Presented à la Edvard Munch's 'The Scream,' a water formed stone face mask has been discovered from the cave near Kanchanaburi, Thailand (with 2 additional sets of human and animal figures worked in combination)

Part 1 - The scream mask
The famous painting with an image of the stone face mask artfully inserted

Stone mask evocative of "The Scream" found by Tira Vanichtheeranont on the surface at the cave near Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Artistic rendering by Tira Vanichtheeranont. There are three parts to the interpretation here. Ken Johnston contributes a human interpretation to Part 2 and makes all the interpretation of part 3.

Tira Vanichtheeranont demonstrating how she suspects the mask was held during prehistoric human cultural use. (click photos to expand)

The scream mask with CM scale

Regarding the origins of art, Patricio Bustamante writes: "Leon Battista Alberti, (1464) in his treatise “De Statua” describes the mode in which he thinks sculpture begun: 

I believe that arts that aspire to imitate the creations of nature were originated according to the following scheme: on the trunk of a tree, a cloud of earth, or on any other thing, were accidentally discovered one day certain contours that needed only a few retouches to notably look like a natural object. Focusing on that, men examined if it was possible, by means of addition and subtraction, to complete what was missing to achieve the perfect resemblance. Thus, by adjusting and removing features according to the scheme required by the object itself, men succeeded in what they intended to do, and no without pleasure. From that day on, men´s ability to create images was growing until they knew how to form any kind of resemblance, even when the material did not present outlines that guided the labour.” (cited by Gombrich 1959).

Pareidolia supplies an adequate explanation for this process."

Part 2 - Tira interprets a canine head with a flying eagle here. "To me, it really looks like a flying eagle" writes Tira V. Ken Johnston interprets a human facial profile at left. (click photos to expand)

Canine-like animal head with red mouth and white nose, eye and ear cavity from right to left. Black dot inserted in eye circle in this illustration to enhance recognition of the animal head. Ken Johnston thinks the animal head may be of a feline or bear (thus "undetermined") because the canine look is more of a modern, domesticated, form than a form from the suspected time period of the use and modification of the mask. Canines thousands of years ago had a more narrow and longer snout. Also, it is seen in other examples of paleoart where the horse and feline are paired, maybe as acknowledgement of the predator-prey relationship. A human facial profile with strong nose and chin outlined in white at far left. A possible second human facial profile may be seen under it.

The artifact in different lighting and position. All the water worn surfaces provide fantastic natural sculpted forms which are ripe for the application of the human imagination and creativity.

Close up of the human face in left profile view

Part 3 - Horse head left profile view with subtle human face mask like (Part 1 - The mask) on far right. The mask seems to connote movement leftward with the horse. The mask may be seen as incorporated into the windblown mane of the horse.

Markups of the horse mouth in red, nose and eye in white, and subtle human face mask on right. (click photos to expand).

Thank you very much Tira for your fine photographs of this amazing example of portable rock art from Thailand.

-kbj

Tool vs. art is a false dichotomy restricting development of archaeological knowledge

From archaeologist, artist and 40 year investigator of portable rock art Jan van Es, The Netherlands

"Here's my grinning hand-axe of Beegden (M.A.) In the so called technical artefact is clearly a splendid portrait, which is a very symbolical indication. The photo of this axe was published in the Archaeologische Berichten, Elst, NL, no 8 page 106.

We know that many hand-axes show polymorphe portraits, upright standing figures and animals. They are often modeled by flaking and retouching.

A tool fanatic will only see a tool, with again technical names." --Jan van Es.

Tool vs. art is a false dichotomy restricting development of archaeological knowledge. A definition of art I use most when I think of portable rock art is a human modified object which contains an idea other than its utilitarian purpose. (Modification includes manuporting which changes the original naturally occurring location of the stone material.) Thus, art is a category which includes tools, but the category of tools does not include art. What have been interpreted as "tools only" in existing collections may be found to have art meanings if a broader scope of what to consider significant in lithic artifact studies includes looking for visual properties. Also, any rock or stone which upon close examination, and all of them deserve it from a prehistoric cultural site, has possible significant visual properties but no obvious tool purpose must be ruled out as a cultural remnant.

-kbj

American Paleolithic figurative art "does not exist" according to the mainstream, but flint bird head combined with human skull found in Central Texas is another American example of a motif described in Europe

 Ronda Eldridge find, Bee House, central Texas

A bird head facing right combined with human skull facing left
(click photos to expand and compare)

Ken Johnston identified the skull form on Ronda's bird figure. Photo with markups of bird's eye, ground human eye, mouth line of skull in red. The circled eye of the profile perspective may also be seen as the right eye of a second skull figure looking straight on toward the viewer. Found in a strong portable rock art context, more sculptures to be featured from Ronda. This is an example of how art could lead archaeologists to what could be some significant sites in America.

Nadia Clark find, Prescott, Arizona. Interpreted by Nadia as a sculpted bird head. Ken Johnston identified a human head combined with bird head but facing in the opposite direction like Janus. Alan Day has called these sculptures "janiforms." Note the exaggerated chin on the human, seen as the lowest part of the stone in this photo.

Duck head figure with human head combined, from Ansted, West Virginia at the head of the Kanawa River was featured in a prior posting. The bump on the far left in this photo is the nose of the human figure.

 Gaietto's book site

Illustration is Copyright Pietro Gaietto, Italy. Here he illustrates a bird head figure, identified as an Admiral Gull with markup of eye feature in the stone, human head in profile combined into the bird head and facing left.

-kbj

"Bear alert," rotating image 90 degrees left, reveals known motif of bird cresting human head

 Bob Doyle find, Maine. (click photos to expand)

This is an elaboration on the prior posting "Bear alert" with interpretations of additional iconography by Ken Johnston. When the bear icon photo in the prior posting is rotated 90 degrees to the left, a (bearded?) human facial profile looking left may be seen (left of and below the white line). To the right and above the white line is a winged bird figure, cresting at the human's forehead. The bird's beak is exactly at the top of the human's forehead. This kind of bird/human combination, a therianthrope, is a recurring motif described by Bob Doyle from the Maine coast and by Alan Day in Ohio. (click photos to expand)

Rotation of the bear icon 90 degrees to the left, displays a proboscidean-like image, perhaps a mastodon head. This stone has polymorphic possibilities, depending on how it is viewed.

-kbj

Bear alert

Bob Doyle find, Maine

Master flintknapper and naturalist Bob Doyle writes: "This piece is made from flint, I have thought this stone was chosen because of its color...I see the stance of the bear as important. I have seen bear in the high country standing in this manner...looking out over a large area,and probably smelling the air for something to eat. Also on this little carving a tail has been etched into it's back end...there is the detail of a face too,but i didn't include it...the posture is the most important thing about this carving. all the best...bob"

-kbj

Flint bird figure from Buckeye Lake, Ohio

Flint bird figure found by Ken Johnston at Buckeye Lake, Ohio

Side 2 of the bird figure shown with scale

-kbj

Accidental find interpreted as "...a serious and meaningful carving of a fish of some kind" rejected with certainty by petroglyph art web publisher as "not Indian"

Mary Garmon find, Whatcom County, WA 

This find is without the context of any other suspected artifacts. Mary Garmon of Texas was struck by this zoomorphic face looking at her from the rock on the ground and took a closer look at it. The area context is strong for prehistoric human visitation, being near an 88 foot waterfall and the Pacific Ocean in north west Washington.

According to Mary, "Its shape on front gives the impression of a shark or large fish."

"I found it on the Nooksack river in Washington State near a large waterfall."

Carved parallel lines create the mouth of the creature. Vertical slash marks are carved along the horizontal lines, perhaps to represent teeth.

When I saw this photo, I noted what looked like a small face in the figure's right eye and mentioned it to Mary.

Mary replied to me "I just looked closely at the left eye and it is a small bird in profile... It doesnt just look like it, it is. Unbelievable."  Maybe the fish 'is seeing' its common predators?

Back of the stone with scale in inches

Mary Garmon continues writing, "I have contacted museums in the area as well as the Nooksack Indian tribe and had no response. A gentleman who lives in Seattle who publishes online about Indian petroglyphs in the area told me he is certain this carving is not by Indians in that area nevertheless it came from that river, of rock very similar to other stones on that river, and it was not a section of river frequented by the public. I would have to hear that from some concurring experts to believe it. I suppose it could have been carried as well from another location. What do you think? I feel that it is a serious and meaningful carving of a fish of some kind."

Mary, I agree with your assessment.

Here is a 9 year old's drawing of the "face reflected in the eyes" concept, expressed like fractals through 5 levels, one going off the paper and out of the frame of reference. A similar kind of representation is also seen in portable rock art. Another example of a face within an eye identified by Alan Day can be seen here. 

-kbj

Could our Homo sapiens sapiens protruding chin have been culturally genetically selected to resemble a valued egg form, as evidenced by its exaggerated depictions and possible cosmic symbolism in some examples of portable rock art?

Find and photo by Mark Jones, at Piney Point, Maryland

A sculpted human stone head with an exaggerated, egg-like chin.

This is a polymorphic sculpture with a combined animal (horse) and human depiction. Mark is a fossil and artifact collector who does some underwater artifact collection at Piney Point. Mark independently identified the "one eye open, one eye closed/missing" Middle Paleolithic-based motif in his locale and has appreciated the subtlety of art finds, which he is able to distinguish from natural forms because of his rock and fossil knowledge. He identified this as an intentionally sculpted artifact. I was able to travel to Piney Point to visit and examine Mark Jones' collection of figure stones and I agree. This artifact is about 8cm tall.

Illustration of a horse head looking left, with turned neck, and a smaller second facial profile looking right. 

Art scholars sometimes refer to these as "nested images" because they are interwoven into another, larger, image form. They are like the "Hidden Pictures" exercise in the magazine "Highlights for Children"- they are not immediately obvious because one is struck by the overall image of the grotesque face- but they are meant to be found by the observer. This probably happened relatively quickly for humans contemporaneous to this sculpture as they had cultural iconographic context to inform them. For me, I did not notice the horse until it was pointed it out. The horse image on this sculpture form implies a likely Pleistocene age for the piece because horses became extinct in North America at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, excepting some isolated Holocene stragglers.

Archaeologist Jan van Es of The Netherlands, with 40 years figurative rock art investigation experience, 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..." van Es has described the egg-like chin as dropping from the mouth, which also sometimes serves as a woman's vulva in an alternate view of certain sculptures he has identified. Please note how the woman's 'eye' location (little blue circle) also serves as the eye for the grotesque face depiction. This 'shared component' aspect is seen commonly in portable rock art.

"The Kempen Stone Face," Belgium, 450,000 to 300,000 BP

This was found in situ by archaeologist Jimmy Groen of Maastrict, The Netherlands. It is from the Belgian Kempen region and was recovered in soils dated 450,000 to 300,000 years before present. Ken Johnston interpreted this as a polymorphic sculpture with the 'chin as egg' motif.

Could our Homo sapiens sapiens protruding chin have been culturally genetically selected to resemble a valued egg form, as evidenced by its exaggerated depictions and possible cosmic symbolism in some examples of portable rock art?

We have examples of portable rock art which seem to invoke important cosmic egg symbolism in representations of the human chin, and an example such as this one which has a skull/mask with an egg-chin nested into a bird figure's head.

These examples and many more raise the possibility the "forward moving chin" seen in the development of anatomically modern humans, and also in the Neanderthals' fade to black, was the result of culturally mediated genetic selection* favoring this symbolic egg form and it being changed through time over our entire surviving genus by advantaged reproductive input from people with a lineage of this mating preference.  [*or our "self-domestication," a process described by Robert G. Bednarik in The Human Condition, Springer, 2011].

Display at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Anatomically modern humans Wikipedia

"Anatomically modern humans are distinguished from their immediate ancestors, archaic Homo sapiens, by a number of anatomical features. Archaic Homo sapiens had robust skeletons, indicating that they lived a physically demanding life; this may mean that anatomically modern humans, with their more gracile frames, had become more dependent on technology than on raw physical power to meet the challenges of their environment.

Archaic Homo sapiens also had very prominent brow ridges (protruding layers of bone above the eye socket). With the emergence of anatomically modern humans, the brow ridges had significantly reduced, and in modern humans they are, on average, barely visible. Another distinguishing feature of AMH is a prominent chin, something which is lacking in archaic Homo sapiens." (emphasis added).

AMH commonly have a vertical forehead whereas their predecessors had foreheads that sloped backwards. According to Desmond Morris, the vertical forehead in humans not only houses larger brains, but the prominent forehead plays an important role in human communication through eyebrow movements and forehead skin wrinkling." - Wikipedia

The human chin has long been an enigma to Physical Anthropology: Journal of Human Evolution, Jeffrey H. Schwartz and Ian Tattersall, The human chin revisited: what is it and who has it? (1999)

Maybe the answer lies in the realm of Cultural Anthropology, where its morphology was desired by certain peoples for ideological purposes. Perhaps the egg-like chin was perceived as a hierophany, a manifestation of the sacred.

Homo sapiens sapiens cum ovo mento

From site 23JP1222, "The Old Route 66 Zoo," Missouri #OR66Z 

Stacy Dodd and Rod Weber find (click photos to expand)

(left) This is identified by Mr. Dodd as a large chinned human face sculpture looking right

(middle) Shows the mouth form in red and the eye as a white circle to orient one's perspective on this interpretation

(right and below) Depicting the human image upside down, one may see a perched bird image according to Dodd. Here, the chin is not just the egg, but the bird itself, as if a "time lapse" snapshot view into the 'egg/chin hatching into a bird' motif.

"Perched bird"

Sexual dimorphism in chins demonstrated by anthropologists in 2010 indicates sexual selection operators were indeed at work. However, the question remains. Why, not how, do humans have chins?

 Possibly, some of our ancestors had a sexual affinity
for a symbolic cosmic egg form 
in their mates' facial structures.

-kbj

Tira Vanichtheeranont of Thailand has found what could be a morphological analog to art in Western European and American "human/bird/egg" motif

Tira Vanichtheeranont find from the ground of the cave in Kanchanburi, Thailand

(click photos to expand view)

This piece with anthropomorphic visual qualities was found in the context of a life size stone face mask to be seen soon on this blog. Whether this object is a curated naturefact, or an artifact (human modified), is not as important as the context and similarities to other suspected culturally mediated forms from amateur identified prehistoric cultural sites around the world. This author thinks some artifactuality is present here, but difficult to detect because of its subtlety, the rock material, and its age since human deposition.

Italian example. Photo is (c) Copyright Pietro Gaietto, Museum of the Origins of Man

Italian Paleolithic sculpture author Pietro Gaietto identifies this as a sculpture of the human head. The "human/bird/egg" may be seen here from Italy. Gaietto suggests a possible depiction in these forms are faces of humans with the disease Ecromagaly. It currently occurs in a rate of 1 person of 20,000.

Thailand article with scale

Archaeologist Jan van Es of The Netherlands has described this form, and suggests that the facial edge line may also be interpreted as a female body outline, where the nose is the bust and the mouth is the vulva issuing forth life, in the form of the cosmic egg/chin.

Archaeologist Jimmy Groen of The Netherlands found this portable rock art face in the Belgian Kempen region in soils dated to 450,000 to 300,000 years before present. It has been interpreted by Ken Johnston as a polymorphic "art" piece which implies language and an ability to construct a 'world view,' or ideology, in Archaic sapiens. It also exquisitely exemplifies the egg/chin combination.

 Thailand face side 2

American example from Day's Knob, Guernsey County, Ohio. Find and photo and illustration by Alan Day, the landowner. This "human/bird/egg" motif was first described in America by Alan as seen in these two stone faces with zooanthropomorphic forms incorporated into the chin and many other figure stones from his site #33GU218 (Ohio archaeological inventory).

Here is a link to another recent posting from Tira's Thailand finds.

-kbj

A flint fish figurine surfaces in Ohio- while school of archaeologists swims away from investigation of figurative portable rock art because "It does not exist."

A flint fish figurine

Material is local high quality Coschocton blue flint

Mike Raver find, Zanesville, Ohio, Muskingum County

Detail of the fish mouth stonework which serves to disambiguate the figure enough to trigger its recognition as a fish. Mission accomplished for the artist, no more work required. This is not a "pre-form" of any kind, this is the finished piece.

(click photos to expand)

The mouth is depicted as being open on this side of the figurine

Mike notes it may have served as a scraper tool as well

(click photo to expand)

-kbj