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Face
Emerging Egg-Like from a Bird's Posterior
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| A face (right photo) emerging
egg-like from a bird's posterior in an apparent theme of
regeneration. Note also the straight incision marks, which
are common but of unknown significance. All tests
performed so far on other stones like this (cross-sections and thin
sections for microscopic examination) indicate that these marks are
artificial. |
| Below: Apparently the
same motif, complete with mouth and eye, in a mammoth ivory bird
carving from Hohle Fels, Germany, ca. 30,000 years
BP. (Length 47 mm, 1.85") |
| The egg-like emergence of a
secondary figure is a theme appearing in ancient "portable
rock art" in many parts of the world. Above is
a beautiful example in flint, in which the head of a small bird
exits beneath the tail of the primary figure - from the
collection of Ursel
Benekendorff in northern Germany. |
|
A megalith in
the same theme, near Bollendorf, Germany. Photo
from Frank Pries. |
| A small flint "Venus"
from Ursel Benekendorff's German
collection, rather unusual in that instead of emerging from the
belly, the new life form exits from the posterior like an egg -
actually pretty much in the shape of a bird head here.
These small Paleolithic "Venus" figurines, symbols of
fertility and regeneration, are common in Europe, incorporating,
at least poten- tially, both symbology and utility.
Amateur archaeologists in Europe have recognized and presented
these symbol-tools for decades, only to be dismissed by the
professionals and academics. But just recently, the sudden
awareness of these on the part of professional archaeologists
has been announced with great fanfare. (Click here
to see a description of these "newly discovered chipped
stone versions of Venus figurines".) |
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