A bird tool

Turned around on all its 4 sides, this looks like a tool and a bird too.

Cone rocks with a flat base

Rows.2

Rows 1

Last week I dug some trenches at the depth of a hoe. Here is what I found.

In a lump of clay

Who did this?

2 birds standing side by side or on top of each other...

The quantity

These come from another spot. A good number of pebbles, some broken. At every step, there are microliths mixed with the medium size and larger rocks. They are rectangular with a sharp point, or triangular, or very flat. Again some are in the shape of birds.

Some recent finds

The terrain

The little wolf

What is interesting is that as the stone stands it portrays an animal on one side and a human profile vice-versa of the stone. There are also several heads( animal/people) with the eye and mouth at the correct distance. One could say that with that kind of stone which a lot of little holes that nature " made" those. But there are too many to believe that these are just coincidences.

Not much

These don't look like much at first sight. Nothing spectacular. Yet, there are dozens of " hidden" images on them. And hidden is maybe not the right word because they are there. It is just that they are not always easy to see, the images don't always jump at you. In any case, these stones have filled me with hours of wonder, one by one sitting next to my computer. I have taken little breaks, taking a glance at them, sometimes seeing something new, sometimes seeing the same thing and still feeling satisfied or wondering.

Bulging eyes

This one is about the neck and head of an animal. The eyes are with the theme one eye open and one eye closed and look like they are bulging from the head.There are also 2 circles on the side, possibly eyes also. The bottom of the stone is flat.

The grip

Here is an example of an animal fitting nicely in the grip of my hand with the head showing up.I have noticed this phenomenon several times. Or maybe it was made to fit in some other wood/other instrument...There are 2 very good grooves on the top and at the bottom.

The feel and the look

There is a certain feel and a certain look when I pick up a stone and when I just know this is a figure stone. It's about the way it feels in the hand, the weight of it, if it has curves, some pummeling, some cuts, some holes. Like this one. It's interesting that in some way the cuts, etc.. were more visible than when washed. The stone covered with dirt was like a black and white painting with the texture seen with the different values. But anyway here it is with some of its companions. And here washed. Could it be some animal with a large mouth or on the other side an animal eating another?

Lines

I have just started to pay attention to lines. These 3 stones kind of pushed me into it. The lines are going against the grain of the stone. Some lines stop abruptly and some intersect. One could think at first sight that these were made to help start a cut to make a tool just like scoring a piece of thick glass before cutting it. And it could be. At the same time there are other tings going on next to those cuts that imply that there is another intent. It will take time to find out. I've already seen one little face in these crevasses. (see bottom middle).

New birds on the block

Jean-Paul's girlfriend?

It might come with the microliths

...the context, the situation of these stones and what they mean. I am more and more fascinated with them. While some of them look pretty straight as tools when their point is very sharp, others do look like birds with the curve of the head or the hint of a wing ( see those on the right of the picture). As I observe the different mixes of stones, there are some constants like the next 2 pictures. This a new category that I had taken for refuse so far, but there is a constant in the shape and size of small cubes with several sides.

A mouth

When there is a line carved in like the one on the left, this can very well be the way to show a mouth or a snout or a beak. On the top of this stone, there are 2 birds facing right with tiny holes for an eye and tiny beaks delineated.

The edge

The edge of the stone here is not used for scraping but for "artwork". I hope I can convey somewhat with this profile how 2 heads are interlocked- the mouth of the top one being used for the eye of the lower one. The mouth has been chipped off, it's a tiny chip. The rest of the profile is done with very little cuts. When you've seen it once you can see it on many stones. This use of the edges of a stone is seen repeatedly and in very creative ways.