Iconicity present in additional objects from the context of the Belgian Kempen stone face (dated 450,000 to 300,000 years before present)

Iconicity present in additional objects from same context as the Belgian Kempen stone face (450,000 to 300,000 BP)

The discovering archaeologist, Jimmy Groen, who is a stone technology specialist, indicates the eye concavities are natural features of this stone.  The overall shape of the piece may indeed have been worked to make the final head shape and provide a sharp working edge.  Please see the immediate 3 prior postings for more information about the Kempen stone face artifact from this same context.

Another view of the same object with "iconicity."  In his 2011 book, "The Human Condition," rock art scholar Robert G. Bednarik writes "Iconicity is the property of a marking or shape that provides visual information recognized by most contemporary humans as resembling the form of an object (pp 58)"

A second view of the object with "iconicity," mouth and eye chipping evident

Not so much iconicity here for most people.  In this view, most people do not perceive anything which triggers our human facial recognition facilities easily.  So this view then "fails" the definition for iconicity. To my eye as a student of portable rock art, I can detect what appear to be two worked eyes and a broad smile which I highlight in the below illustration.

Ken Johnston has marked up the original photo to highlight a quasi-anthropomorphic face which may be interpreted from this view of the object.

Museum of the Origins of Man, Pietro Gaietto, Genova, Italy

-kbj

"Lion present at birth from egg," may be a Low Paleolithic art motif on the Kempen stone face and already described from North America

"Lion present at birth from egg," may be a Low Paleolithic art motif on Kempen stone face as already described from America

The Belgian Kempen stone face was discovered in situ in August 2011 by archaeologist L. Jimmy Groen. Please see the immediate two prior postings for more on the Kempen stone face, including unaltered photos.

A lion head in right profile is highlighted in orange, using now faint markings seen on the stone. The lion's chin is also the left chin of the kitten.

I have noticed a similarity between a visage on the Kempen stone face where a kitten is emerging from an egg into the mouth of a feline (lion) and a visage from an ellipse-shaped shone with incised lines, where one may see a bird emerging from an egg into the mouth of a lion. The Kempen stone face is from Belguim and the ellipse sculpture was found in the Columbia River valley, Oregon, by Mr. Dennis Boggs.

The Kempen stone face is dated 400,000 to 300,000 years before present. It is important to note this possible motif may be a component of the Lower Paleolithic art tradition of a people who were connected from North West Europe to Oregon, U.S.A., perhaps by Beringia. With two examples of this motif available to this one archaeological investigator, my hunch is there are many more examples of this yet to be identified. The very subtle ("almost invisible" according to Alan Day) nature of these intended images to our modern eyes makes it so difficult to detect, so it is and has been routinely overlooked in existing archaeological inventories and at active sites world wide.

It is important to note the bird and kitten emerging from the eggs in the two respective art sculptures may also be seen to comprise or compose part of the mouth of the lion.

Here are links to the earlier posting about the Golden Composite Ellipse with Branching Incised Lines, artifact found by Dennis Boggs, Irrigon, Oregon, and later interpreted by Ken Johnston in 2011.  In this photo illustration by Ken Johnston, the purple lion has the yellow bird at its mouth as emerging from the white egg while being fed from the beak of a light blue mother bird.

-kbj

The Kempen Stone Face: human and animal images on a Lower Palaeolithic tool from Belgium are an earliest example of complex symbolic art

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Contact Ken Johnston, kennethbjohnston@hotmail.com

The Kempen Stone Face: human and animal images on a Lower Palaeolithic tool from Belgium are an earliest example of complex symbolic art

The discovery of a tool also having a human facial profile was announced December 26, 2011 on portablerockart.com by archaeologist L. Jimmy Groen of The Netherlands and Kenneth B. Johnston of The United States.  Groen is a professional field archaeologist who recovered the artifact in situ in August, 2011, along with hundreds of pebble tool artifacts in the Kempen region of Belgium.  Groen dates the artifacts at 450,000 to 300,000 before present.  Groen noticed a human facial image resulting from work on the stone and brought the artifact to the attention of Johnston, who studies and collects prehistoric portable rock art. 

Johnston has now recognized the "Kempen Stone Face" as a familiar sculpture type of the Low Palaeolithic period already documented and described by Jan van Es of The Netherlands.  Johnston also detected additional subtle imagery on the stone which may depict a rabbit, an egg with a crack and a lion with a kitten. 

“This artifact is significant because it is datable and there is little room for controversy over the artificiality of the piece or the surety of intent of the prehistoric artist to express certain motifs in a stone sculpture,” says Johnston.  “In addition to already described Low Palaeo motifs, there are other images which appear intentionally depicted in the stone.  It was found amongst tools, in situ, and is evidenced as having been used as a side scraper itself.  From what I can determine, the Kempen Stone Face is one of the most complex pieces of art attributable to the Low Palaeo period.  It might be thought of as an elaborately decorated tool.”

According to Johnston, the sculpture represents a human head with face in left profile and a feline head, presumably lion, in right profile, both joined at the back of the head and looking away in opposite directions.  Thus, the head has a human face and a lion face.  “It’s what one would call a ‘polymorphic sculpture’ because it incorporates multiple creatures into the one piece” says Johnston.

“Roughly contemporaneous possible art pieces like the Venus of Berekhat Ram (Isreal, 230,000 BP minimum) and the Venus of Tan-Tan (Morocco, 300,000 to 500,000 BP) are notable for their simple likeness to human body shapes. The Kempen Stone Face has a real palpable human facial image, with mouth agape, and a more subtle lion face comprised partially of faded markings. Because humans and lions don’t really share heads, this piece may be thought of as quite symbolic.  The Berekhat Ram and Tan-Tan figures seem to be representative of real things, reflections of life-figures, rather than a composition of seemingly interrelated real and non-real creatures as are found in the Kempen Stone Face  polymorphic sculpture.”

"From Face to Venus" drawing by Jan van Es predictively illustrated the art motif Johnston detected on the Kempen Stone Face

 

The two known motifs Johnston detected in the Kempen Stone face have been described by Jan van Es of The Netherlands.  Van Es is an artist and amateur archaeologist with forty years experience collecting and studying Palaeolithic art.  First, van Es describes a motif as “From face to Venus” where the profile outline of a human face may also be interpreted as the profile outline of a corpulent feminine form.  So the same shape can alternate between a face outline and female figure outline, depending on how one focuses visual attention on it.  Van Es has made a drawing available at his web site in which he creates a kind of composite drawing of the ideal “from face to Venus” form.  It is made available here for comparison to the Kempen Stone Face artifact.  

Also available is a Homo heidelbergensis skull side profile to compare the sculpture outline to the skull profile form, especially the brow ridge.

Van Es has made a comparison of a Low Palaeolithic “Venus” figurine (at left in photos above) he discovered in The Netherlands, compared to the famous Venus of Willendorf from the Upper Paleolithic, <40,000 before present.  These artifacts are separated by hundreds of thousands of years according to van Es, but their proportional and morphological similarities are quite remarkable, such as possible head hair details on the older sculpture. 

Second, van Es describes the prominence and importance given to the “egg shape” in the Paleoart he has studied. Van Es writes, “During all those years of research I noticed that, besides all forms nature offers in rocks, trees, fruit, animals etc., the egg-shaped rocks were considered as the most ideal kind. The big cosmic egg, the germinal force and origin of life, seems to have been a very important notion and turns out to be a main line in the images.”

The Low Palaeo figure features this egg shape at the chin, as if being dropped by the mouth of the face/ or the vulva of the female figure.  Perhaps by the time of the Upper Paleolithic Willendorf example the “cosmic egg” was more explicitly expressed by the large belly of the woman.  The same egg shape may be seen comprising the chin of the Kempen Stone Face.

Ken Johnston illustrates the graphic images detected on the Kempen Stone Face

The entire surface of the Kempen Stone Face, 12cm tall plaque, is utilized as part of a series of interwoven images, somewhat like the graphic image nesting affect of the Hidden Pictures game feature in the American magazine “Highlights for Children.”  “Can you find the kitten emerging from the egg?” asks Johnston.  Johnston describes the relevant graphic features he has detected on the artifact as:

1) Face to Venus motif on left edge profile

2) Egg motif, chin of human is also an egg, compare oval shape to computer generated oval egg

3) Rabbit head, with nose and eyes features at crest of head facing left 

4) Egg is “cracked” open by a quartz vein running from the bottom of the chin to the crest of the head and defining the center of the human face

5) Kitten emerging from egg looking at viewer face-on

6) Lion upper face comprised of stone cortex.  Lion mouth line and lower jaw defined by stone removal (not part of cortex surface). Lion “tooth” covered by skin, foretelling of actor Bert Lahr’s costume in The Wizard of Oz.  The tooth is implied by the skin flap.

7) Lion nose and eye were made of now faded markings, highlighted in the illustration

8) Kitten held in mouth of mother lion as it emerges from the egg, lion’s tooth space is also space between kitten’s ears.  The kitten’s chin is also the shared chin of the mother cat.

"It seems possible the quartz vein was recognized by the artifact maker and deemed to be potentially symbolic of a crack in an egg which led to the egg form" Johnston says.

“John Feliks has demonstrated the intelligence and creativity of humans from this era was certainly on par with ours today in his falsifiable geometric proof studies in his paper ‘The Graphics of Bilzingsleben.’  In addition to the geometric prowess of these early humans, the Kempen Stone Face polymorphic sculpture now places complex figurative and symbolic art squarely in the hands and minds of people living 300,000 to 450,000 years ago” Johnston emphasizes.

“I think most all of the world’s missing art history remains to be found on stone pebbles and plaquettes and the like.  We’ve got to closely examine all the lithic material from archaeological sites or we may be overlooking most of the information available to us about these early people.  Astute archaeologists like Jimmy Groen can be rewarded for sharing their finds with amateurs, who may be able to bring some unique observations and knowledge to the table for consideration.”


-kbj

Newly discovered tool from Belgium may include a pierre-figuresrepresentation of a human face in profile, dated 450,000 to 300,000 BP

Newly discovered Belgian tool may include an intended pierre-figures representation of a human face in profile, and is contextually dated 450,000 to 300,000 BP

This artifact with possible intended human facial imagery was recovered in situ at Kempen, Belgium, in August, 2011.

Archaeologist L. Jimmy Groen of The Netherlands writes, "The artifact with a human face en profile probably had a double function, as it seems to be a side scraper as well. Three large notches were produced by flaking the rock under low angle in bipolar technique. The site circumstances are described at my website, but to make it easier here is some information.

Artifact was found in a large pebble tool assemblage in the gravels of the upper terrace ( + 85m /+90 m. a.s.l.) of the Maas/ Meuse river in the sandy region of the Belgian Kempen. The large numbers of artifacts were found in a local context of gravel and coarse sands, deposited by the river during late Elsterian periods ( Paulissen 1973). The artifacts do not show signs of transportation (such as rounded edges) so it is assumed they were locally produced, used and discarded. Such environmental setting could best be compared with a river "beach", where unsorted gravels were available, in changing dimensions.

Artifacts, found in situ at the site showed a position between the reworked early Saalian gravels/ eolian cover sands, while others were found integrated in the red oxidated horizons, locally known as "As paleosol", of Holsteinian date. This would place the artifacts roughly between 300.000 BP and 450.000 BP. For further information on the context see the article MA 4-project" (photos and comments at portablerockart.com courtesy of L. Jimmy Groen).

OriginsNet presentation of Jan Evert Musch's "Animal Farm" which features figurative stone art forms from Northwest Europe

I note a feature of the artifact is an inclusion, a quartz vein, which traverses the height of the entire "human face" from the peak of the head, running between the "eyes" and exiting at the bottom of the jaw. The presence and location of this vein with respect to the facial features may be one element which speaks to the intent of the tool maker to also include imagery of a human face in the "tool." I am in the process of documenting a theory that during routine tool production fossils and inclusions such as this were encountered by the tool-maker, recognized and given some culturally mediated signification which motivated them to create visual imagery which was not necessary for the function of the tool, but may be thought of as a "decoration" (see work of James B. Harrod, OriginsNet link at side bar and at bottom of this post).

Original photo by L. Jimmy Groen has been modified by Ken Johnston to illustrate the quartz vein which runs through the artifact. The vein  may be seen just to the left of the white line.

The vein could have been recognized on the cortex of the stone exposed at the top of the piece and then stone material was very carefully removed to follow the vein all the way to the end of the pebble while making it the "center" of the face.  

-kbj

"Mother cradling child" from the Old Acheulean art collection of Jan van Es, Roermond, The Netherlands

"Mother cradling child" from the Old Acheulean art collection of Jan van Es, Roermond, The Netherlands

Stone Images collected by Jan van Es, Roermond, The Netherlands, 40 years of archaeology and paleoart

Quasi-anthropomorphic images in stone such as this may be depictions of very physically robust formed early humans with what look like ape-like features to us today.  This was likely a naturally suggestive piece of rock material recognized in the Low Paleolithic and appears to have some modifications to bring the final imagery to life.  It is a moving piece, suspected to be hundreds of thousands of years old and perhaps the earliest known depiction of a mother nurturing a child.  The mother figure recognized as source and sustainer of life in the language and permanence of stone.

-kbj

"Mammiform" cone similar to artifacts from Trowbridge (14WY1), Kansas

"Mammiform" cone similar to artifacts from Trowbridge (14WY1), Kansas

(click photos to expand view)

The provenance of this piece is weak, described only as "from an Illinois collection."  I am fairly skilled at detecting modern reproductions and fraudulent artifacts.  This piece jumped out of a collection of mostly flint field find artifacts because of its deep blue color.  After inspection I could find no evidence of modern stone working and it has the correct attributes and patination for a genuine artifact.  So at this time, I think the drilled cone is worth presenting here because of its possible iconic breast-like shape, unknown cultural purpose or value or meaning, and its uniqueness.  The blue stone material is indeed striking.  It seems the cone was purposely centered on a white banded circle which corresponds with the imagery of a nipple on the breast form.  

After some research, I located three other similar artifacts from the Trowbridge, KS, Ohio Hopewell Culture sphere site located in suburban Kansas City.  The significant noted difference is the blue example featured here has two holes drilled from the base toward the top of cone, as if to be attached to a cord or something.  None of the Trowbridge artifacts has been drilled.

Trowbridge site, Kansas City, KS (14WY1)

 Trowbridge site, Kansas

  Trowbridge site, Kansas

Trowbridge site, Kansas

Link to other Trowbridge artifact photos

-kbj

Mojave Desert artifact and fossil hunters detect human agency with possible intended imagery on rocks from suspected cultural sites

From Barstow, California. Humanly flaked stone may be retouched to highlight human facial features on both sides. (artifact is ~4.5cm tall)

Alexis Bousiges of France has collected numerous rocks of anomalous nature in the Barstow, California area. Other fossil collectors in this area have found rocks on suspected cultural sites which appear to have evidence of human work and which may incorporate simple imagery.

Sometimes people who identify possible intended imagery in stone material are told by archaeologists the articles are products of mother nature and not humans.  The same articles can then be examined by petrologists, geologists, minerologists, lapidaries, flint-knappers and others familiar with stone materials, who detect human agency and artificiality and can describe how it was produced as an artifact.  One must rely on the original context of the finds as well as knowledge of qualified people, who may or may not be archaeologists, to assess whether a particular object is an artifact of human creation.  

Barstow, California, is located in the vicinity of the Pleistocene era Lake Manix, which is suspected of hosting humans as evidenced by the nearby Calico Early Man Site which was investigated by famed paleo-archaeologist Louis Leakey. Europeans with a more diverse human and archaeological history of stone art and tool technologies are able to deduce that large numbers artifacts exist on the surface and are eroding from exposed sediments all around the Barstow area. 

Illustration by Alexis Bousiges of human flake removal from original core. "What we have here is a "fragment" of a Crystal-Agate geode. Due to its form, we can imagine how the original rock looked."

On the blog Paleoface, Alexis writes "This fragment was found "As Is" on the same paleo site where the other pieces have been found. So, this little fragment was certainly "extracted" by a man... AND retouched, as the picture below is showing you:"

Positive and negative photos compared show retouched crystalline formations

"Finally, here is what the man wanted to represent, the profile of a man's face on each side." -photos, illustrations and analysis courtesy Alexis Bousiges, France.

link to Paleoface site of Alexis Bousiges

-kbj

Altar from house No. 45, Lepenski Vir Ib, (Serbia), carved in the likeness of a fish, has several similarities with suspected Ohio mammoth "cupule"

"Altar from house No. 45, Lepenski Vir Ib, Serbia, carved in the likeness of a fish, possibly a carp." -Don's Maps

Close-up of "cupule" or hemispherical pit from the Ohio artifact

Don Hitchcock, Australia, writes at his excellent web site "Don's Maps": "Like the house foundations and the settlement as a whole, the sanctuary was organized according to a definite plan. The most complete manifestation of this appears in the arrangement of the above-mentioned sanctuary of the central house. There, in an area of 7.5 sq. m., the hearth has an axial position and the real centre is represented by the stone receptacle with a decoration in relief. Since the width and height of the entrance are approximately equal to the width and length of the sanctuary, the whole sacral area at the moment of sunrise could be revealed in a cone of first morning light as far as the sculptures which are placed at its end. A characteristic feature is that the sculptures, being the only verticals in the sanctuary area, are never subjected to the axial symmetry which the hearth and the stone receptacle suggest. They are never placed along the axis of the hearth, but always asymmetrically behind the stone 'tables'. Such a position stresses their privileged function, and their independence in the plan of the sanctuary."

Don's maps link to Lepenski Vir Ib site, Serbia. Don's Maps has another excellent photo of the above altar stone in situ.

Ohio example with scale to compare to Serbian Mesolithic example

Link to prior posting of Ohio cupule stone suspected by Ken Johnston of incorporating Columbian mammoth imagery.  The Serbian example supports this idea by being a single hemispherical cupule on a relatively small, portable stone, with suspected zoomorphic symbolism (Serbia a fish, Ohio a mammoth) presented in a vertical display standing on a base in "correct" orientation.

-kbj

Washington amateur archaeologist independently describes possible two-headed sculptures as documented by Pietro Gaietto of Italy

Macario Solis, an amateur archaeologist in Washington state, has identified pieces which appear humanly worked and incorporate imagery of various types. He has independently described the same type of "two headed" sculpture form described by Pietro Gaietto of Italy as a motif dating into the very Low Palaeolithic. Macario may be identifying a "male and female" in the Janus-like opposing faces, or as Gaeitto describes, two types of hominins which may have coexisted.

Macario Solis, Washington, link to suspected artifacts

Macario writes, "I call this one the "gorilla-man." This looks like an effigy with two faces, one on each end. The face on the left seems to look more masculine, and the face on the right could have been a female.

(above) 1982 illustration Copyright Pietro Gaietto, Italy.  He describes a type of Homo erectus with a wide jaw which he detects in the rock art.  The face on the left side of Mr. Solis' sculpture somewhat resembles this, or even a Paranthropus boisei.

Gaietto illustrates how these two-headed human sculptures are oriented

Mr. Solis states "This is a comparison of two effigies that have a similar appearance. The photo on the right shows an effigy with three images. On the right side you will see what I think is a female. On the left side you will see the male in profile. As I took the picture, I found another image I hadn't noticed before. Perhaps it was too small to catch, but zoomed in, you can see the small mouth of what appears to be a baby or child (you can clearly see the mouth in the highlighted area."  Mr. Solis arrived at his conclusion about two-headed figures without knowledge they had been described in portable rock art writings describing possible "old world" motifs.

Gaietto's web site includes this information: "Sculptures of lower and middle Paleolithic are eight types:
1) human head
2) animal head
3) human head two-faced (bold added here for emphasis)
4) animal head two-faced
5) human head joined for the neck at the head of animal
6) human head mixed to animal head
7) naked woman (Venus)
8) head of animal with human body.

The oldest type of sculpture is the human two-faced head, with absolute dating of three million years; it was produced in southern Africa by a kind of Australopithecus, a hominid preceding man.

It is important to consider that the human two-faced head is not imitation of nature, as it did not exist, but is an invention of the spiritual culture of humanity. All these eight types of sculptures appear in Lower Paleolithic and are all linked to the cult, that is to religion." - Pietro Gaeitto, Italy, Museum of the origins of man.

Link to Pietro Gaietto's Museum of the origins of man

Illustrations (c) Copyright 1982-2011 Pietro Gaietto, Museum of the origins of man (Italy), All rights reserved.

-kbj

Artifact has 5 sets of intersecting lines (like Xs) within its small frame

Another suspected art piece found in immediate proximity to the horse and lion figure found by Lyn Niday.  This is a Licking County, Ohio, surface find in an agriculture field by Ken Johnston. The intersecting marks are not plow marks. There are 5 "Xs" within the frame of the artifact, none on the opposite side.  A plow blade cannot be this selective and precise within a concentrated area such as this this artifact surface.  The patina of the X marks matches the overall stone so the marks were probably created before metal plow blade times which typically leave a fresher mark on the stone (as in circle).

I suspect this could have been a visually narrowed Columbian Mammoth figure due to the overall mammoth shape of the stone and the treatment of a "bump" on the top of the head as seen on the upper left side of the artifact as pictured here. It is quite similar to the suspected "mammoth figure cupule stone" featured in a prior posting.

There may be more to graphics found on artifacts than first appears, as demonstrated by the work of John Feliks' "The Graphics of Bilzingsleben"

Columbian Mammoth reconstruction below.. Notice bump on head, slope of back, overall profile in line with the figure stone with X marks seen above and below.

Link to prior posting of artifact including similar mammoth shaped "cupule" artifact

-kbj

Feline head is seen on "horse head" figure from prior posting when viewed at a new angle of orientation

When the horse head figure stone Lyn Niday found in Ohio is rotated 90 degrees to the left, a feline head, presumably a lion, may also be seen.

A reader of this blog noticed the lion head image along with the horse head image and I have highlighted it in the illustration above. This art piece, then, is a predator and prey polymorph, the primary animal seen depending on a slight change in angle of perception, horse or lion. Lyn saw this as a horse head in the field and neither one of us detected the lion. Sometimes it takes multiple eyes, and fresh eyes, to perceive some of the subtle images which are left in stone.  The presence of two animals such as this argues in favor of the artificiality of the object.

This is the horse head image, which when rotated 90 degrees to the left, may then be seen as a lion head image, in a possible predator and prey themed polymorphic sculpture. Here is link to the original horse head posting which includes a photo of the artifact with a centimeter scale.

http://portablerockart.blogspot.com/2011/11/pleistocene-equus-may-be-represented-in.html

(article) Why some see the face of Jesus in their toast

-kbj