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Bird-form and
Bird-Human-Form Sandstone Artifacts in
Australia
| These figure stones were collected
by the author in New South Wales in April 2006, in an area known to have
been inhabited for at least 40,000 years. They were all
surface finds, many of them from dirt roads graded through the
bushland. Improbable as it may seem, the similarities of the
images and their incorporated motifs to those at the Day's Knob site in Ohio
(33GU218) are unmistakable. They also closely resemble
Paleolithic artifact material from Europe, suggesting
the possibility of a shared symbology of very ancient and primal
origin, propagated over a long period of time across most of the planet. Given
Australia's geographical isolation from the rest of the world,
these finds were not really expected - but here they are... |
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| Standing quasi-anthropomorphic
figure looking skyward, with three (or more) figures emerging successively
from its belly (close-up below). |
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Two photos
above: The figure from additional perspectives. |
| The common theme
(badly weathered) of a human-like face (left profile) emerging from the mouth of a
crested
zoomorphic figure. |
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The flat back
surface of the standing figure, covered with a layer of red
ochre. |
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Close-ups of the red ochre, a
paste-like material quite distinct from the sandstone onto which
it is layered. At the laboratories of NSL Analytical
Services in Cleveland, Ohio, this was determined by SEM/XRF
analysis to consist of iron oxide, aluminum
oxide, silicon, carbon, and potassium, while the sandstone is (not surprisingly)
mainly silicon. |
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Below:
Bird and bird-human figures. It
is interesting that bird imagery is widespread also in
Australian Aboriginal cave art. |
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The circular indentation on this
piece has been assessed by a doctorate-level geology professor
and petrologist as almost certainly artificial. And note
the distinct eye, nose, and mouth at the left end of the figure.
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| Four views of the same
artifact. Note the carved grooves on two sides (top two
photos), directly
opposite each other. These have likewise
been assessed by a doctorate-level geology professor
and petrologist as probably artificial.
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| Length 6 cm (2.4").
The features are weathered, but this bird figure exhibits the
motif very common in the Day's Knob material, a quasi-human face
emerg- ing from the mouth of the bird. Below, at the top
of the rear edge of the stone, the also very common frontal
figure of a bird-human sending forth another creature from its
mouth (image width 1 cm (0.4"). |
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A classic "janiform"
figure - a face at each end. |
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Another
two-faced image - animal (or bird-human) left, bird right. |
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| Shaman-like human face carved
protruding from a large boulder, with a zoomorphic figure facing
right over the head.
(This was left in situ, obviously.) |
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