Prehistoric Proto-Writing

[CMD]

Fascinating research....

https://kottke.org/19/03/stone-age-c...writing-system


http://www.openculture.com/2019/03/4...-language.html

[Ron Kelley]

Thanks Charlie, Interesting that a great number of the ancient symbols found in Europe are also found in North America.

[CMD]

Thanks Charlie, Interesting that a great number of the ancient symbols found in Europe are also found in North America.

Yeah, certainly makes one wonder, Ron. Something I notice regarding one of the petroglyph panels I excavated at a RI site, is that it displays two types of zig-zag lines. One set is angular in nature, and above it, one set is definetly curverlinear in form. And both types are among North American designs that are in common with the symbols from Europe, and elsewhere.

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Charlie, Shouldn't we expect a lot of the North American symbols to be shared with Eastern Asia? I have seen theories that the zig zag patterns meant mountains and encampments. Perhaps that could be the reason for two types.

[CMD]

Hey Charlie, Shouldn't we expect a lot of the North American symbols to be shared with Eastern Asia? I have seen theories that the zig zag patterns meant mountains and encampments. Perhaps that could be the reason for two types.

In all honesty, ya got me. I think you should expect what you suggest, but I don't know how old the specific glyphs I recorded are. I've long been aware of similarities in petroglyph designs around the world, but if there is a common origin in the deep past, I like the idea a lot, but don't know how we can ever be sure. Edmund Delabarre recorded this particular site in the 1920's, when it was still mostly above ground, he was the first to record it, and he interpreted these two zig-zag patterns as the "signatures" of two local 17th century sachems, because these were the symbols they used on colonial documents they signed. But, Delabarre was very ethnocentric and he believed natives never created petroglyphs prior to seeing European colonists write on paper. Obviously, he was very wrong in that opinion.

I have seen such patterns interpreted as mountains, and I've seen them interpreted as symbols of water. For sure, it's one of the most common design in Native America, and found as petroglyphs from coast to coast. Common on pendants and other artifacts as well. Common design as body paint as well, kinda classic in that respect. As encampments, maybe teepees, but that would not be correct for my region. But, yeah, I should expect people crossing into NA from Asia would carry their symbology with them, and Paleolithic hunters of Eurasian origin contributed to the gene pool that eventually reached NA as well, so Europe comes into play as well. The similarities in forms, and the vast geographic extent of distribution probably has an explanation lost in deep time. It's fun to speculate.

[CMD]

I notice the spiral is not shown as present in North America, yet in the desert Southwest, it is a common petroglyph, interpreted as a clan migration pattern by the Hopi, for instance.

[Ron Kelley]

Yes the spiral is a very common Native American symbol.

[SDhunter]

It does make one wonder, and the mind starts thinking up all possibilities. Seems like their could be multiple reasons

[Tam]

Very nice Charlie I love this type of information .
You would think being able to read the past of Egypt someone would have passed down the knowledge of these symbols .
Like they have for Mayans etc .

[CMD]

Guess it's a mystery wrapped in a riddle, Tam....

[south fork]

Thanks Charlie when you throw zoomorphic and anthropomorphic into the mix its mind boggling .

[Von]

Thanks for posting that story. When looking at people spreading from east to west into Europe and west to east to the America’s it makes sense that they would have similarities in writing and ancestry. The really surprising thing is how it seems to cover the entire world.

Von