief. The carving demonstrates a sophisticated artist's perspective where one is viewing the cat from the front left and is able to see both eyes from this front/side view.  This sculpture weighs 12 lbs. Another suspected lion's head sculpture was found about 10 miles from the Buckeye Lake flint sculpture hoard at the source of the raw material, Flint Ridge. 

The manufactured eye cavities are animated here and the lines which create a distinctly feline muzzle highlight the mouth and nose. Please note the black circle in the ear showing a series of drilled holes which create a circle in the rough area to better depict the lion's ear

Like #1 (the human head sculpture) the lion's head has a significant lean toward the back while standing on its base making the sculpture look like it is balancing precariously.  There is nothing of significance discernible on the backside of the artifact.

Here is the sculpture standing upright on its designed base

Pictured with (cm) scale. (click photos to expand)

Panthera leo atrox, the now extinct American Lion

A night time view with low angle lighting to demonstrate how shadowing affects the look of the sculpture

-kbj

Hoard #1 of 7: human head sculpture in the round (heavy calcite leaching)

Buckeye Lake, Ohio, flint sculpture hoard #1 of 7: human head in the round. The sculpture has had significant calcite leaching since it was worked which creates a very rough, natural appearance. 

The human head form stands upright on its truncated "neck" and has a precarious looking but stable lean on the back side.

(click photos to expand)

Photo Copyright (c) Luigi Ciapparoli (ldp), All rights reserved.

Identified as a human head sculpture from Montarsolo, Corte Brugnatella PC, Italy.

The Buckeye Lake, Ohio, human head sculpture standing on a pedistal

Please compare to the photos above and below this one of a stone human head sculpture identified by rock art investigator Mr. Luigi Ciapparoli at Montarsolo, Corte Brugnatella PC. The Italian sculpture depicts a very similar "stone face mask outline" as does the Ohio sculpture. They seem to be representations of the same form or visage, not chance occurrences, but mediated by a shared cultural ideal and expressed on two continents via meme. Perhaps the shape is depicting a face with a beard or long hair on the sides.

Photo Copyright (c) Luigi Ciapparoli (ldp), All Rights reserved.

 Identified as a human head sculpture from Montarsolo, Corte Brugnatella PC, Italy.

On the back side of the Ohio human head sculpture, there is a skull form which becomes visible and disappears again as daylight shifts around the sculpture. Here's a large fixed stone version of this same type of skull form, also from rock art investigator Mr. Luigi Ciapparoli, at Montarsolo, Corte Brugnatella PC.

-kbj

A magico-religious flint sculpture hoard from Buckeye Lake, Ohio

This month of May, I will be introducing a series of seven zoo/anthropo-morphic flint sculptures which were found in immediate proximity to each other along the north shore of modern Buckeye Lake, Ohio.  Buckeye Lake is a leftover glacial terminus swamp from the last ice age. The area is along the advancement line of both the Wisconsinin and Illinoian glaciations in Eastern Licking County, Ohio.  (click photo/maps to expand)

These seven sculptures and my ongoing research about them is what inspired my interest in the subject of portable rock art. They were discovered by a landscaper on my property who was digging a footer for a stone wall. He found a number of large pieces of flint in a cluster while digging the trench and they were thought at the time to have been used in prehistoric tool manufacture as finding such flint boulders by the lake is not uncommon. The dug up flint became a part of the garden which was formed by the new stone wall.

The find site is approximately 10 miles from Flint Ridge, recognized as the source of one of the most desirable cherts in North America due to its workability, durability, coloration and beauty. A couple of years ago I was doing spring cleanup in the garden and picked up one of the large flint rocks and noticed a rough, life-size, human face looking back at me. Then, I took a closer look at the rest of them. That is how this portable rock art adventure began.

For each of the seven Flint Ridge sculptures, I have identified analogs from sites in Ohio, Maine, Missouri, France, Germany and Italy. I will present them alongside the Buckeye Lake, Ohio, pieces. These seven artifacts may be among the oldest in my collection. Because of the apparent presence of a now extinct North American lion's "head," the presence of a sculpture type originally described by Boucher de Perthes, and two other comparable sculpture pieces from the European Paleolithic, the Buckeye Lake sculpture hoard is suspected to be of Pleistocene age. That would make them some of the oldest known art objects in the Americas. These sculptures were likely part of the spiritual life of their makers and curators.

The "Across Atlantic Ice" theory of a peopling of North America as most recently posited by Bradley and Stanford, demonstrates the plausibility of a connection between America and Europe which could account for European style palaeoart being discovered by amateur archaeologists and collectors in the United States.

-kbj

Suspected Ohio bird sculpture is similar to one identified by an archaeologist at Hamburg, Germany

Licking County, Ohio, limestone bird form stands on base. It was found by Ken Johnston at a suspected prehistoric cultural site near Buckeye Lake in Licking Township. It has a general similarity with a known bird sculpture from a German site.  (click photos to expand)

Identified as a bird icon from an archaeological site near Hamburg, Germany. Hamburg-Sülldorf A; Mousterian, Quartzeit.  Identification (W. Matthes): "Bird." Matthes, W. (1969). Eiszeitkunst im Nordseeraum. Otterndorf, Gr: Niederelbe-Verlag: plate 26.1. Photo © Walther Matthes. From originsnet.org.

Side 2 of the Ohio bird

One minute video of the Ohio bird rotating on a turntable

-kbj

Europa in America: Woman/goddess riding bison and white bison figures found together in an Ohio cornfield

The mythographers tell that Zeus was enamored of Europa and decided to seduce or ravish her, the two being near-equivalent in Greek myth. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father's herds. While Europa and her female attendants were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus gave her a necklace made by Hephaestus and three additional gifts: Talos, Laelaps and a javelin that never missed. Zeus later re-created the shape of the white bull in the stars, which is now known as the constellation Taurus. Some readers interpret as manifestations of this same bull the Cretan beast that was encountered by Hercules, the Marathonian Bull slain by Theseus (and that fathered the Minotaur). Roman mythology adopted the tale of the Raptus, also known as "The Abduction of Europa" and "The Seduction of Europa", substituting the god Jupiter for Zeus.

Woman/goddess and bison: Zeus and Europa flint figures found in an Ohio cornfield.

Found by Pam Douglass at Jacksontown, Licking County, Ohio, near Flint Ridge.  Within a few feet of this figure, Pam found a flint she identified as a sculpted white buffalo head which was featured in a prior posting, featuring a crystal-lined "eye" which penetrates the flint.  It is seen in the final artifact photo below. 

The bison and female relationship in paleoart dates to Chauvet cave and earlier. It persisted through Greek and Roman mythology.  A question for art scholars based on the two finds featured here is: at what point in time did the bison become white in the art?  That might help date these two exquisite pieces of flint work.  This Licking County, Ohio, Flint Ridge artistic flint work is documented for greater archaeology for the first time here on portablerockart.com

In a prior posting, Ken Johnston interpreted a bison in this perspective. The "eyes" are highlighted as green stars.  A small tail stub is highlighted at far left. (click photos to expand)

View when the artifact is rotated 1/4 to the left from the bison view above

A pregnant woman may be seen where her breasts are also the shared nostrils of the bison from the other view.  Her protruding belly is the reddish flint at the far right. The woman and bison also share an eye which is a sparkling silver inclusion in the flint. It is revealed here by the black line markings that the woman's arm is depicted as reaching back to hold the horn of the bison.  Even her forearm muscles are shown. The woman's lower body in this view could also be interpreted as a mammoth view head on with the funnel shape of the trunk being depicted.  This would be in line with known paleoart.  Duncan Caldwell has written of the "first optical illusion" which is an artifact which can be interpreted two ways, as a mammoth or a bison, depending on how you view it. 

Crystal eyed, breasted woman, hair flowing, with arm reaching back and grasping the horn of the bison

Pam Douglass found both artifacts here in immediate proximity and interpreted this one a white buffalo head

""The association of woman/Goddess and bison is deep. Again and again they are found, in different forms, together, often both pregnant. If we look at the gestation time of women and bison, we find that they both have a 10 lunar month pregnancy. Like the Horse and Bear, the Bison is an animal with great mythical importance. We tend to think of the bull cults of Minoan Crete or Çatal Höyük, or the horned Goddesses of Egypt, but the bison/bull is of course also one of the most often depicted animals in Palaeolithic art, and so must have held great significance much further back in history as well. In fact, like the clay bear statue described in GA12, there also exists an exquisite clay bison sculpture from the same period. A bull and cow bison about to mate, the cow ready and the bull scenting the air, can still be seen deep in the cave of Tuc D’Audoubert.  The association of Goddess/woman and bison in Palaeolithic art is a particularly strong symbolic image of the shamanistic concept of life and death and suggests lunar mythology of transformation and gestation. [Marija Gimbutas, 1989]. There are many examples of this mythic importance of the bison; Laussel’s goddess being perhaps the most famous, holding her pregnant belly and the 13 lunar month-notched bison horn." (The Abduction of Europa by Rembrant, 1632. Click painting image to expand.)

-kbj

Hopewell tradition mica cutout remnants found eroding from path along Kenawah River, West Virginia

Hopewell mica cutout remnants found at Ansted, West Virginia

(click photos to expand)

This Hopewell tradition mica was found by Lyn Niday eroding from a path along the Kenawah River at Ansted.  Lyn collected what was exposed at the surface and noted the mica appeared to have been cut.  Because of the delicate nature of mica in thinner sheets, it is amazing the "lobe" represented by the three sections at right remained in tact.  Maybe this mica is a small part of what was a larger piece of art work. The mica is thought to originate in the Carolinas and to have been moved into the Hopewell sphere via a system of trade and exchange.

 Hopewell tradition mica cutout artifacts include bird claw and bear tooth icons.  The Hopewell are dated from 200 BCE to 500 CE.

This mica was found in the area of the Armstrong expression of the Hopewell interaction sphere. There is an excellent museum at Hopewell Culture National Park at Chillicothe, Ohio

Rick Doninger finds possible icons alongside tools at his south west Indiana flint quarry site

Right human facial profile on a flake, Rick Doninger find, south west Indiana

Coarse stone "birds in flight" 

A possible zoomprphic form in flint.  Another flint from Rick's site featured an elephant form (trunk curve and eye), a bison, a lion and a human face portrait.

Side two

A worked zoomorphic head form (bear-like)

Many tool artifacts recovered from the quarry work shop in Indiana don't easily fit the well known taxonomies of North America.  Notice the fully developed knife in center, including handle foretelling of contemporary knife forms.  (click photos to expand)

A classic Levallois flake (center) and Clovis point (right of Levallois) and other points represent varied stone working technologies Doninger has identified

Rick Doninger writes: "I can prove Levallois is here.  I can now show the entire core preparation and the reduction sequence in the production of the tools. The cores tell the story of the technology just as in the Clovis and later industries. Without the cores, the technology has to be assumed or left to speculation. Here are a few pics of just about every known early man technology, especially the Levallois that was present in the Acheulean and Mousterian, all from right here in the heartland. I think it is a first to be able to show "old world" technology right alongside Clovis and later, all from the USA. They can’t explain what is being revealed right here. It is every tool type described in the lower, middle, and upper paleo abroad. It may not be older than Clovis, but the alleged pre-clovis technology has already been assembled in a coherent set of identifiable Levallois artifacts, thousands of them............check a few out..........good to hear from ya........      You might ask around and see if anyone else can display old world tech side by side with the Clovis and later technology all from the USA. You are seeing a first here Ken, .......academia can deny it if they want to, but the proof is in the artifacts and the cores and we have them.........God Bless,.....rick d."

-kbj

Natural mammoth-shaped boulder in Ohio was modified to include a human face mask as similarly identified by Luigi Ciapparoli at Piacenza, Italy

Licking County, Ohio

Boulder with natural mammoth-like trunk curve and mammoth head bump in profile on right side. Patina on left rear of stone indicates a worked, fresher surface, demonstrating the known paleoart face mask motif of "one eye open, one eye closed," often in a moaning or distressed-looking expression as seen here. (click photos to expand)

Luigi Ciapparoli has identified similar works at Piacenza, Italy, and has prepared a Flickr slide show of his finds and interpretations.

The Ohio face mask boulder as discovered by Ken Johnston while driving in Licking County, Ohio, near Buckeye Lake.  The face is seen from the side at far left at the back part of the boulder

-kbj