A horse head sculpture, a crystal eyed pebble face mask and an 'Early Man' bust from The Old Route 66 Zoo, Site #23JP1222

'Horse head with feline as mane'

Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find, Jasper County, Missouri

The Old Route 66 Zoo Site, #23JP1222

I think this horse head sculpture is also presenting a feline, where the cat is curled across the back of the horse head like the mane of the horse, the cat and horse share ears and the 'eye' of the horse is the 'mouth' of the cat. This is thought to be a pairing of predator and prey where both animals are present in the same view (in an optical illusion).

This remarkable portable rock art site continues to produce iconic pieces like these in a concentrated area of less than 1/2 acre.

'Face mask' on a pebble recognizing crystal mineral inclusions as 'eyes' 

'Early Man' bust, looking left in 3/4 profile view

'Early Man, View 2'

I think it is likely the human is being depicted here with a mammoth figure cresting its forehead.

Standing two-legged figure with ambiguous faces is made of jasper imported to the Arkfeld Site

Standing two-legged figure with ambiguous faces is made of jasper imported to the Arkfeld Site. Adam Arkfeld find, Site #44FK731, Clear Brook, Virginia.

Rock formation appears worked to enhance inclusion's bird likeness

Rock formation appears worked to enhance inclusion's bird likeness.

Adam Arkfeld find, Arkfeld Site, Clear Brook, Virginia

'Kissy Birds' (reprise)

'Kissy Birds'

Mark Jones find, Piney Point, Maryland

This is a St. Valentine's Day weekend reprise of a figure stone named 'Kissy Birds' by its finder. It was eroding out of a bank into the Potomac River along with numerous other portable rock art pieces including birds and a good number of 'one eye closed/missing' human face mask stones. I was able to visit Mark and concur with him that this stone was worked on multiple surfaces and includes an intentionally ground 'eye' visible on the bird on the left.

Piney Point, Maryland, is located right in the great Chesapeake Bay migratory bird flyway on the east coast of North America. Water birds preening or courting would have been a common observation of people in the area.

The love birds take on a fair 'heart' shape in their outline form. 'Kissy Birds' was this blog's first posting, 5 years and 600 articles ago.

Hardin County site at the confluence of the Tennessee River and a creek is producing a variety of portable rock art

Human head looking right

More Jason Lamont finds, Hardin County, Tennessee

Human and animal heads joined. Human with large nose facing left and animal facing right. This sculpture type has been identified by Pietro Gaietto as a primary one of Paleolithic stone work.

The lighting is poor here but this is a diamond shaped stone which has been configured with a simple face of two eyes, a nose and a mouth. This 'face on rhombus' motif has been identified at several sites in association with other portable rock art finds like in this example found at Mammoth Springs, Arkansas by Jeff Vincent.

Animal figures

Animal figure

Chert 'Bird in flight' figures

Carvings mixed with natural cracks on Arkfeld Site limestone plaque

Adam Arkfeld find, Site, #44FK731, Clear Brook, Virginia (18cm)

This is possibly a bird-form plaque: a bird head facing left and a bird body in profile facing right. Several carved pieces like this have been identified by Adam Arkfeld. In addition to the circle and lines it looks like a few 'dots' were carved as well.