Archaic Profiles on The Totem Stone






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The stone totem is everywhere on the northern hemisphere, with the push and pull of glacier ebb and flow. The material is patterned like clockwork. There are variants related to time and location, but the pattern is consistent.



     I hope I have pulled back a few curtains that have held back a lot of this information. In this case seeing really is believing. This material is abundant. Thousands of years worth of napping leaving almost no stone unturned . In this next family of stones I have arranged them with a teaspoon for measure. The stone I am focusing on is the upper left. All three stone are arranged is a similar orientation just as you would a clock with its numbers. You can follow the profiles around the stone as you would follow the numbers on the face of a clock. they are all totem stones.  Below are two views ( front and back) of the upper left stone. Please take a moment to really look. This is our archeological study. This is our dig site if you will, luckily everything is on the surface. It is very user friendly you just need to believe your eyes. A lot is new to me and I am just getting a hold of the immensity of it all. I have started around the very outermost profile and work my way in. If I stop every time I saw something new I would go mad. It would be like trying to read the dictionary for fun. The spiraling design seems natural at this time and will allow some sense of organization.  





      This stone adz/ax has some mild water erosion and has retained a great deal of detail. I have found that some of the stones, the rendering of the surface textures, such as skin, fur, and feathers are breathtaking. This stone in particular is covered with furry and feathery things. Lots of bird forms here... sky burial reference as I see it. All the other totem elements are here and are just as sublime. If Da Vinci had been a troglodyte he would have created this. 

     My first understanding of this material is from the view point of an artist. There is an immense amount of this work. It appears in different styles and qualities, and like all human endeavors, there are a few geniuses at work. I feel  this stone has that quality. This whole stone quivers with life forms; feathers turn to claws that turn to fingers. 





       Whomever created this stones was transcribing the known history of their time. This first archaic face shown below is given the credit  for the first to create embellishments on stone tools. As always I may be totally wrong, but for know this is how it goes.  This energetic looking fellow depicted below looks happy and eager to share his lifecycle and contributions to the progression of the totem stone. I like to think of him as  habilis the handyman. I will give a quick introduction to the outer totem profiles here and continue on in the next publication to further explore each character.



 


     
   The next profile as we spiral upwards is a bearded fellow with a heavy brow. He dose not have a protruding jaw. I tend to think of this fellow as cro magnon. This particular totem profile often is associated with feathers and birds. 



   I have come to relate to this next face  highlighted below as peking man. His nose is broader.  This particular character is associated with the bison totem. 



  This sweet face below is what I have been relating to as possibly the Neanderthal. In the following two images the same stone was turned up side down without flipping it over to continue the spiral around the outer aspect of the stone. Early morning ambient light, with additional, one source full spectrum light at a low angle has been used here. Different qualities of light will reveal different aspects or the sculpture.


   

 

     I post the image without the distraction of my highlighting. Hopefully this will encourage the viewer to acquire their own identification of the material. The image below  shows a face highlighted in light yellow facing the upper left corner. The face has another Neanderthal like nose. I have spent a little time mapping out some lines on the headdress. The colors chosen are purely due to finding the brightest and most contrasting colors. Sometimes this additional highlighting is an exploration and sometimes can forecast the next part of the totem design. Please feel free to explore the possibilities. 


 

     
   This last image below may be the last profile, although there is a big possibility that there are more. The profile is highlighted in white and facing left. It is serine. I hardly think it needs highlighting. It really speaks for itself. The softness expressed is palpable, if you were to lightly blow on the figures face the little hairs would be disturbed and wake the man.



 
 There seems to be a human attached to each totem animal. I have definitely noticed a saber cat, so there needs to be another human profile here somewhere. So far all I have spotted is the face clenched in the big cats jaws; not a very good look. the head of the cat with big teeth is facing right dragging a human under it. In the next few blogs we will be looking at these characters individually, including the poor fellow in the jaws of the cat. I hope you are finding this as fascinating as I do.  





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