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The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Towie petrosphere, fly agaric, excarnation ... |
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Anew 36 posts |
Dec 03, 2012, 18:51
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The Towie petrosphere was found on Glass Hill in the village of Towie in Aberdeenshire . It is a work of art ; believed to date from around 2850 bce (±350) . Here are links to some photos and pages : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towie http://www.ancientcraft.co.uk/Reenactment%20and%20leatherwork/Prehistoric%20Art.html#towie This page has the best rapidly accessible photograph i've found . Moving the mouse over it brings up a second, magnified, image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carved_Stone_Balls ; Wikipedia's page on the subject http://primeross.blogspot.com/2010/10/carved-stone-balls.html ; This page is from a blogger http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-033-206-C ; This page is from the National Museum of Scotland http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/explore_the_galleries/early_people/in_touch_with_their_gods.aspx ; This page is from same http://www.scotlandsimages.com/respages/Preview.aspx?Trans_No=1003914&%3Bvfrom=search&%3Bsword=National+Museums+Scotland&%3Bpos=249&%3Bcurr=3 ; This page, from scotlandsimages.com, has a fine zoom feature based on a 56MB image http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/scotlandballs.htm ; This page is from ancient-wisdom.co.uk http://www.cmcassociates.co.uk/portfolio/orion4.html ; This page is from Creative Media Consultants Associates, of Edinburgh http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccateee/4133787218/lightbox/ ; This page is from Rebecca Thompson1 of flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccateee/4133788328/lightbox/ ; This page, which shows painted pebbles and a carved disk, is from same http://www.flickr.com/photos/celtico/4035844803/lightbox/ ; This page, which has other stone balls, is from mikescottnz of flickr ? This item has puzzled me ; as it has many . In support of the following thesis, i note that bone finds from the Neolithic British Isles are considered too scarce account for the population of the time, though in some localities specific bones (perhaps from specific individuals) were curated in barrows, and in some localities cremation (again perhaps of specific individuals) was practiced. Because i believe that the toxic, hallucinogenic, fly agaric toadstool, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_Muscaria, was part of prehistoric (temperate Eurasian) religious practice –– particularly as it involved death, the afterlife & (possibly) reincarnation –– i suggest that the broad knobs on the Towie petrosphere were meant to resemble ripe fly agaric caps . I suggest that the fine carving upon three (of four) of these may have been meant to embody some of the magic (i feel was) felt to reside within that toadstool and its context of use ; and to act as psychedelic art for those nearby while under its influence . I think it is most probable that this piece was used as a ritual mace in what i believe was the mortuary practice of the time, excarnation, the (de)fleshing of the body of the deceased by exposing it to vultures and other birds of carrion, (this is still done in Tibet, where it is called 'sky burial') . As morbid as it sounds, it is a practical method where population densities are fairly low . I also believe the people of the time saw in the body and wings of the vulture in flight when the sun shone through it from above, (and one can still see it, as the aft section of a bird's wings will become translucent when seen this way, leaving the leading edge bones and muscle opaque, and though vultures have broad soaring wings they are comparatively lightly muscled, making their leading-edge opacity slender, and as evolution would have it, elegantly arched to the fore at their midpoints), the symbol of the sacred long-horned cattle skull that comes up as a 'bucranium', (plural 'bucrania'), in archaeological contexts ; particularly where that context was funerary . I feel this would have indicated to them that the vulture was divine, and ordained to this purpose . Similarly, (beyond the fly-agaric's blood-red cap, a positive distinction i imagine), a flat section taken through the center of the ripe-to-overripe toadstool, (which includes its stem), would itself resemble a bucranium. If it was a ritual mace, i believe that its smooth face would have been the hafted surface, and the striking point that corner where the three carved faces meet ; (this would allow binding to fill the valleys between these carved faces) . I believe it was used to split/shatter the skull of the deceased, an singular act perhaps felt to formally release his/her spirit, either before or after most of the flesh had been removed ; (and if after, either promptly or following a ritual cleansing and period of curation, perhaps nine months) . I rather doubt that it and the stone balls generally were used to break other bones, as such could have been considered beneath their purpose, and as all bones would have needed to be ground and mixed with other foods before being fed to these birds ; (for the most part, they would not have made good grinding tools) . I suggest the reason they are classically found by themselves in fields is that they may have been kept at/in the sacred trees/groves about which muscaria toadstools grew –– to be one with their magic. For a beautiful example of a non-spherical stone mace used for what i believe was the same purpose, please see http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/35064/knowth.html & http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/28489/knowth.html, photos of the fine piece from the passage-tomb Knowth, (in Ireland's Brú na Boinne) . For carvings i believe represented mace-heads, (as they are holed for hafts through their center in the manner of the Knowth mace), but which common opinion holds represent axes, please see http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/54385/nether_largie_north.html, a photo from the Scottish cairn Nether Largie near the (also significant) stone circle Templewood. The patterns carved into the knobs of the Towie petrosphere are worth further consideration and comparison . On one knob, there are a few lines that approach being bordered stacked chevrons . Bordered stacked chevrons are a feature of some Mongolian 'deer' stones, (two examples http://www.flickr.com/photos/62847133@N04/5828464784/lightbox/, href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariedragon/4015115492/lightbox/), fine objects deserving (http://www.stonepages.com/forum/index.php?%2Ftopic%2F4214-deer-stones) a thread of their own . Grouped chevrons are also a feature of the Attican kantaros shown in this link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geometric_kantharos_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_8501.jpg, in the company of herringbone patterns, which are also present on the Towie sphere, and a stone, http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/4826/images/newgrange.html?stream=site, and the lintel above a basin, http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/34231/newgrange.html at the Irish tomb Newgrange . A serpentine curve is shared by the kantharos, (where it is said to indicate that it was a "funerary present"), the petrosphere, (where such an interpretation would fit in with its proposed purpose), and these two stones from Knowth, http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/60929/knowth.html, http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/4805/knowth.html . Returning to the kantharos, there is a floral design whose petals are interspersed with triangular trinities of dots . One such trinity, (without the flower), is a feature of the Towie sphere, the only distinct feature in the valleys between the knobs ; this trinity may be an element which survives to the present, as displayed at the top of this woman's right sleeve tattoo, http://www.flickr.com/photos/kasperlandmark/5242574678/lightbox, which also includes herringbone and zig-zags . The petrosphere also has a merging trinity of concentric rings on one of its knobs, and on another knob a quartet of spirals . These broadly recall, (or anticipate if the stone is old enough), the patterns of spirals carved at Newgrange . Again, though i think these carvings had the potential to become very 'active' to the viewer under the influence of fly agaric, which i again think was part of their ritual practice, it also seems clear that they incorporated symbolism which had importance outside the realm of psychedelia. No other stone ball is as finely worked as the Towie . Many have no ornament beyond their knobs, and many have rounder knobs . Rounder knobs may represent the fly agaric while it is still 'in bud', and the densely studded examples might represent a single cap, (with its fragments of broken veil) . Some bear too little resemblance to this toadstool to draw a connection . There is discussion of the balls representing platonic solids . Perhaps in some cases they do, and perhaps that math was seen as a charm . However, i think the six knobbed balls were referencing the cardinal points, plus up and down, as set out in this stream, http://www.stonepages.com/forum/index.php?%2Ftopic%2F4016-yaqui-beliefs-%3B-scottish-irish-costa-rican-petrospheres%2F ; (though the intent could have been both) . Four knobbed balls, such as the Towie, might be worth checking to see if twice the site's latitude, 57.2º in this case, (which is within 1/10 degree of 1 radian north of the equator, something i feel may have been known to them), was reflected in the spacing between any knobs, (114.4º in this case, rather than an even 120º spacing) . As apparent references to latitude are common in megalithic monuments, i think the Towie has a fair shot to contain one or more of these, (or 2 radian spacings, 114.6º). This post is based on a thread i started, http://www.stonepages.com/forum/index.php?%2Ftopic%2F4201-towie-petrosphere-scottish-carved-stone-balls, as 'Anew' to the 'Alternative Theories' forum of the site stonepages.com.
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Topic Outline:
- Towie petrosphere, fly agaric, excarnation ... – Anew, Dec 03, 2012, 18:51
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