Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

part 2 :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10195550@N07/1047822939/lightbox/ . Balanced and centered above a gap in a (slightly) sloping band of dots are three outlined circles, one large and two small . Perhaps these represent one mature and two budding fly agaric ; perhaps a group of souls, (parent and children?) ; perhaps celestial objects, if the two small are the sun and moon, might the large be the Earth ? Don't know .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisjstanley/377928280/ . This stone bears a solid line beneath a circle . Perhaps a gap was implied by the natural break of the rock beneath the circle . Of interest in this context may be the Scottish stone circle Templewood, where a natural break in a carved stone may have represented a boat and its course past the dangerous whirlpool Corryvreckan .

A happy face : http://www.flickr.com/photos/gareththomas79/3634547519/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gareththomas79/3633158229/lightbox/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/gareththomas79/3633969192/lightbox/ . These show a level, solid (and possibly unbroken) line beneath a circle . If so that would seem to represent an impermeable barrier to a passing soul, (if the circle represented this), thus interpretation as a celestial rising or setting may be preferred .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laros/1372165197/lightbox/ . A stone row . Could this be related to the dotted lines below some of the circles on these stones ? Could it be related to the stone rows of the British Isles ?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28388334@N08/3600573764/lightbox/ . Here's something i think is worth paying attention to . A deity, toadstool-spirit, soul or sun-figure rises through a sloping dotted line . The circle-head of the figure has short rays all around it . Another small circle is nearby . The rays might imply the sun, but the smaller circle nearby is not near proportionally correct to be the moon ; and the body of the figure seems too slender to be a fitting sun-god . As a shining soul or an anthropomorphic magic toadstool spirit it would make more sense (to me) .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62847133@N04/5828464784/lightbox/ . On this stone a dotted line separates an outlined circle, (above), from a filled circle, (below) . A brace of stacked chevrons also appears, along with a block & triangle symbol i haven't seen before . This dotted line has no wide gap, which is not unique, but is somewhat unusual . I think that the filled and empty circles may be, taken together, a statement of inversion ~ that one side of the dotted line was representative of the realm of the living, the other of that of the dead or yet-to-be-born, (who may have been grouped in their beliefs) ~ with the circles changing their character accordingly . The principle of inversion also seems to be represented in one or more surviving Pazyryk tattoos, (which include a fantastic animal which combines attributes of several natural animals), shown with the trunk twisting a full 180 degrees as though walking in two realms, in the archaeological record of the British Isles, (at such places as seahenge), and in some surviving African tribal customs . It is broadly distributed in the archaeological milieu, enough so that it may, i think reasonably, have been part of the human Urkultur . Turning to the brace of chevrons, there appear to be nine of them, thrice three, which may have been considered an auspicious number . To the question of whether they could be representative of / linked to the Demoiselle Crane (migrating in formation), one might add that of whether this was intended to be many flocks along a migratory path, or one flock at successive points in time . I lean toward the former . This previously cited stone, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariedragon/4015115492/lightbox/), has a brace of twelve chevrons, four times three, and this also previously cited stone, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/explorealtai/5674978157/lightbox/), appears to have a brace of nine again .

That brings to mind these photos, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisjstanley/369732370/ ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisjstanley/show/with/369732370), which appear to show three parallel carved lines . The beast on this stone has no antlers . Though it could be a doe, it may also indicate that, like the fish, the deer aspect of the beast was not an indispensable part of its representation .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exchangesphotos/5839181721/lightbox/ . This three sided impression has two circles at its top, on opposite sides, and is awash with beasties . The two circles at the top of the stone seem to be of opposite nature : one (to the right) filled, the other outlined . They seem also to be part of a larger design, the details of which are unclear, but suggestive . There is a dotted line running beneath these, having no wide gap . The beasts are quite fine, including the deer's tail and antlers both deer-like and wave-like, along with the taimen's dorsal fin and the crane's head ; (as i interpret it) .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exchangesphotos/5839181711/lightbox/ . And this three sided impression has a belt of triangles and stacked chevrons that curve, like a cornucopia or an esoteric marine fossil . However, i think these may be representative of the 'Mongolian death worm', (http://www.flickr.com/photos/museumofworldwonders/5446597220/) , a ferocious-looking (and rare) burrowing insect which introduces the possibility that 'evil' or destructive intent had a place in their belief systems, though not a pre-eminent one . Worthy of note : one of the beasties on the front of the stone has both antlers and a camel-like double-hump . As a one-of, this might simply have reflected the humor of the artist ; or it might indicate a degree of flexibility with the form . The Bactrian camel is native to that area, and was likely important enough to some to include in the mythology/iconography . In those stretches the camel frequents, the fish might have seemed a logical swap-out . The stone also has a fine belt of chained triangles across its bottom . It may be that two of the reasons that chained triangles were a common symbol of the time were that these combined beliefs about the divinity of the number three with beliefs about inversion into a symbol, "greater than the sum of its parts" . The triangles invert with every step, yet by filling the space completely imply a harmony exists in doing so . Perhaps by extension, that life and death were aspects of a balanced whole which could be seen from the (transcendental) outside .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/explorealtai/5674978157/lightbox/ . This stone has a brace of chevrons at the bottom . The stone on the ground nearby may be an example of an unfinished man-stone ~ a much different style found in the same landscape . At the top of the deer stone is a dotted line with a circle above a slight gap . I think that i see a toadstool-stalk/soul body below the circle, extending through the gap .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marissas23/906236213/lightbox/ . This one reminds me of a photo of the French stone Lanvenael, (http://www.stonepages.com/france/lanvenaelhi.html) . I find myself wondering if other stones had beasts of varying descriptions drawn/painted on them back in the day .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karneipix/2876925999/lightbox/ . Fine stones with all the elements . Once again, i think i see a very slender stalk-body below the large circle on the one in the background .

Beasties along the edge of a fallen stone . http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmjenks/205518044/lightbox/ .

Pursuing the dotted line to another venue,there is a long PDF file on a 17 year research dig in Yorkshire available through this link, http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/004408.html . One of the things they found was that rows of pits had been dug, often with nothing much to explain them ; (there are maps on pages 103, 123, 157, 161 and 170) . In the map on page 157, against a row running northwest, and north of a gap in a row, is a ring ditch remaining from a barrow in which there was a cremation ; (pp. 216 bottom - 217) . I consider there may be a commonality between the Deer Stone symbolism-subset of the dotted line with the gap, above which is a circle with (often) a wraith-like stalk-like figure rising through the line ; and the presence of this barrow above a gap in the row of pits . Part of the puzzle is that nothing more substantial than a flint microlith and a piece of fired clay were found in the nearby pits . It may be possible that these held something temporal/soft which does not now survive, (hasn't been detected) . But i think it is also possible that the pits weren't meant to hold something, so much as to be something ~ perhaps an embodiment of the terrifying void .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exchangesphotos/5839181687/lightbox/ . On this stone, which also show antlers both deer-like and wave-like, three parallel lines again appear, (something mentioned in the last post), this time at the bottom .

This post is based on work i originally posted as 'Anew' to the Alternative Theories forum of the website stonepages.com