What is the Maine Stone Totem doing in the Wonderwerk Cave?




   In a recent publication about the Wonderwerk formation in the Kalahari desert, it is described as the oldest home ever found. It states that the cave was occupied 1.8 million years ago. It is said to contain the earliest records of tool making and fire. In the article there is a large stalagmite pillar in the middle of the photograph. A colleague had recognized the same patterns in the pillar as in the totem designs I was finding here in Maine. In this article the researchers are using the orientation of the clay particles and the history of the magnetic field at the time the particles settled on the cave floor to find dates. They are also able to get information from grains of sand collected on the cave and the varying isotopes to further workout the time frame for stone tools and debris left behind in layers by our ancestors. It was pointed out by my colleague that this may shed some light on when the totem design took shape. 
     I was able to contact the McGregor Museum Kimberly, South Africa. I sent some pictures that I had highlighted and explained how interesting it might be to find some dates associated with the actual totem. The archeologist are mainly looking at the cave floor, treating the cave floor as the actual artifact.   


In the picture below there is a common technique of layering profiles in what appears to be in chronological order. In the figure seated with his hands on his knees has a series of profiles. 




   The image below is put together by Pedro Duarte who has also been finding the totem design in his area. He too is eager to get some idea where and when the pattern of the totem began. 


    I did get a response from the museum. They where very kind to send another picture of the pillar. They also explained. That to them the pillar was only a massive stalagmite which has formed over millennia near the entrance to Wonderwerk Cave. In the wet season there is a drip from the ceiling of the cave so that it actually continues to grow. A fine moss grows on it as well which becomes quite green in the wet summer months (photo below was taken a month ago). I would not at all disagree it is a huge stalagmite, but I also see it as a totem design sculpted by early man at some point. Below are a few more views of the giant stalagmite. I may be totally wrong as always, but I am seeing the pattern of the totem very much as seen here in Maine. 
  




Once again thank you so much for looking. 





 










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