British Archaeologists baffled by carvings

A set of carvings turned up in Northumberland recently and archaeologists would love to know who made them:

news.independent.co.uk...

The consensus is that they're 200-300 years old, but there's no clue about who made them and what they are... beyond someone's personal artwork. They've approached newspapers with the photos, hoping someone will recognize it as artwork done by a family member.

[edit on 24-6-2004 by Byrd]

Byrd, the first link is about a DNA test on some wolves that shows that their lineage runs back about 800,000 years

Did you happen to find any pictures of these carvings? I assume there were, since you said that they were posted in papers. (is that what the first link is supposed to be?)

Earthscum try these:

www.24hourmuseum.org.uk...
news.bbc.co.uk...

Cheers,
Grey Pilgrim

Originally posted by Earthscum
Byrd, the first link is about a DNA test on some wolves that shows that their lineage runs back about 800,000 years

Oh drat! Darn cutting and pasteage!

Did you happen to find any pictures of these carvings? I assume there were, since you said that they were posted in papers. (is that what the first link is supposed to be?)

Yes, I did, actually -- the same ones Grey found.

What can I say... I was having a Bad Braincell Day!

Wow... those are strange... especially the one that is carved in convex instead of your normal concave gouging. I like the face... I would love to find that the originator did other art as well, hopefully some in the same style. As an artist, myself, I am always loving ancient rock art. The neolithic cave paintings really intrigue me. It's amazing to be able to watch the progression of the artistic influence along human evolution.

What on earth (or not!) is this supposed to be? I keep looking at it, but can't make head nor tail...

www.24hourmuseum.org.uk...

The bottom right part looks a little like a wrist and the back of someone's hand. The index finger is extended and the thumb is curled around the thing that looks like the top of a cup or maybe a mouth?

As for the triangular shaped object in the top left corner. No idea.

Cheers,
Grey Pilgrim

Originally posted by Earthscum
neolithic cave paintings really intrigue me. It's amazing to be able to watch the progression of the artistic influence along human evolution.

I'm actually doing a 1/2 hour student film on the rock art of the Chumash Indians (I'll be doing most of the shooting in July) that will be shown at a few science fiction conventions (and probably for sale via a website.) I hope to later do another one on the White Shaman preserve here in Texas.

I've been doing a lot of reading in preparation for these -- there's some wonderful books on the rock art of the Colorado River region, including some examples of distinct influence of themes and gods that appear in Central America and some interesting stylistic derivations.

I originally wanted to do a piece on shamanistic rock art... but quickly determined that such a theme would take about 10 hours of film to explore in reasonable detail (and that's only if you wanted to limit yourself to the Americas.)

Fascinating stuff. I'm also going to join the Center for First Americans www.centerfirstamericans.com... -- picked up their Mammoth Trumpet newsletter while I was on the archaeology field school dig two weeks ago, and I'm hooked!