Back In Maine with a Retrospect.: Finding Talons in the Stones.

     I feel like we have been to southern Africa to Greece To The Azores and back again. I am glad to touch base back here in Maine. I feel, so far, that the idea of a Lithic Literature might hold up. Even the idea of a precursor to the Chinese character feels more comfortable. From All the connections with other friends around the Atlantic, our stones in Maine fall in to place. By exploring other locations, I have been able to better focus on some interesting layers of the design. One of which is the very large Raptor Talons. After seeing on the Azores what could be read as dragon talons, I have returned to my home stones to find talons as well, and very big talons they are! 

   The following series of images are from a large adze/axe, could be hafted or not depending on use and availability of materials. The axe has some real weight to it and feels large in my big hand. All the hand grips can be found and my hand fits in as if I was a little girl in my dads slippers. The garden stone has been keeping me close company for many years. I know it well, or so I thought. Of course the birds and costumes were on the radar. The reference to the animal world in this art form can not be missed. The textiles and costumes created from the hide and bone can be seen in the depictions of ancient folk rendered by the artist. We have noted some bird regalia in previous post. The Bird cloak starts with the head and beak as headdress with beak visor. The wings of the large bird often drape down the sides of what appear to be human adults of impressive stature. What I am trying to point out, we have been looking at some very large birds, and with these large birds, come large talons. 

  

After seeing my hands grasping the stone, it may be a little easier to flip over to raptor talons. I tried to manicure my nails a little to create a little differential. I hope now we can agree on the bouquet of talons below. 

The next image is a composite of stones mimicking flying talons. This group of stones are found on the Azores. I have been picking up a lot of mega flying raptors here in Maine and the Azores. Finding similarities and patterns is the game, and here we have a winning hand, or I should say talon <3.

 

  Now that I have you a little in the mood, there is something that is wracking my brain. As I see it, man has been using visual aids to communicate since we opened our mouths and picked up a stick. It is what humans do. I guess that is what I see as human. With that type of extended timeline, along with the tremendous human WILL, we, have been Lithic-literally <3, recording our history in stone. What has been sitting in the back burner of my mind is: What happens with all the memory and understanding of the world, when a bottleneck occurs?

    In human history there are big hints and signs of previous catastrophes, with floods, impacts, tsunami, eruptions, reversals, and many others. It really does not take long for a culture to loose it's memory. We do it all the time. A bilingual family can quickly loose It's first language in a couple of generations, leaving no accent. What I am suggesting here is that the oldest presentations of this art form could really go back to Erectus and Neanderthal.  These exceptional humans went out of their way to record for us, all we needed to know to succeed on earth. It was so important, that they recorded it in stone. Surely, if etched in the bedrock and every stone tool, token and stele, surely then, we would remember. 

   We forgot, only to be rediscovered by the next group to occupy the stone. With each rediscovery of the images left in the stone, there came a flurry of stories and images to explain and interpret the content. We saw the early Greeks with the story of their Gods and their love for Persephone. I always thought it odd that it Persephone, being so sweet, would need a love potion to have anyone fall in love with her. I suspect that if Persephone was the interpretation, of the female with large proboscis, large lips with extra large teeth and receding chin, that we are seeing in the stones today, it may explain the need of the love potion. In addition, she had light colored eyes and bushy hair.  

  The Ancient Greeks also picked up the three headed dog of hades, which can be explained by the practice of the ancients of depicting animal's lifecycles. Animals are usually depicted from embryo to skull, bones and hide. In the case of the dog it appears as a male which will include a skeletal structure, female will have the fetus, and young adult, puppy; the whole works. The different aspects of the dog's life is put into motion with art techniques. This could have been easily interpreted as a three headed dog by the early Greeks. I'm sure they saw a rise in love potion stocks after that rendition of the lovely lady in the stones.

 The stone below gives you a glimpse of of the Greeks Persephone looking to the left with her full lips parting to reveal her dentation. Her eyes can be perceive as open or closed. As a sculptor, one can create dark or light eyes by creating shadows to darken the iris. The artist instead kept the eye in light. There is another large nosed lady with large eyes looking to the right. If you feel good about that, notice how the nose is linked to a standing females large protruding pregnant belly to the right. But before she got that way, she shows herself with her buttock linked to the large nose, and turning inward in a lithe body of a receptive maiden. I could go on a long time. It is super fun. I hope you can enjoy this too. It truly is a language.

 

   We can go on and talk about Judaism and Christianity and the use of Lilith, or look at the spirit of the Amazons. I do believe that a lot of what we see in the stones today, was seen and interpreted by previous folks, and used for fodder for their own designs. As a printmaker myself, engraving metal, stone, and wood, we get very close to the surface of the medium. Printmakers often pick up a magnifying glass to see exactly where to burnish or not. After looking at the Durer print below and comparing it with the design in the stone above. I am feeling the printmaker inside me say, he was transcribing the lines from a stone very much like my garden stone above. 

The interpretations of the subject by a particular culture, sometimes tells more about the interpreter then the actual art. Knowledge, in this situation, can really open the mind to the possibilities. What do we know now, that Durer did not? Does this new knowledge warrant the second look? Oh <3, Absolutely!

     The story of Lilith is so powerful that leaving it out of the bible in the annex of folklore, did nothing but  amplify curiosity of young women to come. Now that we know more of the ancient genetics and many other recent discoveries, do we have the character to look at this work with eyes and mind open? One helpful trick, is to leave your judgement at the door. Life at times hugs the stones to survive.   

  

 We could be looking to separate the impossible from the improbable. Hopefully, with better insight, we can give this exquisite being some love and recognition.  With our new understanding of the capacity of this Lithic Literature, maybe there is more information to be found. Below I am noting the large raptor like birds. Each bird with its anklet and tether. If you were wondering what the items in her hand may be? I think that is what they are. I am looking at the raptor maiden. Sometimes these new layers in the stone reveal themselves only to never be unseen again. 

As a grand finale, I present a series of images. the first go back to another good standard, the stone totem pole from Gobekli Tepe site. The purpose for this retrospect is to show how this new layer, representing the story of the Raptor Maiden, holds up. 

                                

 

I picked up a lovely little bat flying in the Left shoulder area of the stone in the center stone above. We may be interpreting a night scene. It could be that the raptor of choice was also nocturnal.  

So much to see and so little time. The Raptor Maiden may have been our eyes in the skies. It explains all the super large geoglyphs around the world. Many only discovered after flying over sites. It may explain the early  expansive knowledge of land masses and navigation routes. The idea that these early navigators had eyes in the skies begins to sound sensible. 

Please feel free to look for more images in the pics below. I want to thank you for looking. It is a good beginning. 

 

As I flash a few Asian characters your way, the goose is repeated below the raptor in the second character. This design is repeated in the stone from the Azores. 

 I am so grateful for being able to share my observations with you. The purpose of this blog is to mostly document and share material. Please feel free to share. I hope you are as entertained as I am. Thank you.