The Stone Totem Pole

    

  I have been finding multiple images on stone tools, amulets, counting stones, and rock walls here in the state of Maine. The images are consistent in subject and placement like the numbers on the face of a clock. There are variations, but the overall patterns are consistent. Material is everywhere in Maine.

When I say multiple images, I mean more layers than that of an onion. I am an old so I've been spying this for years. The use of the pen with my Samsung note, I finally can purge this material. I hope you forgive my scribblings on the stones. I have steadily improved, but the true work of art is already in the stone. This material is fascinating and beautiful.

There is some consistent material that wraps around stone artifacts. Like a totem pole, images are intertwined but instead of stacked, they wrap around stone tools, amulets, counting stones, even on large erratics. I live in Maine, a hostile climate for even rocks. The land here is still rebounding from the last ice age. The top soil is insignificant, mostly trees and rocks. These rocks have a lot to say. Some of profiles seem to suggest knowledge of more ancient archaic features. The iconography is older than the stone work. It provides a timeline of peoples. People with different features and cultures and practices all represented on one stone.  The totem provides information of preferences such as food, textiles, costumes, and climate. I am really trying to organize this information in a time line form. I think it would help to understand the timeline goes far back in time.

    I am starting at a point where hopefully most can have some agreements. The following is a photo of the stone totem pole from Gobekli Tepe, I thankfully found on the internet.  We can agree that this was manmade and there is some agreements on dating.

  

  Above was my first attempt at communicating this material.  It is not a very good drawing and it took way too long. In this first publication there will be too much writing. I hope to switch it up quickly to cataloging stones with photography with tracing.

     The photography with the smart phone is adequate. Photography also works as an art form, making the act itself gratifying to me. Lighting is always super important as in most photography.  Using one source of natural light, coming from a low angle allows for better definition. The Samsung Note with the pen, is ideal for tracing and highlighting images worked into the stones. This format allows me to share with a sure hand. It is the fastest way to communicate this material. The uniqueness of each stone becomes personal. The familiarity between them gives them substance. 

     Continuing with the more familiar Gobekli Tepe stone totem, one can get their bearings on how this art form works. 

     Hopefully you are familiar with this stone totem pole. It is from Gobekli Tepe site in Turkey. There is some agreement by experts that it is man made. There is also some agreements on dates. Some experts suggest that the stone totem pole is degenerative work when compared to the T- pillars at the same site. Both are wonderful but there is more information to be found on the  totem pole. 

   

    We can start by looking at the full standing figure highlighted  in above. You can deduce from the image that the figure is clad in a lovely fur coat. The coat is so lovely that the person may have had contact with a good tailor. One can sense a suppleness in the leather as it hangs on the figure and could indicate profound knowledge of tanning. The antlered deer and long horned cattle totems decorating the base of the pole could indicate the preferred source of hides, as well as food,  and tools.

   Now continuing to the frontal view. I chose these photos of the same stone totem pole,  also thankfully found on the internet, for more  effective lighting. I have highlighted the bird motifs in the image below. The life cycle of the bird can be followed as it flows through the totem pole. Take the time to scroll in and get familiar with the bird forms and how they move through the design. You will be seeing this again and again like clockwork on all the totem stones.  The vulture symbolizes death and end to the life cycle.

    In the next image below I have highlighted the mother with child and one other family member all together in the warmth of the bear cloak. This to will be added to almost all totem stones. 

 In the image below of the same totem pole reveals the lifecycle of the bear highlighted in blue.

Please note mother bear holding cub.

   The bear icon highlighted in blue above with nose pointing to the right is also the right breast of a human mother. The left breast is the head of a bird facing left. I can make some interpretations here. I believe it is a reference to summer vs winter. If a mother gave birth in the warm season it was the season of the birds. If the mother gave birth in the cold it would be season of the bear. 

  The figures are highlighted in yellow above the mother goes through the birthing process.  In iconography of the lifecycle and birth is a common thread in the totem pole, there are a lot of references to birth, mother, bird, and bear. What seems consistent is the forearms of the bear cloak wrapping around the front. This suggests that these folk bedded or nested in a bear cloak for childbirth during the cold season. 

    The movement of iconography is the Art. The capacity to include so much information, in one design, and on one stone, is worthy of study. The way artist can move from form to form like smoke is what sets this Art form apart from the rest. If you live anywhere along the glacial /tundra/ steppe areas around the globe and into the woodland times, you will find this material around you. To emphasize the capacity of the intellect and complexity of design, I will continue on with the totem pole. I hope to enrich your visual vocabulary with an established artifact. I am looking forward to you joining me in the venture of cataloging artifacts from the state of Maine.

      From this perspective totem takes the form of a skin kayak in the water. There is a streamline effect as the figure paddles in surf. With a slight shift around the the totem pole and the figure puts down the paddle and starts fishing.

  Finally for this demonstration of reading iconography there is one more concept to include. 

  The concept of possible bear burials pops up. The imagery often presents a human bundled in a bear cloak. There appears to be a strap that wraps around the burial bundle and then a medallion like stone placed on the upper abdomen. The bear cloak was the survival suit of the ice age. Folks gave birth in the bear cloak and then bundled back in their bear cloak to return to the bear den at death. The sky burials are well established, where the body is offered up to the birds on a platform.  

   Hopefully this exercise will open the door to the rest of this blog as we explore the stone totem s of the State of Maine. I hope you enjoy.