| The smaller of these
characteristic bird-form figures was next to and vertically
beneath the larger one, facing in the same direction, at a depth
of roughly 20 cm. These have a hard leather-like texture,
but are apparently composed of bituminous pitch, geologically very
much out of natural context. They
were among the very first artifacts discovered at the site in
1987, along
with simple bifacially edged hand axes, a scraper, and a tool
preform. Within the folds of the larger piece was a hair
about a centimeter in length, determined by microscopic
examination to be probably human (imbricate scale pattern).
|
