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Stone-Age Erotica
Prehistoric Paleolithic ICE AGE VENUS figure STONE GODDESS statues |
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Paleo Weapons Exotic Replicas made with authentic stone artifacts.
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Esoteric Eroticism Throughout the ages, man has attributed stones with holes in them to be symbolic of the mystical qualities of woman. It appears some of the River Owl men were no exception. Likewise, erotic stones with mammary-like protuberances were also not discarded when found. This is a fundamental and universal curiosity, not a perverted preoccupation.
Goddess (Venus) worship has ancestral roots at the beginning of our civilization. But Venuses were not just worshipped for their beauty. The modern notion of "beauty" is based on criteria conditioned by selective objectivity (as impressionable teenagers, advertising tell us what beautiful is - symmetry being considered ideal). Venuses on the other hand, were worshipped for their overall womanhood and how she handled herself in general. Stone Age woman was more sophisticated than many of us imagined: She wove fine plant fibers and made soft textiles for clothing.
"They designed string skirts, slung low on the hips or belted up on the waist, which artfully revealed at least as much as they concealed. They wove elaborate caps and snoods for the head, and bandeaux for the chest -- a series of straps that amounted to a cupless brassiere."[1]
In many ways Woman is the primal sex, in-tuned with the moon and tides. It's little wonder that the wonder of woman has been ignored for the past thousands of years. Woman is why man strives for wealth, yet we men tend to think we are the center of any social situation. But we're not - the Mother principle is always central - and at the core of our very being.
Love stones may have been used as charms to increase the likelihood of fathering more children – an asset in the Stone-Age. Love stones or charms are also used in mild sects of Wicca wherein sexual energy is extended beyond oneself. For example, a spell might be cast by secretly planting an empowered stone on or close to a potential lover.
Yoni Charms may have also been used as stimuli to provoke restrained sexual energies for spiritual pursuits. Such practices are used in Buddhist Tantra and Chinese Taoism even today, although it be based on more specific symbolism and visualizations. Passion is deliberately provoked then the energy is guided to a higher plateau. Like the alchemist's philosopher stone is used to transmute the base metal lead into gold, yoni stones (a symbol of universal origin and the mother principle), may have been used to transmute passion into enlightenment. Also review #11 Medicine Woman.
The prehistoric Venus figurines above are a striking examples of how important a role sex played in Stone-Age life. There are other examples [2] of stone-age erotica and prehistoric Venus figurines that have been discovered in Europe. But to the Shaman and the Tantric initiate of today, sexuality is still a predominate issue in the pursuit of enlightenment. If the energy we normally associate with passion is not allowed to drop into an ordinary localized orgasm and is guided upward, a "psychic charge" is created. (Please refer back to Shamans.)
Lingham charms may have been used to display male vitality and in some cases a woman may temporarily hold such erotica in possession at night while sleeping to persuade the ancestors or gods to help her bear children or to bring her a son. It has been only recently - since the Victorian-Age - that such symbols were frowned upon in many social circles (probably a good thing considering the bulging world population).
Sexual potency also means more lucid dreams to the esoteric initiate. The more potency one has, the longer one can stay with the lucid dream and use it to attain ones specific goals, be it solving a technical problem, conquering a habit or fear, or even attaining enlightenment while "asleep" in the lucid state. This is because in the lucid dream state, one is aware that one is lying on his bed and dreaming, all the while performing feats not possible in the waking state (and anyone can learn to do this). Basically, a sexual charge lengthens ones attention span.
Waking life obviously influences dream life. But the flip can also be true wherein lucid dreaming can affect waking life. Consider this: A common dream which often starts in childhood is the dream of flying. Interestingly, the "floating butterfly" effect in the lower abdomen or the naval energy center located four fingers below the belly button ("Tan Tein" in Chinese Taoism; the third or "power" chakra in Hinduism; and the center of gravity for the human body) when one is dream-flying is the same feeling one gets when taking off in an airplane, free-falling, or weightless in space.
So lucid dreaming has a deep-reaching effect on ones life and sexual potency positively effects lucid dreaming for men and women. According to the Taoists, sexual potency can be maintained even while active with a sex partner and, along with a host of obvious benefits, may also lead to long life.[3]
Erotica such as love (Venus or yoni) stones, lingham charms and prehistoric Venus figurines can be used to trigger an impulse within one in a positive way simply because of its symbolic property. Their symbolism may imply the existential experiences heightened by the simultaneous engagement of all the senses. My interpretation of figure #69 Man-in-Snake w Yoni below, represents what happens when we are consumed by sexual desire and allow the energies to sink into rebirth.
What Happened to the River Owl Clan? There seems to be a large time gap in Native American Indian artifacts from this site. Why did the clan disappear? To add to the confusion, we found “war points” (points M, N and O see "Three Ages of Projectile Points from Site 2601" below) without notches so designed to stay in its victim when the shaft is pulled out. In contradiction, older Clovis, Dalton and San Patrice point of the Early Paleo-Indian Period are also designed to stay in prey. But many of the points found at the site were of the domestic variety - atlatl hunting darts. These points are notched to stay on the shaft when pulled from prey for reuse.[4] Perhaps the war points were designed by the River Owl. But a peaceful society usually sags in weapons technology. Did a stone-age tribe with higher technology invade the clan? This seems unlikely, as resources were abundant throughout the entire region during this period. Eventually, population in the region grew and conflicts did break out. These points, as it turned out, are from the much later Woodland Period. So what happened to the River Owl? Did disease take them out? In order to answer that, we first need to determine the age of the art. Dating the Art First, there is no known way to date stone within historic context, either by atomic differentiation of broken surfaces or by radio-carbon dating. So the only present means of dating stone is by its association with projectile points and is largely guesswork by the classification of point styles. Since projectile points are much older than our memories, point-typing is a tricky business. Anyone claiming to be an expert - usually isn't. I have found many conflicting opinions in types. First, technologies of any type, from record playing turntables to BlackBerrys, can co-exist. Second, variations in styles can occur by an artist all in one day at the same locale. The best we can do is to come close to classifying a point. Most of my information however, came from the Illinois State Museum and Lar Hothem's excellent book Indian Artifacts Of The Midwest, Book 5.
Atlatl point L (see next illustration below) has on it what appears to be specks of black pitch on its far side and if this is the case, it can be accurately dated to within 200 years. But since I don’t have access to carbon dating (the sample may be too tiny to carbon date anyway) the actual age of this Stone Age Indian art, such as the prehistoric Venus figurines above, was difficult to determine with certainty. I had to find another way to estimate the age of these Indian artifacts. First, burial depth is the usual means for determining the age of a relic. However, since farm ground around here has been repeatedly tumbled, soil layers don’t give us a meaningful time-frame for these relics, so I went online. My research brought up conflicting results, which means that most established sources can only guess the approximate age of stone relics from this area. So I approached the age problem from two fronts: · Insights into the life of these people by observing the art. · The established ruler of age i.e. the technology of points. First, this was undeniably a creative and uninhibited society as the art speaks for itself. But, no evidence for copper smelting or pottery has been found at this site, suggesting that the art was created before 5,000 BP.
Second, our archaeological site contained mostly Late Paleo to Early Archaic points when the Plano culture reigned on the western grasslands as referenced by the Illinois State Museum[5]. Also see North American Cultural Timeline.
First, there are no set standards for point dating. Like all technologies, point-making often overlapped in types and didn't change very rapidly at first. Also, the crudeness of a point may be due to inferior materials such as low-grade chert or the skill of the ancient craftsman.
Individual craftsmanship aside, most of our points do not have such deep notching and refined edges, suggesting most of these points are from the pre Early Archaic. We've found just a handful from the Woodland Period, probably from passing hunting parties.[6] So where are the more recent points of the Mississippian Period? After 12 years searching, we have found no points from the Mississippian. Why is there a 2,000 year gap between Early Woodland culture and the Historic period of North American culture at this hilltop site?[7] Why did the River Owl leave their primo summer campsite?
First, we have to answer the big question: Just how old is this art? Since these Native American figurines had to have been pulled from the clear Spoon River shortly after the fourth and final ice sheet retreated, and the majority of points we've found at the site are quite primitive, we were able to come up with a definitive age for these figurines. How old is this art? The figurine stones had to have been recovered from the Spoon River bed shortly after the last ice sheet retreated sometime after 14,000 BP. There is evidence that a comet may have exploded over Canada just north of the recovery site around 12,900 years ago. The result was a catastrophic flood or "Mississippi tsunami" which burst into the Gulf of Mexico and redirected the warmer currents of the Atlantic plunging the Northern Hemisphere back into the deep-freeze for another 1,200 years until 11,700 BP (Younger Dryas Event). This would explained the exposed glacier stones in many Illinois riverbeds at about that time. We allowed 200 years as plenty of time to reforest tundra and bottom-up a river with algae and silt. So unless Paleo-Indian was well established in this region before 12,900 BP, this stone-age art was likely first complied around 11,500 BP - during the very Early Archaic Period. However, there were 15,000 year old artifact tools found at the Wisconsin mammoth sites and we found mammoth figurines at site 2601. Since some believe the comet may have wiped out mammoth in this region, this art could be 13,000 years or older. How long did the River Owl used this campsite? These people must have returned north each spring to sites like ours where their ancestors camped when they first came down into the Americas. And they migrated back up here for many years. We've found over a dozen different styles of Early Archaic points suggesting the clan kept this summer site for some time. We can only guess how long they returned here. If a style or technology change occurs every generation, then the clan visited this site for possibly 200 years - that's 10 generations.
Maybe some of these stone age figurines would be left standing, watching over their owner's yurt plots to be surveyed and inspected upon returning the next spring. Fallen figurines by wild animal or wind may have had a negative meaning. This may be why the majority of these figurines were stashed standing, yet hidden in a low gulley with little runoff and good shelter from prevailing winds. What happened to the clan? The most logical scenario is that a long-term drought deterred the clan from returning to this site.[8] If the Spoon River flowed too shallow for canoe, their yearly routine would be broken. Or the comet may have caused their demise. Figurines would be left standing to be buried by the elements. In either case, in a single generation their summer site would be forever lost to the clan of the River Owl.
Matching the Stones About 30% of these stone age figurines were found in the open field at the top of the hill. We only have small windows of opportunity when collecting these stones in this manner. The only way to see them at all is to walk the whole field. This takes lots of time. So in an effort to cover the whole area, often in the confusion and haste when collecting mud-covered Indian artifacts in the field, we get them mixed up. For example, while covering a swath of say 12 feet wide, we may pick up an interesting stone in its fringe. On a subsequent pass with an adjacent swath, we may find its mate which may have only been a separated by a few feet, but because of the furrows, it was not visible in the previous pass. So most of the time, color and texture are all we have to match them. Next, we look for old broken surfaces that might hint on how they go together. A properly placed chip by the ancient artist allows the stones to stack either vertically or horizontally. But many of the figurines have no chipped surfaces at all.
Broken Surfaces Unfortunately, we can’t radiocarbon date stone. However, breaks on stones do age. Fresh stone breaks caused by farm implements are sharp and may cut skin or paper and are usually shiny. We reject all prehistoric Venus and other figurines stones with freshly broken surfaces unless they do not interfere with the stacking or view of the image. Stone surfaces age over extended periods of time and can be distinguished from its freshly broken surface and other interim breaks, the latter usually has smoother edges to varying degrees with a duller and often pitted surface from abrasive contact with sand and other rocks in the soil.
Surface breaks in contact with soil abrasives are aggravated by the freezing and thawing of ground water. So when we see an old break, this is a telltale clue that it is either a feature to enhance the figurine in some way or a structural modification to allow stacking. Some breaks are caused by colliding with other stones while still in the river and usually can be distinguished from breaks made by early man. Such surfaces as the latter are not quite as smooth as river-polished breaks. Coloration The ancient artists were very insistent on matching stones as close as possible. They rarely crossed materials – only if the color and luster match were close. For example, item #84 Thunderstorm Bird, the rare and beautiful green olivine quartzite body was matched with an equally rare piece of olivine quartzite head of a slightly different consistency but of the same color. However, both stones in this case are likely from the same large mother stone before it was broken-up by the glacier or flood.
Stacking the Stones Though nearly all of the prehistoric Venus and other figurines are free-standing, it must be noted the River Owl had no level tables or display cabinets. They probably stacked them on the ground at a designated spot in their yurt. So floor vibration was not an issue. (It's possible figurines were used to indicate earth tremors by the clan since the San Madres fault is nearby.) Since we currently live in a grand old farmhouse built with heavy timbers, the hardwood floors still bounce a little in some rooms when I (being a relatively large man) walk through them. We've found that by wetting the stones with hard tap water (water with a high alkali or "lime" content) the prehistoric Venus and other figurines hold together nicely despite the bouncing floors. It seems that once the water between the stones has evaporated, a thin film of lime crystallizes forming a light bond (removable by re-wetting) between the stones. The River Owl certainly used Spoon River water which probably had a slight alkaline content.
Rare Finds Literally tons of points and ax heads have been hauled out of Midwestern fields in the past century and have been sold to private collectors. (As of today, you can still buy a decent “arrowhead” online for about $35.00 – just be certain it’s authentic.)[9] (Check out our selection) However, the availability of Stone Age figurines is quite different. Modern agriculture has silted up most rivers worldwide, especially ones that supported Stone Age man. It’s impossible to find such glacial stone clusters in present-day rivers. Furthermore, finding complete prehistoric Venus and other figurines in the field is - at best - a long shot. In the early 1800s when this part of Illinois was first settled by the white man, there were large stones to be cleared from the fields before they could be plowed. These stones, aside from being left behind by glacial activity, may have been the base remnants of many a prehistoric Venus or other figurines.
In the late 1980s American farmers discovered that by not plowing the fields each year (the practice of “no-till”), earthworms could survive to enrich the soil. Thus, shallow tilling such as harrowing or disking (4 to 6 inches deep) brought higher crop yields. The environment benefits as well since erosion is checked and energy is saved, keeping consumer costs down: One farmer told me it costs him $150.00 (2003) just to hitch-up the plow to his tractor, gas it up and drive it to the field. But, it is the act of deep plowing (9 to 12 inches down) that also brings up these buried treasures. Rain washes an occasional item free of dirt to make it visible: But fields are typically rough and not everything in that layer will surface. I sometimes wonder how many priceless prehistoric Venus and other figurines I've step over concealed by just a painting of dried mud. I'm still blown away that as a teenager, I walked upon these prehistoric Venus and other figurines buried just inches below my feet.
What makes it more difficult for the figurine collector are fields that have been in crops for more than a few seasons because they are not likely to give up complete prehistoric Venus and other figurines. One may find a head stone or a body stone, but not likely find both the same year. As the soil gets turned, these parts tumble within the "plow zone" (the top 12" of tillable soil), making it nearly impossible to find them complete. Smaller prehistoric Venus and other figurines parts will tumble or cycle faster then the larger parts, keeping them out of synch with each other in the surfacing cycle.
Also, the lighter prehistoric Venus and other figurines parts would eventually be further and further separated from the heavier parts since most farmers drag their equipment in the same pattern every year. Our unusual find was the result of an old pasture that was, for the first time, plowed - then washed by torrential downpours in the spring of 2002. If we had waited two years most of these priceless prehistoric Venus and other figurines would have been lost.
Endnotes/Bibliography [1] Dr. Olga Soffer, http://www.unl.edu/rhames/courses/212/venus/venus_string.html [2] http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,350042,00.html [3] Taoist Secrets of Love, Cultivating Male Sexual Energy, Chia, Mantak. Aurora Press, Santa Fe, NM, 1984 also see companion book: Healing Love Through the Tao, Cultivating Female Sexual Energy, Chia, Mantak & Maneewan, Healing Tao Books, Huntington, NY, 1986
[4] The clan used willow to mount tools and weapons as this wood is straight, lightweight and amazingly strong. The author has replicated tools and weapons using willow growing near the recovery site. [5] To see their sample points, visit Native Americans: Prehistoric: Archaic www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/pre/htmls/a_weapons.html [6] “Archaeologists believe that the trend toward small stone projectile tips, and the shift from making these points with tapered bases, as opposed to thinner-necked notched bases, is evidence for the replacement of the atlatl by the bow and arrow. This change in point size and style occurred most typically around 1,350 years ago, but some researchers argue that the bow and arrow was introduced earlier in some areas of North America.” Grant Keddie, Curator of Archaeology, Royal BC Museum www.rbcm1.rbcm.gov.bc.ca/history/atlatl [7] On the one hand, one can argue that this does not mean that there is a 2,000-year gap in artifacts from this area: Nineteenth and early twentieth century farming was shallow till and may have yielded up many transitional points that have long since disappeared into American society – traded off on schoolyards and playgrounds for new glass marbles – or sold at some estate auction for a fraction of their real value. Such activity would have gleaned them from the fields. Yet on the other hand, farmers and their families even just 50 years ago didn’t have the time to actively hunt for points so the odds should allow at least one Mississippian point to surface on newly plowed ground. [8] After about 10,000 years ago, the climate became drier, and some limited areas of prairie developed in the Chicago region. This dry period may have lasted about 1,000 years... http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/410.html [9] Most of these points are from atlatl darts. Also, not all “arrowheads” are authentic. About 15 to 25 percent are fakes, and that number keeps growing as more unscrupulous people learn how to knock them off, foolishly thinking to make it big. This brings down the value of all “arrowheads”, unfortunately and the authentic ones could depreciate: If they are unusually symmetrical and pretty with no patina and plenty of fresh hinge fractures, they are probably modern. Up until recently, authentic points could only be found at farm estate auctions or from conscientious collectors like us. Now-a-days, authentic Indian points have become rare at farm auctions since most Americans recognize their intrinsic value and are now hording them. For more fine Stone-Age art, click below:
This site was last updated 07/17/10 |
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pples on the
stone; a distorted one in the left foreground of the image; and
the other side is one full nipple with the stone's contour
forming the areola. A very sexy rock. Seated on a fitted Plexiglas
pedestal. 1.8”h; 56 gm 
