From Île d'Oléron, France, a right eye open human head sculpture and a possible mother with child figurine

Henri Valentie find, Île d'Oléron, France

Mr. Valentie writes: "This left profile 3/4 flint I found on the new site on the island of Oleron with many unifacial tools. We can see eye open and the closed eye, nose and the mouth. 15 / 13 / 9.5cm"

Ken Johnston interpretation of another possible animal head figure joined at the nape of the neck to the human and facing in the opposite direction, Janus-like. An eye, nostril and mouth with a tooth suggest this possible zoomorphic form is intended and related to the human face depiction.

Right and left: "Another stone face the mother and child? I apologize but the picture is not great. Limestone 12 / 6.5 / 6 cm" At center is a mother with child figure identified by Jan van Es of the Netherlands for comparison. Click photos to expand.

Swiss Alps Neanderthal head profile combined with Sapiens head profiles includes feline image

Found by Moray Mackintosh in the Swiss Alps and recognized to depict several faces

Mr. Mackintosh sent the photos to the Paleolithic proto-sculpture and sculpture author Pietro Gaietto who is familiar with portable rock art of the Italian and Swiss Alps. Mr. Gaietto writes:

Dear Mr. Mackintosh,
I reply to letters of 12/2 and 02/27/2015.
The photos you sent me are all interesting, some depicting the head of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and others are intermediate with Homo sapiens sapiens (intersections ), so it is likely to have an age between the 50,000 and 30,000 years. Certainly should be seen better, but I do not have time for unavoidable reasons.
The place where you found it is good, they have a process clearly visible. Should see the proportion of height of the place and if there are caves in Switzerland with finds of cave bear skulls, collected by Neanderthals as hunting trophies or religious . .
kind regards
Pietro Gaietto 

Ken Johnston illustrated interpretation of two human head profiles joined at the neck and looking away from each other Janus-like

Homo neanderthalensis facial profile looking left with carved lines occupying the back part of the head

Illustration of eye and mouth of stereotypical Neanderthal portable rock art profile including a recessive chin.

Interpreted independently by Ken Johnston and Moray Mackintosh as a feline head representation

Illustration of the faded but present feline head image

The feline head is the top part of the anthropomorphic head depiction here. The flater facial features and solid chin indicate a Homo sapiens sapiens representation.

Mr. Mackintosh interpreted this as a depiction of a human with a feline mask on the top of his head perhaps preparing to lower it.

I interpret this as symbolic of the lion taking a bite out of the human head, a Paleolithic art motif seen in several examples on this blog.

Human head stone sculpture including a mammoth visage along with tools from the Ice Age Arkfeld site, #44FK732

Human head stone sculpture recovered by Adam Arkfeld, Clear Brook, Virginia.

The sculpture includes a mammoth head facing left in the overall shape of the stone. The upper left of the rock is the "bump" of the mammoth head.

Arkfeld writes: "Interesting features; mouth is another example of fossil utilization. A worm tube has been utilized. Left eye slit is a natural fissure. Right eye slit has been etched into the stone by hand. Its angle matches the left."

Typical Arkfeld site tools along with all the art objects indicate the site may be of great antiquity. However, the archaeology establishment has been unable to comprehend the significance of the finds being made there.

A bias toward flaked tools as the primary indicator of human activity and an ignorance of the importance of crude and opportunistic tools and portable rock art in evaluating archaeology sites leads many to err in thinking objects like these are "just rocks."

A Pleistocene archaeology and rock art scholar with most all of his experience in the "Old World" has called the Arkfeld site "The most remarkable pre-Clovis site in the United States." Hopefully this will not be lost on those who profess to be searching for evidence of the earliest Americans.

The face mask is interpreted here as having the embedded visage of a mammoth in left profile where the mammoth's left eye divot is also the right eye of the human. The tip of the mammoth's trunk is also the mouth of the human. This image is found just inside the overall shape of the rock on its upper left side and may seen as a representation of the mammoth's head bump cresting the human's forehead. This is a motif already described on this blog.

From all of the art we can say "the right eye may have been symbolic of a life portal and the left eye symbolic of a death portal." If so, this piece may be saying "the death eye of the mammoth is the life eye of the human." This notion is compatible with Duncan Caldwell's "Prey-Mother" hypothesis. The death of the mammoth may have been seen as important for human survival.

"Drawing: A human-mammoth hybrid from Les Comparelles Caves in France. Traced from a sketch in Jelinek’s Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Evolution of Man (1975)." (c) Copyright 2015 Brad Lepper and/or The Ohio History Connection, All Rights Reserved.

This kind of human/mammoth combination is seen a good number of postings on this blog and may also be seen in examples of parietal art in Europe.

Colorado animal head in petrified wood with worked eye, nose and mouth is likely symbolic of the North American Lion

"Animal head," Chris Schram find, Westminster, Colorado, in context of dozens of figurative portable rock art creations. The eye, nose and mouth have flake scars which indicate this is a sculpted artifact and not a freak of nature.

Reconstructed illustration of what the North American Lion head may have looked like. The animal became extinct at the end of the Ice Age about 10,000 years ago. Please note the "squared off muzzle" which may also be seen in the Chris Schram animal head figure.

Ceramic mammoth and lion head figures, Dolni Vestonice, Moravia, Czech Republic. Dated to ca. 25,000 years before present.

Possible mammoth figure identified by Chris Schram along with the possible lion head. The precision and smoothness of the ceramic figures is contrasted against the rougher imagery resulting from work in petrified wood. The importance is these animals were significant enough to both Europeans and North Americans in the Ice Age that they committed the imagery to objects of art.

Colorado bird figure in petrified wood has similar morphology to German bird figure dated to ca. 200,000 years ago

Chris Schram collection, Westminster, Colorado

Side 2 of the Colorado bird figure shares a similar morphology to the below figure from Germany. These may have been created using a related idealized artistic scheme or template rather than just coincidentally reflecting the natural bird form.

Germany bird sculpture, ca. 200,000 years before present along with the Colorado example identified by Mr. Schram

Photograph © Walther Matthes. Matthes, W. (1969). Published in Eiszeitkunst im Nordseeraum. Otterndorf, Gr: Niederelbe-Verlag; (1964/1965). Bild 62. Mousterian context (Neanderthal) artifact from Germany as seen at Originsnet.org

Bird sculpture with split tail feathers from Arkfeld Site, #44FK732, Clear Brook, Virginia

Bird sculpture from Arkfeld Site, #44FK732, Clear Brook, Virginia.

The artist exploited white band inclusions through the blue stone to create split tail feather imagery. The sculpture stands upright on a flat base.

Germany bird sculpture, ca. 200,000 years before present

Photograph © Walther Matthes. Matthes, W. (1969). Published in Eiszeitkunst im Nordseeraum. Otterndorf, Gr: Niederelbe-Verlag; (1964/1965). Bild 62. Mousterian context (Neanderthal) artifact from Germany as seen at Originsnet.org

Gibraltar archaeologist and naturalist Clive Finlayson stated "Neanderthals were very intelligent, with a very large brain capacity. We have found remains of up to 150 different bird species which give clue to a special relationship with birdlife. If we consider that in Europe there are currently about 400 species of birds, this suggests that they hunted more than 25 percent of species."

The article continues: "Artifacts have shown that not only did they eat birds, but they then went on to use bones as adornment. Raptor bones were found with carved notches, these bones were selected based on colour. The skills were not as elaborate as the American Indians, but the bones, feather and tendons found were clearly used for an aesthetic purpose."

Left eye missing face mask on a cobble from Texas has glassy right eye

"Left eye missing face mask on a cobble" David Boies collection, Austin, Texas

The artist encountered a glassy inclusion in the stone while working this channel to make the right eye feature and left it there while excavating around it. It helps create an illusion of moisture in the stone eye.

Brighton, U.K., handaxe is also a subtle human head portrait in left 3/4 profile

"Animated handaxe" identified by Ken Johnston in the collection of the Brighton Museums is attributed to Homo neanderthalensis

This handaxe has been carefully worked to express the portrait of a person in left 3/4 profile. The person's head depiction includes a neck, chin, mouth line, nose, cheek, brow, a closed left eye and an artistically shaped head returning to the nape of the neck. Brighton Museums, Brighton, U.K.

Arkfeld site carved limestone bar is demarked by joined lines and includes bird and feline imagery

Adam Arkfeld find, Clear Brook, Virginia, site #44FK732 (click to expand)

This limestone bar was shaped by squaring off and trimming its edges. It evidences 3 or 4 incised lines which are joined to demark the very top part of the stone in this orientation. Adam discovered the carved image of a bird and I discovered a feline head depiction under the bird- as if the bird was sitting on a "lion head egg."  "Lion present at birth" is an art motif described earlier on this blog.

Illustration of the demarcation line segments (blue), a bird figure (yellow) and a feline face (orange).

Closer view of the bird sitting on the feline head (egg)

Human shaped objects identified by Adam Arkfeld at the site

"Left eye missing" face mask together with etched standing human line figure make the case for a cultural artifact

"Left eye missing" Paleolithic portable rock art sculpture identified by David Boies at Austin, Texas

This stone figure may appear natural-looking to many observers. It was selected as a raw cobble because of its suitable starting form to the artist. The mouth may have been created by a large area of stone removal. On close examination the nose has two nostril divots which is an element of other portable rock art seen on this blog. The "missing" right eye was created by a forceful directed blow to chip out what would be the eye's socket. A visually distorting line was made down the left side of the face. Though natural-looking at first appearance, given the portable rock art context Mr. Boies has identified this is a stereotypical form for a face mask like this. It has been my hypothesis that these masks depict the symbolic time of horror (death) when a lion takes a bite out of the human head.

On side 2 of the right eye missing face mask David Boies identified an etched line figure of a standing human in left profile. A chip in the stone is exploited as the "head" of the human figure.

The elements of the face mask combined with the human line figure make the case for this being a cultural artifact.

(Left) Photograph © Walther Matthes. Matthes, W. (1969). Published in Eiszeitkunst im Nordseeraum. Otterndorf, Gr: Niederelbe-Verlag; (1964/1965). Bild 62. Mousterian context (Neanderthal) artifact from Germany at left as seen at Originsnet.org for motif comparison to Texas example identified by David Boies.

A lion/man pebble figure stone from Austin, Texas, art context evokes similarity to lion/man sculpture figuration seen at El Juyo cave in Spain

Lion/man head worked pebble found by David Boies, Austin, Texas, was found in strong portable rock art context near Austin. 4 x 4cm

Paleolithic art and early sculpture author Pietro Gaietto has made an excellent illustration of the interpreted human and feline features as they get "mixed" in the interpretation of the El Juyo, Spain, cave religious altar-sculpture. 

Austin, Texas, figure interpreted as a mixed human and feline in a similar art visage as seen in El Juyo cave, Santander, Spain

Mother and child sculpture from The Netherlands, collection of Jan van Es

Mother and child sculpture, Beegden, Netherlands, age >250,000 years BP

Collection of rock art researcher Jan van Es of Roermond, Netherlands

Jan van Es illustration of two eyes and a mouth composing the head of the baby being cradled

 Click photos to expand

At right is another very similar mother and child sculpture discovered by Mr. van Es which was featured in an earlier posting on this blog.