Lithic literature from the base of Mt Brazil on the Azores to the Rosetta stone.

This is the front and back of a standing stele at the base of Mt brasil. I was brought here by a colleague, Maria Brito. Brito has been working with Mendes and myself and others trying to document these stone's content and purpose. Brito and I were allowed to explore the caves and Spanish fort. I have included a cluster of these images from that hike at the closing of this blog. This is a stele in front of the base at Mt Brazil. It has the layered material we have been exploring. This is Azores Rosetta stone. I have had this discussion before; Menhirs fall short in their definition. So I insist these are all Stele andI will stand on that. I am persistent 😏. It is my only super power....persistence.

I have become familiar with the form; A thin slab of embellished stone echoing the form of a hide. It is often forgotten that a major resource for early humans and pre human was the meat, bone, and hide. Unfortunately the organic material did not withstand the test of time. The early humans did however, obsessively record almost their every move in stone. I understand the fractal design of the universe that the mind of the ancient human occupied. The mushy math the universe uses to express itself.

The Coriolis parallels the expression of this fractal design. Any force that comes in contact with another mass will start the Coriolis action. I am speaking of this now because there is a difference between simple math and the conscious effort to record ones own history. Early humans were part of the world at a level engaged with the natural math of the universe. The unit standard of measure was the human hand in most cases but other body parts are used as part of that standard. Although the early masons used this fractal math, they took it a step further, by adding a low relief design that they used to communicate their history.

I have become confident that this design is more than the fractal design. The pattern is concrete. There are local differences, but the over all format is consistent going back to pre human species. As always it is the time line that makes this all possible, as well as very strong intelligent courageous humans.

The idea that some propose, that the slab of stone is broken, may not be true. A lot of times the origin of the design is more about the design of their textiles of the times. In this case the stone tablet may have been the stone pelt or animal cloak. It followed the form of something familiar. The stone pelt.

I also found similar stele used on the Canarias, as gravestones in NYC in the cemetery by Trinity Chapel. The most exciting thing was identifying the same form on the the Rosetta Stone.

If some folks feel that this is pure art and should be experienced in some state of mind that art is to be experienced, I totally agree. The quality of art in a lot of this work is outstanding. At the same time , you can look at the elegance of the of letter only for so long....eventually you have to start reading. These are words. They carry on in sentences. They speak just as clearly as the Rosetta stone hieroglyphics, but it provides more information. With close inspection the Rosetta stone has this same type of design below the the hieroglyphics as the tombstones have below their epitaph in the Trinity Chapel cemetery. The same design is found on stele from the Canarias, and at the base of Mt Brazil, Azores.

I am very thankful to Maria Brito who brought me to Mt Brazil. The stone slab is about 3 ft tall, (stupidly, I did not measure it!) It is situated at the base of Mt brazil as Brito and I hiked up to the Spanish fort and caves. It was a good indicator of the fun to follow. I can not stress enough the joy I feel to see stones as the monuments of information. This information is available. It just takes the time to partake and look. So, before anything else, I want to thank anyone who is following. The more you look the more you see. I will repeat the images as we explore the design. It allows the brain to refresh and find the image on its own. As your brain reboots it will start to see new material. The next few images we will explore the surface of the stone slab at the foot of Mt Brazil.

The waterfowl showing off her beautiful eggs and new hatchling is always endearing. This part of the design is very consistent throughout most of my blog.

I do not claim that I, in any way, improve the stone's design, there are just soooo many layers. By highlighting the different designs , I can keep track of the multiple layers on these stones.

You would think the the porous bubbly texture would be a deterrent, instead it is welcomed as additional surface area. Throughout this series I am just skimming the surface for style and orientation. I try to start picking out the design. I am focused at this time on animals making it family friendly but I do trip over humanity. I am in the same frame of mind as when I am working on a Sudoku puzzle. I can start mapping out content. As I follow what I pick up as ram's horns also picked up serpents, trunks, even the mane of a lion. The animal forms seem endless. I love animals so I am delighted with the subject. I am even more delighted with the images of extinct animals as well.

I am always looking for a skullcap. I am looking at head gear with quick release straps. This head gear often is decorated with animal hide and feathers. There are some beautiful human profiles and three-quarter views on this stele. The head on views are there as well. These views will turn and age before your eyes. It takes a little practice or exposure.

There is reference of humans swimming with larger animals. The larger animals such as cattle, goat, sheep, even an elephant's trunk are assisted by human hands to keep airway above water.

I have mapped out the human lifecycle before and you are welcome to explore my previous blogs. Above I begin to see hints of the artist rendering of the human lifecycle.

I was able to capture the happy mouth munching and crunching a piece of fruit. There is a link to a tree/mast and boat designs. There is always a reminder to the sailors to bring their vit c supply to avoid scurvy.

The next view is the other side of the same stele at the base of Mt Brazil. It was taken at the same time of day. It is a hard volcanic stone with lots of surface area. It is durable, and without the destructive effect of freezing and thawing, the volcanic stone slab is a good choice for recording important information. As I have mentioned I am just skimming the surface of the design and focusing on animals. I am focusing on what a stone age children's encyclopedia would look like. As you find and highlight different animals do not be startled by ancient human activity around each animal subject. I will focus on the animals due to their quantity. The opportunity to see illustrations of stone/ice age animals sounds like a fun animal hunt.

This has a feel of a large cat. It is scary. The large cat overlaps with a resting large bovine/deer/goat form. I hope the sleeping cattle wake up and escape before the tiger attacks!

I am moving on to the next subject which is a stele from the Canarias.

This multilayered stele from the Canarias has geometric forms which probably have meaning. Although I am focused on the animal theme, I am always looking for that skullcap headgear. Let us say I have it in my peripheral vision. Another subject in that peripheral vision is boats. All the designs have a layer about boats. I always skim for boats and their treatment in the stone.

I would love to hang around the Canaries but I will have to revisit them another time.

I am suppose to keep my blog short and entertaining but it is also an archeological study. So forgive me if I am not entertaining enough 😁I am trying. As far as the length it is hard to know when to stop, but we are just getting to the Rosetta stone. I am always looking for ways to date material. Whether it is style, content, form of artifact and in some cases dated by actual scribe, there are always potential timelines. The Rosetta stone does include dates, but I have no idea when they were applied to the stone slab. I suspect that the stone chosen by the scribe applying the hieroglyphics was much later. It was recycled by the scribe, who may not have even been aware of the design already in the stone.

I am not suppose to pick out human activity but this just jumped out. As always I am looking for that skullcap with quick release straps and decorations.

In the image above the face seems tilted into the wind. the face begins to transform in to a boat and sails. If you relax you can start picking out the different boats that were on the Canarias stele.

I was able to pick out the munching crunching of the crunchy apple on the stele of Mt Brazil. The technique of portraying munching and crunching is repeated in many stones. Here on the Rosetta stone the munching and crunching is not so family friendly. Cradled in the claws of a large cat, is the head of a human youngster. The large cat seems to be enjoying crunching through the human skull. It is a good reminder to wear your quick release skullcap helmet as a defense against these man eaters, especially your children.

There are landscapes and water scenes with boats and human reference.

Lovely bunny scene. The bunny has to watch for birds of prey from above. There seems to be a human link with the bird rabbit connection.

The elephant in the stone is always thrilling. There is a lot of human interaction with the elephants.

With every animal there is a human linked to it. The human is shown harvesting and processing it for their use in textiles and other resources. Human activity around the particular animal will include migration, husbandry, training and etc. The time references on the Rosetta refer to types of humans species not individuals. They are delineating the different ages of glory for each human species and the images you are seeing is a portrayal of humans in the stone. Their portraits followed by their history...layered. 😉it's a lot to say...but I am persistent. I stand my ground. I plant my sword. 🤺.

The last stele is from the Trinity Chapel in NYC. These are photographs I took when visiting NYC years ago. I will add a link to the blog I presented covering some of the content on the Trinity Chapel stele.

https://karolabryant.blogspot.com/2021/04/bear-burials.html

With only a few lines I can pick up horse activity with full mane and tail. There is also boat activity as the crew works the sails. The human faces are sublime.

There is a reference to dogs. There are floppy ears and wet noses as man's best friend part takes in activities.

It is going to take a few tries. I do believe with have some extinct animals present. There seems to be a north American ice age giraffe like animal. I also have peeking of an animal with a short trunk with a relatively long neck.

The lobster and crab dinner looks spectacular. The similar arrangement can be found in the early Greeks work covered in an earlier blog. Please feel free in exploring my previous publications. I am not the greatest writer but the material is worth my efforts.

https://karolabryant.blogspot.com/2022/02/from-maine-to-greece-illustrator-series.html

Here there is a dog and cattle interaction, could be herding or hunting.

The rest of images of the rest of the hike up to the caves of Mt Brazil of the Azores. I was lucky to be staying in a small fishing port with ancient walls. The fishing port was directly across from Mt Brazil. My place was behind the local grocery and under the cathedral tower. I was directly across from the fishing cove.

This the end of Mt Brazil that has a monumental façade. I look forward to revisiting this site. I was able to see this from my porch. I have not filtered through these photos. feel free to look around. I will definitely be back to review a lot of these photographs.

I have been hard at work. These are photos from Mt Brazil. I have been living for a month on the Azores documenting stone work created by humans. The Spanish fort is full of these designs. It tells me that as main land colonist used the local inhabitants to build the fort. The local masons, forced to go underground by invading colonist, still continued to incorporate their design. the masons on both the mainland and early inhabitants, were clinging to old characters of the ancients. I often approach medieval period with a similar approach as the cathedral of Notre dame. There is still remnants of the old order and history of the human beings.