Bear Stone

When I saw the Arkfield site bear figure in today's posting on the Archaeology of Portable Rock Art website, it looked familiar because I had a similar stone sitting on my bookshelf. Seemingly simple in design, it reminded me of Inuit carvings that I'd seen in the past. I decided that would make for a quick blog posting. One photo and I'd be done.

You can imagine my surprise when I began to photograph the stone and realized that there were other images hidden in it. I'd seen similar images in other stones, but these weren't as obvious. It makes me realize why most people can walk past these works of art and not realize what they are. The stone had been sitting in plain view for months and I hadn't noticed.

I'll post a few of them here. I am in awe of how these prehistoric artists were able to capture the eyes of the creatures they carved, especially when you realize that they didn't have modern tools like magnifying glasses. When I zoomed in on them, I was taken aback by how lifelike they were. My camera isn't great for these kind of photos, but despite the lack of clarity, I think it does manage to capture a sense of what is in these stones.