Elaborately carved stone head discovered within the Catskills – The Artsology Weblog

My weblog posts on rock artwork proceed to immediate folks to electronic mail me their photos and tales … and this one is fairly attention-grabbing. Mel from New York State writes: “I used to be in Bloomfield, NY within the Catskills doing drainage for brand new constructing. I dug down about 6′-7′ however I discovered this once I was leveling out the remaining dust. I attempted stomping on it for it to go down nevertheless it wouldn’t go deep sufficient, so I received the shovel and once I dug it up, I seen the carving on it. But it surely was caked with dust, so it wasn’t till I rinsed it off that I noticed what I had discovered.”

Mel provides: “Possibly somebody will acknowledge it. After I used the picture characteristic on this android, it mentioned ‘Peking man indigenous human’.” I wasn’t aware of “Peking Man,” so once I did a search, I see this. I can maybe see some similarities, however once I appeared on the high left image blown up giant, I assumed the eyes, vast nostril, and high-perched ears (if I’m seeing that accurately), together with the aspect view with instructed wavy hair – or fur? – my first visual association is that of a lion – right here’s one other picture hyperlink, displaying a carved lion, with prominent cheek bones like Mel’s discovered object.

However as I all the time say in these posts, I’m not a rock artwork skilled myself, so I’m simply responding to what I see, and invite folks to share their very own ideas or suggestions within the feedback part under. For instance, whereas I first thought “lion,” I can even say that the dearth of a chin and the best way it seems to be within the profile view appears much less lion-like. Right here’s one other straight-on view of the identical carved rock artwork head, in a bigger format.

What do you assume? Is it meant to symbolize a human, as Mel thinks? Or an animal, which was my response? The fascinating factor to me is that it’s clearly carved by human palms, there’s no mistaking these eyes as being something apart from carved by a human. And it’s fascinating that it could be buried six to seven toes underground. Mel and I’d each love to listen to any ideas on this object that he discovered.