Thursday 8 December 2016

Russian Mammoth Flint Sculpture

Yesterdays post of one of my finds got me searching for other examples of clearly worked flint portable rock art. I came across this example in Early Art of the Northern Far East a book by Russian author M. A. Kiriyak (Dikova) (English Translation by Richard L. Bland). The find was found in Ushki which is far to the east of Russia. Check page 66, Dikova talks of other mammoth finds being covered in paint and having traces of red ocher, and even seated, just like mine.
This mammoth sculpture is also in the form of a flint tool, a very subtle feline face can be seen on the posterior of the mammoth motif. The white lines making a triangle for the ear shape, the white spot to the right of that becoming the 'eye' the vertical line on the rump making a triangle muzzle of the suspect feline motif. You can also see a feline like head profile on the posterior of the mammoth motif shown on my example in the previous post.

I would like you to think about what this could possibly mean, as far as prehistoric people from very distant parts of the world sharing common symbolgy and common conventions within that symbology.