"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.