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Deer Stones
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Deer Stones
Dec 08, 2012, 21:01
Deer stones are enigmatic features of the Mongolian landscape which may have links to the Pazyryk culture and possibly by way of them to the Picts of ancient Scotland, or if one rather, the broader archaeological milieu .

Wikipedia's page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_stone

For background on the Pazyryks, i suggest the following BBC videos, available on YouTube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqWCEqMEbgE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwgd6WyvsmQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAix0MTKD-k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIL10jKXbs8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df7ZGHMFtNY&feature=related

The stonepages.com Archaeo News forum also has topics which include the Altai region, as a search will reveal . Here are three links :

http://www.stonepages.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2093 ; New tomb for 'Altai Princess' to be built in Siberia
http://www.stonepages.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1391 ; Ancient 'warrior' found in permafrost
http://www.stonepages.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2432 ; Traces of hunting magic discovered in Altai caves

At and around 3:33 in BBC video #4, ascending, 'flying', deer motifs appear carved/pecked into an outcrop .

What i believe is that these 'deer' are a mythical beastie, in the manner of a or griffin or the Pictish Beast to which it bears some resemblance, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictish_Beast), which combines aspects of different animals ~ in this case the deer, a fish and a crane . I think it possible that the deer represented these people's ideal woodland creature, and perhaps by extension the spirit of woodlands themselves, or of the living land generally . The fish elements, (the beast's supple, steamlined body, presented frequently with only rudimentary, finlike, legs and an also finlike dorsal hump), was (i believe) representative of the Hucho taimen, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hucho_taimen), a large relative of the salmon which frequents rivers thereabout . Here are two photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/uskgrub/1276922854/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/8887961@N07/1034560516/lightbox/ . I believe that they held this fish in the highest esteem of all water creatures, and that by extension it may have represented the spirit of the rivers themselves, or of the living water generally . I believe that the crane elements, (the beast's long, bird-like snout and crest of feathers behind the head), are drawn from the (trans-Himalayan migratory) Demoiselle Crane, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoiselle_Crane), which i believe they held in highest esteem of all creatures of the air, (so that perhaps they represented the spirit of the living sky itself) . Some photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/explorealtai/5487408253/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/59195354@N05/5433308849/lightbox/ ; the second being a migrating flock of what i believe are these birds . If they are,and were deeply involved in the local beliefs, this formation might explain the braces of chevrons on many of these stones -- as a symbol believed to be representative of or symbiotic with the great flocks . However, i note also that the chevrons are shallower than the V-formation in the photo .

It may be worth noting as a possible and distant parallel to this context that the African tribal practice of women's wearing lip plates gives them a somewhat bird-like profile . If this was the intended purpose when the tradition evolved, it would show that demonstration of esteem for birds as an object of grace and beauty can be taken to great lengths by our humankind.

Here are some links to photos of Deer Stones on the website Flickr :


http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdearth/4881182971/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonflytz/5020336304/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/civ3/5152868452/lightbox/ . These show deer, (both ascending and descending), together with a humanoid figure having a small, thin body and a very large, featureless round head ; (it is standing, and its posture is relaxed) . One interpretation of this is that it may be a soul, (of a deceased person or one to be born who may have been felt to travel between the world and the beyond with the climbing and diving deer) . Another interpretation, (and one which i harp on, as i feel it may have been a broad part of prehistoric religious practice), may be that this is representative of a toadstool deity based upon the Amanita Muscaria, (fly agaric), such as i see or imagine in a stone pecking from the linked BBC videos . If so, the cap would now be seen face-on, (rather than side-on as before) . The arms could represent the toadstool's skirt, (visible in these two photos : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amanita_muscaria_After_Rain.jpg ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amanita_muscaria_3_vliegenzwammen_op_rij.jpg) ; and the slightly separated legs could be an anthropomorphism . I note here having read (more than once) that deer/reindeer would eat the Amanita muscaria and leap 'ecstatically', (once the toxicity wore off), something i hope is true .


http://www.flickr.com/photos/treygood_mn/show/with/4829741705 ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdearth/4881183253/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/yule/2174009333/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/hardcoder/5067416489/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotravel/4120635861/lightbox/ . These photos all show (or include) the same stone . The beasties are ascending and above the level of a disk, (next to which is a bow and an embellished, bordered band of triangles, with accessories) . Here is a photo of bands of triangles in another setting, Newgrange of Ireland : http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/22832/newgrange.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdearth/4881791394/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/yule/2174799058/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/lamoix/3757746012/lightbox/ . These all show the same stone, with a circle at the top, and rising beasties .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdearth/4881183169/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/yule/2174795572/lightbox/ . These introduce a sloping dotted line below the circle, (at top) . The sloping of the band might represent a particular limb of a mountain, (over which the sun could rise) ; but its dotted nature suggests a permeable barrier of some sort . Also noteworthy is that there's a gap in the band below the circle . Dimly visible at the stone's middle is a bordered band of chained diamonds, possibly (though distantly in both time and space) comparable to Newgrange again, (http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/55323/newgrange.html) . Dimly visible above the belt-of-diamonds is a brace of bordered stacked chevrons, pointing up .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25469480@N03/2400736558/lightbox/ . This is a nice one .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariedragon/4015115492/lightbox/ . This stone also has bordered stacked chevrons, (again pointing up), this time above a belt of triangles . The repetition of the chevrons might be considered as expressing similar beliefs to those which drove the building of Silbury Hill, (layer after layer after layer) . Whether these were related is lost to time .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotravel/4120631169/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotravel/4121407404/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdearth/4881791768/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/karneipix/2876910981/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/dolpo2007/3052923219/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidank/3807585760/lightbox/ . This stone is deservedly one of the more photographed . It has a (female?) human/deity face at the top and wears two circles as hoop earrings . It also has a belt of bordered chained diamonds . The 'deer' both ascend and descend .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/civ3/5152204467/lightbox/ . A nice one .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/covington/3602999602/lightbox/ . In the stone in the foreground of this photo, the deer dive almost straight down .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28388334@N08/3600566506/lightbox/ . This stone appears to show horses, (not flying), together with a filled and an outlined circle ; (the sun and moon?) , (good toadstool/bad toadstool?), (nice soul/naughty soul?) .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22186466@N06/4472054561/lightbox/ . Two outlined circles on the same stone (left), might be easier to interpret as souls or toadstools than as two suns . Though two suns may be a feature of decoration on some African lip plates .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10195550@N07/1047820707/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/10195550@N07/1047821421/lightbox/ . These include outlined circles which appear to have stalk-like bodies beneath them .

Photos of the Demoiselle cranes : http://www.flickr.com/photos/10195550@N07/1048673190/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/10195550@N07/1047808431/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/10195550@N07/1048664386/ .

So far from Aberdeen, where 'recumbent' stone circles are usually found, and ... Ta-daaah ! http://www.flickr.com/photos/10195550@N07/1047821905/ .

This post is based upon work i originally posted as 'Anew' to the Alternative Theories forum of the site stonepaages.com

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