Bits and pieces

Lines in the middle

Another sample

Like a Rubik's Cube

Looking at certain stones made me think of dealing with a Ruby's Cube. Looking at many different planes one after the other. They are not simple stones. With a slight change of angle or a slight change of light, the beak of a bird becomes the mouth of a bear for example. On one " side", an animal, on the other a face. Or a face within a face. Sometimes very very small. I have never solved a Rubik's cube nor ever had the inclination to solve one. But these stones offer a challenge. I don't know anything like these.

A very small one

An unexpected scene of a kill

This happened last week.
Picked up this chert which had some pink in it .

Later on, in the evening, I took the dirt off for closer examination.
On its flip side I found this startling scene of an animal eating its kill, with the line of darker pink for its blood .

With amazing precision, the mouth tearing at the flesh is depicted.

 

The fate of a turtle

Many, many stories to be told. Recently I read a post on Ken Johnston's blog about a gentleman who has been studying these kind of stones for the last 50 years!

A couple of weeks ago, I picked this stone, attracted by the unusual shape and thinking that the rounded part had been faceted. On closer examination, it appeared to be a fossil. Then a fossil that looked like a turtle. Then a turtle being eaten by an animal. Then a smaller animal on top of the bigger animal. Then maybe some kind of whale or big fish on the other side...?
How amazing is that?

12" x12" square

A sample of what is found on any 12"x12 "square.

The digging technique

They are on the surface, one or two hoe deep and who knows how much deeper.

Shapes

And if it was not for the similarity of shapes ...

A sense of duty

I was just wondering why I keep posting. It must be because of a sense of duty. The duty to share what one finds. Is that what it is ?
For the third time, I cleaned my studio of stones. Too many. Overwhelming. I caught and released them in nature sending them with good wishes. I kept a number of trays, a collection of what I consider the best examples of tools and figure stones.
I became frustrated feeling like I was in kindergarten learning a new language. That somewhere I was missing the ability to understand, that logic and intuition were not enough, that maybe a sense was missing.
For a while, I gave myself the instruction :" No more stones inside the house! Just look !". This lasted for a couple of months.
But now they are back!

Ah! if it was not for those beaks....

It it was not for those faces....

3 of a kind

This is in response to Ken Johnston's latest post  and comment on the rarity of repetitions of shapes in rocks.
http://www.portablerockart.blogspot.com/2013/05/certainly-not-habit-of-nature.html
As I was sorting out  a tray of cherts, those three shapes stood out.

A rugged bunch

How can you explain something you do not understand?  you can't.
These look like nothing much. What? a bunch of chert pieces, nothing more.

(These were mixed with the other stones shown before.)

And yet...among those, I found this beautiful profile...

More on this one and others later.

I suppose (3)

9. I don't have a word for these shapes.

10.One side thinned , smoothed out

11.One side carved out, often at a 90 degrees angle.

12.One side broken

13. Rounded,smoothed

14 .Large- those fit in the palm of my hands/versus the big majority of the rocks fits between 2 or 3 fingers

15. Very small.

I suppose (2)

                                                       4. " Thins" ( my word for them). Thin and flat.

                            

5. Very sharp points.

 

 

6 Notched flakes.

7. Burins.

                                                                        8. Blades.

.

I suppose...

So far I had picked up what as on the surface and just a little under. Two months ago, I dug deeper, 8 to 10" down. To my amazement, I thought I had found, I suppose, a treasure trove of stone tools. Each rock felt in my hands like it had a purpose. The experience felt like as if I had been  locked in the storage room of an orchestra. I had looked at the instruments over and over for a long period of time and knew they were instruments without knowing what purpose they had nor what they could do.
I designed categories of shapes I saw over and over. Nothing scientific by any means. Just observation.
1. Triangles

2. Triangles with a flat base

3 Diamond shaped