Conception, Child Birth, and Development in the Stone

I am drawn to this little feminine scraper pictured above demonstrating front and back views. I believe as a female artist myself, that I may be looking at work done by a fellow female artist. I have been watching this stone interact with the light throughout the day. With each passing moment, as the sun moves across the sky, the stone reveals different subjects. Catching that one moment when the light and camera are in sync with the stone takes patience and practice. In the image above, I was able to catch the light to reveal the conception birth and development of a human as it works around both side of the scraper. To reassure folks, I could be wrong about everything, but with that said, there is support in the repetition of this form of communication/art throughout the stones. This repetition is important in confirming and supporting the images and subject matter. There is always some reassessing of subject. I have been referring to the soft feminine profile peering to the lower right as a young maiden. The young maiden is almost in every stone. It was not until I began to pursue the child development topic, that I picked up the profile was also the child loosing baby teeth. I have noticed that the profile matures from the suckling lips of the infant to the loosing of baby teeth of the child

At times I am surprised by new images while comparing patterns in the stones. In this case I was looking for the beaver to compare the treatment of the beaver hide in different stones. When comparing different scrapers I was able to find that the beaver hide was being used to swaddle the infant. In the stone it demonstrates how the infant was tucked into the beaver hide with the beaver tail intact and folded up to support infant in an Ice Age baby carrier.Through this process of identifying patterns and documenting patterns I can start really understanding the beauty and complexity of Lithic Literature.

I have been developing layers with Adobe illustrator that will allow me to separate and isolate the iconography. I have to correct myself here because I am seeing more than just icons. The images flow like sentences. The images interact with each other creating complex communication and in this case this stone is an anatomy lesson in conception, child birth and development. I have included the cross section of the lactating breast tissue and fetus with placenta that I thankfully downloaded from the internet. If you are able to zoom in on the stone below please note that the fetus is actually reaching out and pointing to the umbilical cord. The pointing gesture is a common tool used by the artist to lead the viewer about the design. You can also notice that in the stone the fetus actually can be seen growing in the womb.

If you are following along with your own stone and you are finding lots of boobies, it is okay. Lactation is a big subject for the ice age folk. When looking at the stones you need to match the breast anatomy to the subject. The design will often include the life cycle of other animals including the bear. Be aware that you may be looking at the bear lifecycle and may need to orient the stone differently to pick of the human boobies. Do not give up... it's there. I have been informed that I need to keep it short and interesting to keep readers entertained. But before we turn the page to the next topic, I did just pick up a favorite topic among paleontologist 💛. It is no new news that everybody poops, but here is a sweet reminder that with a good latching to the breast to prepare for a baby bowel movement. Timing is everything. The little baby playing with it's toes and mama's nipple can be spotted in the group of stones presented, and many other artifacts.

So to keep it short, Below you will find the images I was able to highlight using the Illustrator program. I hope it helps. The first series covers conception and birth. In the series covering conception it illustrates anatomically correct male and female parts and how they interact and react. The conception and birth taking place in the warmth and protection of the bear hide. The artist of the time were exceptional rendering fur and hair, including the pubic hair. The second half of the series covers human development.

I am closing with some closeups. I am new at the whole transferring of images. I am hoping you find this as interesting as I do. I am hoping to follow up on the other animals on this same stone.