GSA "Goddess, Sites and Artifacts Collection "  curated by Eahr BA Joan 

GSA Images
Index by Entry
Home

ReGenesis

ENCYCLOPEDIA

ENTRY 3

LABYRINTHINES
1,000 000 - 50,000 Early Lower Paleolit

​

INTRODUCTORY CITATIONS

Symbols, Signs, and Sacred Scripts.

​

Humans have been communicating

by means of symbols for a very long time.

Abstract signs emerge in the Lower Paleolithic Acheulian

and Mousterian periods (from circa 300,000 to 100,000 B.C.),

long before the appearance of the extraordinary

Upper Paleolithic art (from circa 35,000 to 10,000 B.C.)

First Hominins to Leave Africa.

​

Acheulean traces are found throughout Africa

and are widely distributed in Eurasia,

though classic handaxes are absent from eastern Asia.

For this reason, the Acheulean is regarded as the

technological adaptation of the first hominins to leave

the African tropics and become widely and permanently

established in temperate climatic zones.

(MAU: 102.)

Foundation for Language.

​

Modern humans symbol in complex ways

and express this behavior as art and body decoration.

Perhaps more importantly, this ability to symbol

is the foundation for language, which is a very complex

form of symbol and analogy that is hardwired into our brains.

(MAU: 97.)

ENTRY NARRATIVE

* Given two thirds of the fossils have yet to be microscopically analyzed,

further dating determinations remain in process.

The Early or Lower Paleolithic is from 1,000,000-50,000  BCE. Evidence of the

initiating aspects of human culture evolution includes ancient stone tools * and

cave dwellings. To date, fire is believed to have been invented c. 1,000,000 –

500,000  BCE; use of ocher c. 285,000-200,000  BCE; cooking fires came into use c.

300,000 – 250,000  BCE; and human burial is indicated c. 80,000  BCE. In Upper

Galilee, horse bones have been found as well as evidence of human made

drainage and cave remains including the rhinoceros, cave-bear, hyena, reindeer,

and elephant bones. Numerous human cave dwellings have also been discovered

in Syria, Lebanon, Anatolia, North Arabian Desert, and South Kurdistan. Cave

remains have also been excavated in England, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and

Denmark. Rich cave discoveries include exquisite animals and an “astonishing

number of symbol and sign groupings.”  (TLG: 44.) Tools and implements include

various flint core items, lances, bodkins (bobbins), and bone needles.

 

* Update 2015.

 

Ancient stone tools have been discovered at Lomekwi 3 in West Turkana,

Kenya. They were made 3.3 million years ago, predating the earliest sils

of the first member of the human genus – Homo habilis – by about

500,000 years. ‘The cores and flakes are clearly knapped,’ says team

member Sonia Harmand of Stony Brook University, but they are also very

different from the Oldowan examples that were previously the earliest

stone tools’  (TFT: 12).

 

Humans have been communicating by means of symbols for a very long

time. Abstract signs emerge in the Lower Paleolithic Acheulian and

Mousterian periods (from circa 300,000 to 100,000  B.C.), long before the

appearance of the extraordinary Upper Paleolithic art (from circa 35,000

to 10,000  B.C.) The familiar Upper Paleolithic images depict exquisite

animals painted or etched on cave walls. They were also carved on bone or

stone tools and made into figurines [figures]  (TLG: 43).​

 

FURTHER RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS

Further 2015 stone tools update.

 

In addition to the Lomekwi discoveries including primal stone tools, also

see the 2015 scientific reports on the Rising Star Cave near South

Johannesburg. “More than 1,500 fossil elements documenting the

discovery constituted the largest sample for any hominin species in a

single African site and one of the largest anywhere in the world.” * The

Rising Star Cave is around 3 million years and landmark discoveries

include a new hominin species called H. Naledi (star) between 2.5 to 2.8

million years old. Cave findings support a vast burial chamber of the H.

Naledi (Homo habilis), “who were apparently among the first

toolmakers.”  (CYA: A1, A3.) (Also,  RGS: 538  BCE-70  CE, Second Temple

Period.)

 

Wilford, John Noble. “Cave Yields Addition to the Human Family

Tree.” New York Times, Sept. 11, 2015: A1, A3.  (CYA.)

 

* Given two thirds of the fossils have yet to be microscopically analyzed,

further dating determinations remain in process

ENTRY 3 GODDESS SITES AND ARTIFACT IMAGE COLLECTIONS

CO_ENG_S4_R4_SL5_S25
CO_ENG_S4_R4_SL5_S25
CO_TUR_S59_R1_SL3_S711
CO_TUR_S59_R1_SL3_S711
CU_SIC_A18_R3_SL1_S26
CU_SIC_A18_R3_SL1_S26
CO_TUR_S97_R2_SL2_SBG15
CO_TUR_S97_R2_SL2_SBG15
Show More

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

GSA IMAGE REFERENCES

ReGenesis

ENCYCLOPEDIA

GSA Images
Index by Entry
Home

INTRODUCTORY CITATIONS

ENTRY NARRATIVE

Decolonizing Ancient Knowledge.

Supported Image and Document size (each): 15MB

Tan-Tan.

 

‘Represents the oldest currently known figurine’ [figure]

that predates the Late-Acheulian Berekhat Ram.

(FAA: 411.)

The dark African Palaeoart figure known as Tan-Tan from Morocco appears to be the earliest of the Afrocentric (dark mother) figures. Surrounding sediments indicate that the timeline is c. 500,000 to 300,000 BCE. In Bednarik’s archaeological report, “A Figurine from the African Acheulian 1,” the Tan-Tan female icon is c. 400,000 BCE * and represents the oldest known figure, therefore predating the Late-Acheulian Berekhat Ram. Even though both Tan-Tan and the Berekhat Ram show evidence of ocher (or ochre), the Tan-Tan figure is the first “known instance of pigment application, although older indirect evidence of such a practice does exist.” (FAA: 411.) In regard to calling the Tan-Tan figure an icon, he says “unmistakable traces of moderating the level of visual ambiguity of the Tan-Tan specimen define it as iconic.” (FAA: 411.)

* (500,000-300,000 BCE.)

 

This intentionally enhanced icon measures around six centimeters and was discovered by German archaeologist, Lutz Fiedler. Location of the find was in a river deposit on north side of the River Dra (or Draa) just south of the township of Tan-Tan. Painted with red ocher (symbolic blood), the figure is made from quartzite and suggests ritual or spiritual importance. As discussed by Francesco d’Errico and April Nowell, archaeological evidence consistently confirms, “Neanderthals produced and used symbolic objects.” (NLBR: 163.) The dating, engravings, location, female attributes, and use of ochre (iron oxide), mirror other African dark mothers or “Venus” (?) * carved statues. Additional examples in Re-Genesis are: the Berekhat Ram followed by Brassempouy; Willendorf; Laussel; Dolni Vestonice and Lespugue. (WKP: 11-26-05; EKP: 89-135.)

* “Venus”: Medieval Latin Uenus is a de-sacralized/de-sanctified term for goddess or ancestral matrix.

FURTHER RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS

Further keyword research on ancient African Dark Mothers and related trade routes:

 

3,000,000, Overview of Hominid Evolution Including Dark Mothers and Later Migrations; 280,000-250,000; The Berekhat Ram Figure; 70,000, Blombos Cave and V Shaped Engraving; 50,000, African Homo Sapiens Migrations and Matrilineal Motherline; 40,000, Har Karkom; 30,000-25,000, Aurignacian Age; 30,000-25,000, Goddess of Willendorf, Austria; 26,000, Grimaldi Caves; 25,000-20,000, Gravettian Age; 25,000, Caravanserai, Trade Routes, and Dark Mothers; 25,000-20,000, Goddess of Laussel; 24,000, Dolni Vestonice; 23,000, Austrian Goddess of Lespugue; 10,000, Grotta dell’Addaura; 7000, Jericho, Canaan/Palestine: Mesolithic to Neolithic; 7000, Hieros Gamos; 6000, Sicilians to Malta; 5200, Malta and Gozo; 4700, Dolmens; 2200, Nahariyah and Ashrath-Yam; 1900-1800, Dawning of the African Alphabet and the Aniconic Goddess Triangle; 1000, Ephesus, Anatolia; 800, Tanit; 800, Carthage, Africa, the Goddess Tanit and Sacrifice; 750-650, Cybele and King Midas, Anatolia; 664-525, Neith and the Black Virgin Mary Temple at Sais, Egypt; 600, Goddess Kaabou at Petra, Jordan plus Mecca, Saudi Arabia; 400, Cathedra Goddess Isis; and 370, Isis and Philae, Egypt. (RGS.)

 

​

For further keyword research on the production of hand axes, including pre-and-post the Acheulian, see keywords:

 

“hand axe” AND Oldowan OR “Olduvai Gorge” OR Mousterian OR Pleistocene OR Holocene “Homo Ergaster.” Additional searches might include: “hand axe” AND Saint-Acheul OR “Venerque France” OR Madrid OR “Moldavian Plateau.”

 

Further keyword research on ancient ochre: 285,000, Ochre at Kapthurin Formation plus Other Sites;

 

280,000-250,000, The Berekhat Ram Figure; 92,000, Qafzeh Cave and Ochre Symbolism; 70,000, Blombos Cave and V Shaped Engraving; 50,000, African Homo Sapiens Migrations and Matrilineal Motherline; 31,000, Chauvet Cave and Vulva Engravings; 10,000, Grotta dell’Addaura; 2600-2000, Early Bronze Age, Crete, Chthonian * Prepalatial/Early Minoan (EM I-III); and 1500, Lachish Ewer, Triangle, and Menorah. (RGS.)

* (Earth mother, Chthonia.)

ENTRY 4 GODDESS SITES AND ARTIFACT IMAGE COLLECTIONS

CO_ENG_S4_R4_SL5_S25
CO_ENG_S4_R4_SL5_S25
CO_TUR_S59_R1_SL3_S711
CO_TUR_S59_R1_SL3_S711
CU_SIC_A18_R3_SL1_S26
CU_SIC_A18_R3_SL1_S26
CO_TUR_S97_R2_SL2_SBG15
CO_TUR_S97_R2_SL2_SBG15
Show More

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

CO_ENG_S4_R4_SL5_S25
CO_ENG_S4_R4_SL5_S25
CO_TUR_S59_R1_SL3_S711
CO_TUR_S59_R1_SL3_S711
CU_SIC_A18_R3_SL1_S26
CU_SIC_A18_R3_SL1_S26
CO_TUR_S97_R2_SL2_SBG15
CO_TUR_S97_R2_SL2_SBG15
Show More

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

CO_ENG_S4_R4_SL5_S25
CO_ENG_S4_R4_SL5_S25
CO_TUR_S59_R1_SL3_S711
CO_TUR_S59_R1_SL3_S711
CU_SIC_A18_R3_SL1_S26
CU_SIC_A18_R3_SL1_S26
CO_TUR_S97_R2_SL2_SBG15
CO_TUR_S97_R2_SL2_SBG15
Show More

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

Placholder_0001

GSA TEXT REFERENCES

IMAGE: SAMPLE TEXT

IMAGE: SAMPLE TEXT