Mammoth cresting human forehead is second such example this month from Arkfeld Site, #44FK732, and was found a few feet from the first

"Bison, mammoth and human polyiconic sculpture"

Adam Arkfeld find, Clear Brook, Virginia

Mr. Arkfeld found this sculpture just a few feet from the (April 3) stone interpreted as a human or human skull face mask with a mammoth cresting its forehead and with the mammoth sharing an eye with the human. This sculpture and its proximity to the first helps validate the interpretations of intention to combine human and mammoth imagery in sculpture at Arkfeld.

These two are in addition to more than a dozen such human+mammoth sculptures from this remarkable Pleistocene site located in the back yard of The Smithsonian Institution.

Over a year ago The Smithsonian in fact sent a representative to the Arkfled site who was not able to recognize the pebble tool industry artifacts there let alone art objects. Maybe because pebble tool industries are found in Asia and Siberia and Dr. Dennis Stanford is bent on an Atlantic crossing for "the first Americans," and bifacially knapped tools as the only evidence for it, The Smithsonian is biased against recognition of pebble tool industries. If so, this is to the detriment of advancement of archaeological knowledge in North America- and at taxpayers' expense!

Adam Arkfeld writes: "It maybe worthwhile to point out that their "rep" was not qualified to evaluate artifacts. He was a retired geologist that spent his career studying volcanoes and such. He dismissed my site based solely on the lack of flint.  His primary diagnostic tool was a metal nail. (no kidding) His test for any potential tool stone was to score the sample with the nail. According to him, if it left an impression in the stone, its not an artifact. The stone is too soft."

Pebble tools, including simple hammers, choppers and awls are frequently found at productive portable rock art sites and no North American archaeologists seem capable of recognizing them but their Old World counterparts are indeed able to include them in the universe of stone technologies they study.

Isolation of the interpreted human face in the sculpture. It presents a face in right 3/4 profile perspective.

In addition to the mammoth form cresting the human forehead, this illustration demonstrates the presence of a bison head profile facing left on the posterior of the mammoth.

1) the "bumps" observed in nature on the bison shoulder and on the mammoth head are shared elements of the figures in this sculpture.

2) mammoth eye and bison eyes have been illustrated in their approximate interpreted positions to help provide visual orientation to the animals

3) like the shared mammoth and human eyes in the April 3 posting, the mammoth's trunk is also the nose of the human in this sculpture.

 

4) the bison head figure is sharing its "beard" with the "beard" of the human head figure.

The polyiconic combination of these three beings and the depicted visual inter-relatedness of their body elements implies a special higher level meaning for the artists who sculpted them.

A Russian archaeologist on mammoth and bison combinations in Upper Paleolithic art:

"

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- M.A. Kiriak, Early Art of the Northern Far East: The Stone Age (Siberia), Margarita Aleksandrovna Kirʹi͡ak, 2008

"Owl in nest" from The Old Route 66 Zoo

"Owl in nest"

Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, The Old Route 66 Zoo Site, 23JP1222, near Joplin, Missouri

Illustration by Ken Johnston of Stacy Dodd interpretation. The owl may be depicted here with its prey dangling from its beak which is seen in one other example already featured on this blog. (please see Buckeye Lake, Ohio, sculpture hoard flint and crystal owl, May 2012).

A standing two-sided head sculpture, a bear figure and some stone tools from Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

 Flaked profile of human head looking left, two eye divots made in the stone, Jeff Vincent find, Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. Sculpture stands upright on a flat base in these orientations.

On side 2, a profile of a human or animal head with wide open mouth looking right, similar to the PAC-MAN form

Bear figure

(toy? educational? spiritual? naturalistic?)

I see this as a possible spiritual item where a human skull is depicted looking left on the posterior of the bear. This is faintly visible on this figure. Birds, mammoth, bison and bear in portable rock art sometimes have humans and human skulls incorporated into their bodies and facing opposite, Janus-like. This may imply a possible culturally significant singularity among human and animal domains in the Stone Age past.

Illustrated outline and then outline with eyes and mouth of interpreted human skull image on the bear's posterior (click photos to expand)

Awl like tools in the vicinity of the iconic pieces

A possible bird head or bird head tool, Jeff Vincent finds, Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

Human head and horned animal head on a small pebble from Westlake, Texas

 David Boies find, Westlake, Texas, 3cm 

Figure of a head of a horned animal, perhaps a Big Horn Sheep, on the side opposite the human head

Big Horn Sheep

One stone from the Bokoul, Netherlands, site and his story

"Two Faces" view, Jan van Es find, Bokoul, Netherlands

In the "two faces" view here, they share an eye in the middle but have separate noses and mouths. The left eye of one face is the right eye of the other face.

Jan van Es writes: "One stone from the Boukoul site and his story. The stone is jasper and working in the old Acheul. 450.000-750.000 lower paleo. The stone (a polymorph) is under 3cm."

All images above are on one stone from the Boukoul, Netherlands, site worked by Jan van Es of Roermond.

"Rabbit and shout" combination figure from Missouri site is a second example to be considered alongside earlier Tennessee rabbit+shout interpretation

Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, The Old Route 66 Zoo Site, 23JP1222, near Joplin, Missouri

Ken Johnston illustration of the combined shout and rabbit forms. The rabbit is depicted as standing upright. There are two incised cuts in the stone to create a clear demarcation between the shout and rabbit sides of the sculpture. There may be some red ocher staining visible near this line.

The two shout+rabbit figures were found about 675 miles apart near Joplin, Missouri, and near Johnson City, Tennessee

"Shout and rabbit head with ears folded back" interpretation made of a Tennessee figure stone in a November 1, 2014 posting on this blog

It is proposed here the combination of the rabbit and the shout PAC-MAN like images had a special cultural meaning to some Stone Age North Americans.

Pietro Gaietto describes the very early origin of what have been called PAC-MAN like anthropomorphic sculptures as "The shout of Homo erectus"

"The Man of the Romandato" find by Paleolithic art author Pietro Gaietto 

Gaietto writes: "Fig. 4.9) Lithic Sculpture. It represents the head of a hominid with great opened wide mouth.
Size: Height cm. 23.5, width cm. 29, width cm. 18.5. The mouth is wide cm. 17 in the inside and cm. 7 in the tip of the jaw, and is deep cm. 11. Obtained from a large nodule of silex. Weight kg. 11.5.
Place of originrigin: Torrent Romandato, Rodi Garganico, Foggia, Italy.
Material culture: Acheulean or middle Clactonian, or perhaps more recent.
The sculpture has been obtained from a nodule of silex, in which the cavity that constitutes the open mouth is part of the shape original of the nodule.
The strong expression has been interpreted in the typology like " scream ". The stylistic deformation is based, exactly, on the scream.
A study on this sculpture and others two similar, by Pietro Gaietto, (Fig. 4.7 and 4.10) entitled " The shout of Homo erectus " is published on " Paleolithic Art Magazine ",(2000).

Collection Museum of the Origins of Man.

 "The man of Spinacchi" find by Pietro Gaietto

ANTHROPOMORPHIC PALEOLITHIC SCULPTURE by Pietro Gaietto, Genoa, Italy

Texas ranch owner becomes yet another United States site reporting PAC-MAN like stone figures in portable rock art contexts

Last week I received a note from a Texas ranch owner which included the following. I added the emphasis in bold type.

"There is a huge limestone rock approx 75 lb with a big centipede fossil stretching across the entire rock. Near that rock are massive metates weighing over 200 lb. I found a Metate/mortar weighing approx 30 lb that had a lot of wear and in the middle of the bowl are two perfectly drilled holes about 4 inches apart that go all the way thru the rock. I'm guessing it's for drainage which is interesting as I've never seen a Metate with holes. Near that Metate I found a large piece or nodular flint with the bottom being completely flat to where it can stand up perfectly. After examining the rock I noticed that it was one large owl statue with a lot of smaller owl faces that look almost subliminal. Every single rock I pick up in this area, no matter if it's limestone, flint or quartz, has some kind of art on it. Every single one. Mostly owls, buffaloes and weird faces.

You're going to think this is weird but I have found a couple of these faces that look exactly like pac-man. It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen.

I think this was a worship or ceremony site as it's unlike anything I've ever seen. I think it's possible they were worshiping that centipede fossil. Anyways, I just want to thank you because I thought I was losing my mind until I ran across your site. There's not much online that covers this subject except for you. Just wanted to say thanks and see if you might have any insight or if you've ever heard of anything like this?" -Texas ranch owner

Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, sculpted head profile with nostril divot

Sculpted head profile figure, Jeff Vincent collection, Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

Chert "right eye open, left eye missing" human face including worked nostrils and mouth from Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

Jeff Vincent find, Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

Chert "right eye open, left eye missing" face including worked nostrils and mouth from a strong portable rock art context developed by Jeff at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. Jeff Vincent collection contributing many images for presentation on this blog.

Ken Johnston illustration of the interpreted one-eyed face and a secondary face image nested in the main face, where the nostrils become the eyes of the smaller face. Refer to the unmarked photo to see the two faces at the same time. Click photos to expand.

The "face withing a face" concept may be considered a type of fractal art. It is expressed here by a 9 year old. It is seen in many examples of portable rock art.

Jeff Vincent collection, Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

Bear figure from The Old Route 66 Zoo Site, 23JP1222, near Joplin, Missouri

Interpreted as a bear figure with its nose sniffing the air. Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, near Joplin, Missouri

Side 2 looks like it could depict a running bear or a bird+bear combination appearing like a flying bear