Two hominin heads joined together at the back and facing in opposite directions from Tennessee River site

'Two hominin heads joined together at the back and facing in opposite directions'

Jason Lamont find, Hardin County, Tennessee, from his property along the Tennessee River at a confluence with a creek

In a portable rock art context Jason identified this as a rock with two faces on it, one looking right and one looking left. Paleolithic sculpture author Pietro Gaietto of Italy has described sculptures like this, sometimes with juxtapositions of anatomically modern humans with more archaic human forms. 

As Pietro Gaietto has described, I propose this Tennessee sculpture depicts a modern human face looking left and an archaic, or more robust, human type looking right with depiction of a brow ridge and more of a sloping forehead.

Anthropomorphic Paleolithic Sculpture

December 17, 2015 update (link to news story of journal article):

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/thigh-bone-adds-mystery-over-14000-year-old-homo-species

A Hominin Femur with Archaic Affinities from the Late Pleistocene of Southwest China

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0143332

Abstract

The number of Late Pleistocene hominin species and the timing of their extinction are issues receiving renewed attention following genomic evidence for interbreeding between the ancestors of some living humans and archaic taxa. Yet, major gaps in the fossil record and uncertainties surrounding the age of key fossils have meant that these questions remain poorly understood. Here we describe and compare a highly unusual femur from Late Pleistocene sediments at Maludong (Yunnan), Southwest China, recovered along with cranial remains that exhibit a mixture of anatomically modern human and archaic traits. Our studies show that the Maludong femur has affinities to archaic hominins, especially Lower Pleistocene femora. However, the scarcity of later Middle and Late Pleistocene archaic remains in East Asia makes an assessment of systematically relevant character states difficult, warranting caution in assigning the specimen to a species at this time. The Maludong fossil probably samples an archaic population that survived until around 14,000 years ago in the biogeographically complex region of Southwest China.

Arkfeld Site mom's garden produces three bird sculptures

'Bird in left profile'

Adam Arkfeld find in his mother's garden on the Arkfeld farm property at Clear Brook, Virginia. The bird head is at left and tail and tail feathering are at far right. Sculpture on limestone plaques like this is common in portable rock art but still unrecognized by American Archaeology. The shape of the stone's profile has been trimmed and the surface sculpted.

Adam's mother does not discriminate against Stone Age bird figures but rather finds them just as suitable as a modern ceramic bird figure for display under her table lamp.

Hudson, Florida, resident finds iconic material including quartz crystal studded mammoth figure with smiling human face on its back facing skyward

'Smiling human face on back of crystal-studded mammoth figure'

Teresa Stamey find, Hudson, Florida, 3cm

"I literally thought I was going crazy when I started finding all these different stones that look like one or more animals, fish humans etc.. The first one was one that looked like your posting 'Pissy Birds'. I found a site Collectors Weekly and put it on. No comments except they liked it which didn't tell me anything. Then I found your site after so many searches. I knew I wasn't crazy then. Since finding the first rock I have found way over a hundred. I have fish, fish heads, bears, camel heads, gator heads, wolves  etc.. I'm sending pics to see what you think. I really appreciate you looking at the pictures and any information or advice you can give would greatly be appreciated. Maybe I can get my husband to quit calling me the rock lady. By the way we live in Hudson, Florida. Thank You so much for your time." -Teresa Stamey

The Ice Age artist was likely attracted to the crystals on this stone. The natural shape of the stone also presented a mammoth body shape including a 'trunk.' A human face was manufactured on the back of the mammoth to complete this previously described motif. The human and the mammoth share the same forehead as is seen in other North American examples including the posting just prior to this one.

When the human face imagery is rotated 90 degrees right, a mammoth figure facing right may be seen. I have circled its approximate eye. In this consideration, the mammoth may be seen with the human face on its back facing skyward. This motif was also seen just two postings ago.

Face on the stone compared to a reconstructed model of how a Neanderthal may have looked.

38 pound rock collected by artifact hunter exhibits classic mammoth form, has a ground mammoth 'eye,' felines on its back and on its side

'Mammoth and feline combination sculpture' interpretation by Ken Johnston

Rock collected by Anonymous near Saddle Mountain, Oregon. The stone material is identified as 'agatized peat bog'

Illustration of a ground mammoth 'eye' in correct anatomical position (highlighted by yellow circle) with feline on the mammoth's back, looking in the opposite direction.

If one considers a body attached to the head of the feline, the mammoth's head dome becomes the raised haunches of the feline, perhaps in the lumbar lordosis position of a cat in estrus. The feline's 'tail' is also the 'trunk' of the mammoth.

There appears to be a feline depicted in a carve-out on the side of the mammoth and under the belly of the larger cat, perhaps showing this smaller feline as a newborn or 'in the womb.' Its head is surrounded by the stone coloration of red and deep purple. The head has ears, eyes, nose, mouth, chin. Its back is arched in typical feline fashion.

I propose two additional figures nested within the others. In the larger circle is another feline face with a triangular shaped eye and a round eye. Portable rock art researcher Jan van Es of Roermond, Netherlands, has written about the significance of the pairing of these two geometric shapes (personal communication). The nose of the feline face is in darker stone and I have highlighted the mouth in red just below it. Perhaps this is the male feline of a family of three.

In the smaller circle is a human head or face mask. The forehead of the human coincides perfectly with the crest of the mammoth's head, which is a North American paleoart motif documented several times on this blog. It implies a strong human association with this giant animal.

Click on and toggle between the photos to compare the illustrated and non-illustrated versions.

A lion head with fluted whiskers, a mammoth figure with a human face profile on its back and a decorated hand axe in the Acheulean tradition from Dallas County, Texas

'Lion head with fluted whiskers'

Tony Holmes finds, hilltop site on his property in Dallas County, Texas

Tony writes "Note eyes nose and lips on right side.  Another eyes nose and lips lower right.  By turning stone 90 degrees to left, you then have what appears to be an elephant trunk down the left side."

Photo rotated 90 degrees. Ken Johnston illustration of mammoth figure facing left with human facial profile on its back. Tony Holmes's independent observations here of the human and elephant imagery are similar to those seen in several other examples on this blog.

"Note the face 2/3 of the way up the left side looking out to the left.  There are multiple faces on either side of this stone." (7.5 x 5.25 inches)

Tony has identified human face figurations on this handaxe which is a documented art motif of the Old World Acheulean tradition (James Harrod, originsnet.org). The patination on this tool implies a very old age.

Can you see a skull-like face 'mask' in the lower right of the hand axe?

Side 2 of the Tony Holmes hand axe with his illustration of one the faces on the edge.

Two companion Tennessee stone faces, one with a mouth full of 'teeth'

Jason Lamont finds, Hardin County, Tennessee, along the Tennessee River

Side 2

Box highlights lips and mouth full of teeth. This very same kind of 'tooth detail' is also seen on sculptures from The Old Route 66 Zoo in Missouri and helps confirm this, and likely the companion find, are manufactured stone faces produced within a Stone Age cultural framework.

The darker companion stone exhibits an exaggerated and elongated chin as is again seen on examples from the Missouri site which implies a Stone Age cultural connection between these sites, separated by 375 miles.

Teeth and lips detail

Profile view of both figures

Exotic stone uncovered by archaeologists on Jersey

A brief visualisation of an exotic stone found at a 15,000-year-old hunter-gatherer settlement in Jersey. The site, Les Varines, offers great views over landscapes now drowned by the English Channel. It is located in the Jersey parish of St Saviour and has produced over 5,000 scattered stone artefacts during the past five years of excavation, but in the summer of 2015 the team unearthed denser concentrations of tools and burnt bone and, for the first time, fragments of engraved stone. These are currently under study in an attempt to unravel the significance of these unique finds.

Experts are closely examining three exotic stones found in a trench corner during the latest excavations in the five-year project, believed to represent “sophisticated” stone age technology or works of art.

“Incised stones can be common on Magdalenian camps. Many are known from sites in the Germany and the south of France, where they are often seen to have a magical or religious use," says Dr Conneller.

“They show clear incised lines consistent with being made by stone stools, and they do not have any obvious functional role. Engraved works of abstract or figurative art on flat stones are part of the Magdalenian cultural package. One exciting possibility is that this is what we have here.”

Face likeness on a boulder from the now lost, Lost Valley, Pennsylvania, archaeological site

Lost Valley archaeological site, #36CU0190, finds by Gary Yannone, et. al near Carlisle, Pennsylvania

The Lost Valley Site has been lost to a real estate owner change. The site survey archaeologists have lost access to the site and only their preliminary observations have been recorded. The site was producing some very interesting visual objects including this boulder with a human face likeness.