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Two-Face
(Janiform) Figures
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Day's Knob Site
(33GU218) |
| These are Janus-like figures
with a face at each end, very common, typically with one
quasi-human face and another more bird-like. Note that the
bird face is usually rounded, with more of a mouth than a beak,
likely both for conven- ience in carving and to further convey
the "morphing" of bird and human. |
| In this explicitly detailed
representation (length 4 cm - 1.6"), the humanlike face
gazes straight on with, like many such "figure
stones", one eye open and
the other closed. Lower left on this figure, in profile, is the
zoomorphic component with the common big grin
(seeming to say "I know I'm here and now you know I'm here,
but no one else ever will"). |
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In the figures shown below,
both faces appear in profile, as is usually the case. |
| For comparison, below, this
stone from Italy shows the same
two-faced "janiform"
iconography. This is very common and long recognized in
European Paleolithic "portable rock art". |
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Below: A
worked sandstone in the same theme from Australia,
with the bird end extending downward to the right. |
| Below: A beautiful quartz
bird with a grinning humanlike face at the right (posterior)
end. Provided by Mac Poole in North
Carolina. |
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