The Dragon, a conglomerate, or a player in the human history?

As the title suggest, the question proposed, is whether the dragon was an actual creature that existed. A creature that coexisted with humans. A creature that competed for cave space with our ancient selves. Back in time when a our story was close to the stones. A time when the egg was a power source, and an endless supply of easily transported food. A time when a group of women created a culture mimicking the bee colony, including a queen bee.

As in the bee colony, the female had different stages in her life cycle. In the early stage of development, this young maiden would be encouraged to harvest a large flying raptor egg. It was a time when birds and eggs were in abundance allowing for the egg culture to flourish. The abundance of egg availability as a food source could not be denied. It was a time when a group of females, were able to harness the power of flight. With the capacity of birds to imprint with humans, these young maidens were able to collect eggs of large raptors and raise them as their own. These large raptors were able to grow fast with the large supply of eggs. Under the guide of the human surrogate parent, the bird would grow to enormous size and learn to transport it's young guide. These young females, small in stature, were bred to train and fly large raptors. A young maiden will eventually mature and move on to other activities such as breeding and lactation, but not before highflying as as an adolescent.

The above story is derived by looking at etchings on stones, cliffs, mountains, caves, and any other locations where ancient humans came in contact with stone. Of course, for some, this sounds insane, but it all makes sense if you include very smart humans, and a huge timeline. These ancient humans were incredible artist and far from minimalist. You can actually follow the design as it evolves and distills into the Asian writing we see today. It truly is an amazing continuum. I do not expect to have everyone jump on board, but it behooves you to so so, it is worth the ride. I believe everyone is capable of gaining the capacity to see this material and understand it with some exposure. There is little to no investment; a garden stone, your favorite rock❤️.

For those who are following my efforts, I have been invited on a dragon hunt. I have been following the image of the raptor maiden and found some wonderful colleagues on the Azores. I can feel comfortable discussing these narratives and feel challenged to look further into the possibilities of not only a giant flying raptor bird, but an actual dragon.

I had no problem spying the dragon😎😐. This design is set up so the subjects overlap at common patterns, saving on repetition. The design employs multiple layers to bring different subjects into focus . I expect to find the dragon to be displayed in the similar pattern as the other animals that are part of the design. As I have mentioned, the dragon as a life force has always been there as the collective presentation of the animal world. A real live dragon is different.

Although each monument/artifact/tool is as different as a human finger print, we can see overall patterns. One pattern is an inclusion of the lifecycle of each subject, including the skeletal structure. With some exposure to the design, the viewer can decipher the food web, as the subject is followed through the design. A real dragon may be displayed in this pattern also.I have covered some of this material on the Azores in a previous publication:

https://karolabryant.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-atlantic-connection-connecting.html

Above is a quick sketch of the monument below. It is an effort to demonstrate a simplified version of the design. It is an effort to show how the multi layers start to work together.

As most of us, as a child, I was taught that the dragon was a representation of the life spirit, and I saw it that way. The dragon was at times, a human comrade, other times, it was a beast to be slain. I suggest the human is also involved with the dragon. For now, I am content, sharing this combination of animal images, that together, render our dragon. The stone monument is layered with information, and I am focusing on the combination of animals that are suggested in the stone. Anyone can do this. You can choose your subject and follow it on your own. Here, the dragon is the subject for now, after all, we are on a dragon hunt.

Below I have highlighted the dog and the rabbit combined as they leap up the slope of the caldera of Terceira Island of the Azores. Some folks get offended with highlighting. I find highlighting helpful when keeping track of the different layers. This material is both easy to access but also very complex. There are visual tricks employed by the artist, such as spirals, as well as other elements, to organize large amounts of data. With some further exposure, the brain starts loading up the different patterns. With each exposure, the brain starts to organize more material. It is not long before it all starts pulls together and the dragon hunt begins🐉🀄🐲

As I have suggested in the past, this works as a precursor to the Asian writing we see today. I have begun to add simple version of the subject. I have added a few screen shots of searches for simple forms of Asian characters for dragon, dog, rabbit, bat, chameleon, and female.

An immergence into dragon parts will help get us in the mood for the hunt. I am working on defining the dragon form within the design. I found plenty of dragon parts sharing the space with bats, chameleons, and insects. I was just looking around before starting to write, and found this lovely video, where it actually mentions both the chameleon and the bat to describe the skeletal structure of the flying beast. I strongly suggest watching it. ❤️

https://youtu.be/R7aCdVJ46wE

Now that the brain is stimulated with some possibilities, we can start on our dragon hunt. Rather then jumping around different artifacts looking for dragons, I am sticking to one site. I want to start looking beyond the subject and move into the narrative. I have been trying to stress, to all that may have an ear or an eye, that this material provides a narrative. The design presents a series of images in a logical sequence. This series of images depict a storyline or action by the subject. There are patterns that are often followed, such as the lifecycle of each subject from conception to death. It also presents the food resource and placement in the food chain. If we are going to spot our dragon, I believe this area in the design is our best bet.

I have working on a rock cropping in the Azores. It sits overlooking the caldera looking away form the ocean. I am working at mapping out the many layers and how they interact. There is a lot of over lap and repetition which is appropriate for a complex form of communication, but there is also an overlying theme. I have worked on other stones where the subject is childbirth and development, another focused on dental treatments, below I have included a link.

https://karolabryant.blogspot.com/2022/01/conception-child-birth-and-development.html

I am trying to emphasize that this layered design is a complex form of communication, not just a series of icons. I have taken some advantage of the complexity to approach the subject of the dragon from different directions. I One approach is the dragon's place in the food web, or the lifecycle, or even its interaction with humans. I was pleasantly surprise to find the dragon with every approach. Let me take you back to the Azores site where the rock cropping is spilling over with the design.

In the image above, the stone cropping, with my colleague Maria Brito, has revealed a story focused on animals. I am hoping my work will be used as an educational tool to assist people that are interested in understanding how this ancient human communication works. The subject of animals is fun for all. I have been separating the different layers isolating different animals. I am not the best writer or artist, yet I think I am making some headway in communicating how this material works. Below I have included some of the different animals I have isolated. Please take note of the path/pattern the animals take as they move through the design. If the dragon part takes in the parade of animals we are familiar with, it could indicate that the dragon too, was part of the animal world. Below, I present the stone cropping from a slightly different angle. Please try to relax your mind as you let your brain starts loading the animal forms.

While dragon parts are still floating in our brains, lets follow up on the chameleon and bat as the video suggested. I was pleasantly surprised how well the design is in agreement with the suggestion. The artist use similarities in anatomy as areas to overlap the design. As the video suggest, there are similarities between anatomy of early flying reptiles with the chameleons and bats. In the images below I have highlighted some similarities and areas of overlap. Please scroll through and enjoy the exploration. I have also attempt to accentuate the motion portrayed by design. I was able to cut and paste a series of images presented in the stone as a series, allowing the viewer to experience the motion. Below, I begin with a sketch where the bat steps up.

I was able to find this little bat taking a walk on the web. If the dragon shares anatomical features with the bat, then it may share the mode of ambulation as well. We may have a window through which we can view how the dragon may have moved.

In the image below, I picked up on a little fruit bat as it dips it s tongue into a flower. As the bat makes its way over the rim of the caldera, it offers up a glimpse of its favorite meal then turns right and flies off to find a mate. You can also start to make out a little bird with beak pointing to the left, suggesting that the bird is sharing some anatomy as well as some nectar with our fruit bat. we start acknowledging the food web.

The image below shares some insights into bat behavior during breeding and copulation as the bats position themselves for action facing left. With the mission of feeding and procreation, our fruit bat flies off to live another day.

The next subject is the chameleon. I smile and shake my head is awe. The transition from the bat to the chameleon is seamless. I am employing transparent color flats along with highlighting to jumpstart the viewer to seeing this material as an actual language. Feel the action as the chameleon form waggles over the rim of the caldera, as it launches the tongue towards a tasty bug, and then another! The eyes of the chameleon can be followed, as it makes it way to the right, to join in courtship.

If the chameleon is presented with accuracy, along with a parade of other modern-day animals, and if the dragon is real in the mind of the artist, then it will be here too. I want to point out, how the highlighting the chameleon, has brought to attention the insect abdomen jutting out from the left of the image. The movement and anatomy of the chameleon's legs are linked to the leg action of insects. There is some nice spider action for those who are explorers. Below, I have isolated the chameleon forms found on the stone.

Chameleon in action

I was able to follow the chameleon to a nesting site. Here she deposits her eggs. If I am correct, this will be an important site. Many animals lay eggs, the artist will use this site to save the repetition of depicting eggs for every species. It also organizes the data for the viewer. This is area will be employed again as a nesting site. If you relax and take in the multiple predators surrounding nesting areas, this is a good time. There may be rodent or two. 🐀

As I am piecing this blog together I have stopped to see if there was some actual material depicting the chameleon in action, and this is a great video for that purpose.

https://youtu.be/KJtaIqahi3I

I am highlighting the animals mostly to document as a reference for future comparison. There are many layers and plenty of data. The highlighting helps organize and document, and I assure you, you can do this too. It does not happen right away, or all at once. Your brain loves this. It is like soul food for the brain. All that it requires is a favorite garden stone and a little exposure, and before long it starts coming together. I bet you were able to pick out the elephant before I even said the word elephants 😊😏. Below I have highlighted some elephant activity. I am not the greatest artist but with the help of the ancient humans, the images are sublime.

The elephant is beautiful here. The elephant looms large on the stone cropping. We can find both reference to African and Asian elephants. The humans who created this work were familiar with African and Asian fauna. Were there actual elephants on the Azores or did the artist bring the image of the elephant only in reference in their design?

In this blog, I will present the image of the original site without any highlighting often. I want to encourage the viewer to locate subjects on their own. Please take the time to find your own elephant in the design. As you view the image from left to right, please not the white stone on the bottom left. This white stone marks the birth of the quadrupeds. The white stone mimics the glistening amniotic sac as the female quadruped postures to give birth above. Right from the female giving birth, the design depicts the long legged adorable youngster.

I have included a slightly different angle of the same stone cropping. I find the elephant activity a delight. There are elephant trunks doing elephant trunk things all over this stone. It is obvious that the elephant was an important player in the ancient human story.

I have spent a lot of time on mapping out this stone cropping. In the image below I illustrate more of the elephant and one can start picking up some human activity around the elephant. Once your brain latches on to the elephant image, it should be saying, WOW😲😎😏. Once you see the elephant, you can not unsee it❤️😍. With that said, in order to move on to the next animal layer, I suggest you take a break. You can go out side, take a little walk, or make a cup of tea.

Now that you have cleared your palette, and with some refreshment, we can move on to the next subject, cattle. The large dark bull with its horns standing it's ground is a force recognized by the people of the Azores. Below the stone cropping displays the power or the bull as it charges. The female and offspring are vulnerable. For those who are understanding how the design works, it is good time to look for predators. While you explore the different depictions of cattle activity, keep you mind open to possible predators around the birthing rock.

The cattle are portrayed using the same birthing stone as the elephant. Here the cow postures above the stone and the followed by the endearing form of the calf. The bull is postured to defend the cow and calf. The action is sublime. I assure you, I am not talented enough to produce this work on my own. This documentation is possible with the guide of the ancient artist. I am merely highlighting, what is already there. I want to reemphasize this is archelogy. We are on an archeological dig. we are digging up material that has not been acknowledged for a long time. This material is being taken seriously as the academics catch up to the wonder.

The wolf is up next and his eyes can be seen looking head on, front and center. Elements of wild vs domesticated, such as flopping ears verses erect ears infer that humans were not only competing with the wild wolf predators, but also collaborating with canine. the large wolf enters the scene from the left and actually stepping up on the birthing stone on the lower left of image. The wolf activity can be followed as it leaps about chasing prey such as bunnies. Wolf activity can be followed as it leaps over into the other half of the stone cropping. In the right lower quadrant of the stone cropping the wolf den with mom and pups are happy to see papa wolf with rabbit for dinner.

Now that you have a little faith, let's jump directly to a new subject. I was astounded by this finding this Bactrian camel or Mongolian camel. This native to the steppes of Asia is populating the design with activity. Some folks that are feeling good about this type of communication, may be comfortable is picking up human activity around and on the Bactrian. Can you pick up on the suggestion of human use of Bactrian as a pack animal? A common pattern in the design is the reference of transportation of a pregnant human. It summons up the image of the Virgin Mary on the donkey as Joseph leads his family to safety. I have been suggesting that previous cultures have been looking to the stones for inspiration for a long time. I even suggest that the bible is purely an interpretation of the the design in the stones by those who claim the story in the bible was an inspiration coming directly from god.

The horned sheep are rearing up and celebrating life on the stone cropping. If you are also picking up on goats and other quadrupeds like deer, you are a fast learner. Your brain will start thanking you. This is real. This is amazing, This is by humans.

Every day is a new day and everyday, at least for now, there seems to be another animal to add to the list. Are you beginning to pick up a trend? The giraffe is also making use of the birthing stone. Could this be the story of Noah's ark as the animals disembark from the ark and make their way on to land? As they disembark away from the ocean and down into the protective caldera, each animal coming up and over the rim and turning right to copulate and repopulate the world.

Now that we are feeling confident with the path taken by the animals, we can make a confident calculation of where to start looking for the dragon as a separate entity. One could argue, that the actual force of the animal kingdom, as it makes its way over the rim, is our dragon. As the tsunami of animals swirl and undulate together, it does take the form of the dragon/worm wagging, leaping, swimming, diving, and flying up over the rim. I have focused on highlighting animals, doing my best to keep everything family friendly. I imagine an Ice age animal encyclopedia, and this rock cropping offers a ark full. In another study, I have actually referred to this stone cropping as Noah's ark, for what seems, an unending animal parade. Here, I do stop the parade for a moment, and introduce a human element interacting with the animal forms. Sometimes the stones pull you in different directions. We have been following a path that brings animal life up and over the caldera.

In the image below, the energy flows in the opposite direction. This is not the first time I have found the Ice age human in a jockeying position. I have highlighted the human form, from a birds eye view, as they ride. What is super interesting here, is that the animal that the human is riding can be seen as a menagerie of animals. To make easy, I have introduced our jockey riding a horse. You can pick up some of the horse's head tossing as it looks up and back at the jockey. You can channel yourself in to the action and join the ride. Now that you are onboard, note that the animal you are riding can be seen as a camel as well. With a blink of an eye, you may find yourself on an elephant, even a giraffe. Looks like humans were riding animals.

Below, I have isolated the human jockey figure. It appears to give reference to hair style and costume. With closer inspection there is also a little anatomy lesson, including the skeletal structure of the human.

Here the human figure plays a pivotal point in the design, as the animals pivot from species to species below the rider. It is at this junction that the dragon narrative began to give a thrill. We mapped out the path of the dragon as the force of life, as it comes up and over and the loops back up through from a birds-eye-view. Now, we can also explore the possible path for that literal dragon and it's activity, including human interaction. I am beginning to smell dragon! I have isolated the human figure below. Please remember that this image of a female with red tinged dreadlocks is not new, and here, we may be adding a flying dragon to her menagerie.

Below, I have started to map out what could be a dragon. If the dragon is fire breathing, where there is smoke, there is fire. These artist were excellent at depicting atmosphere, water, fire, and smoke. I have highlighted the path of the smoke and fire. If the chameleon can string up its tongue, and launch it as a arrow, belching gas, through a contracting muscular gizzard, containing volcanic flint stones, igniting the gas, is not so far fetched. ☺️ wow. I said it; a flying 🔥 belching beast.

The dragon, whether real or a metaphor, makes it's presence known. First we found the dragon as a steed to be ridden, and now we can follow its form as it comes over the rim towards us . As in the other animals presented in the parade coming over the rim, the dragon too, shows off his place in the food chain. Unfortunately for us it really looks like in this case the dragon talons are aimed at the viewer😟. I am also presenting the egg shape. Not far from the egg is the possibility of the cloaca. the dark cloaca shape bottom center. The egg shape is placed in the area consistent with nesting and birth.

There is a tendency when one first starts identifying the subject to start wanting to see everything at once. The brain reacts to this material as a child in a candy store. The brain wants to try every piece of candy in the image. You maybe sitting there saying to yourself, this is crazy, because you can see whales, squid, octopus, ant eaters, bugs, grubs and bats. It keeps on giving. Just as a smart child may pick up a dictionary and start reading it from the beginning, wanting to get the whole story, your brain may be wanting the same. Please enjoy. I have stacked the dragon, the chameleon, and the bat in the following images. It allows for comparison as the three subjects disembark on to the rim of the caldera to forage and populate. 😁😁😏this is me feeling groovy.

The next image was a biproduct form the creation of the motion series. It begins to isolate the dragon with egg and hatchling. If you notice that the dragon hatchling is occupying the same space at the human in the jockey position. It may indicate that the young dragon was also carried by the mother.

I am going to close this blog here. Of course, there is an enormous amount of material and sometimes hard to know when to quit. Everyday I encounter something amazing about who we are. It truly fills my heart. I think it may be interesting how the dragon is incorporated into the design around the world now that we have identified it. Please enjoy my movie efforts. I look forward to doing more with this technique. I feel it helps projecting how this is a complex design bringing what was once considered to be prehistory into focus. This is human history. It is history expressed through a series of images. It is not a language based on symbols using phonics but rather the universal communication relying on actual images; a silent movie. Thank you so much for looking.