Effigies

[TJdave]

Why do effigies in general and especially bird effigies get believed to be the real deal so often? Whats the draw, I just don't get it. Personally Id much rather have a knife or dart point that was used on a daily basis. Part 2 of the question is why do folks "see" art or pictograms in natural broken stone or weathered stone? Do they really believe the folks that made that would have so little skill that you would need to stand on one leg upside down to see the "art". Everybody has seen pictures of the cave paintings in Europe for a comparison, yet believe the rock in the flower garden is a thunderbird.

[Kentucky point]

My theory is of the gawdy stereotypes portrayed in popular media, and pintrest. You know, the weird headresses, fathers, thunderbirds, warpaint, dreamcatchers and other cliche stuff. I think they're after what they see as "Indian" because people like the "Indian warrior" story better than the prehistoric hunter gatherers.

[Lindenmeier-Man]

No idea !

[Ron Kelley]

Perhaps they're money hungry. The rare ancient effigies can sell for big bucks. They should learn to love the history more than the greenback.

[SurfaceHunter]

Newbies with no experience usually fail into that category.

[CMD]

When someone has zero experience distinguishing natural from man made, and when they have no experience viewing genuine stone effigies made by Native American cultures, they look for the slightest indication of an image in stone. It's usually based in pareidolia. They will look for an image in stone in the same manner one looks for an image in a cloud. And that's the mistake: they will look in a way that requires use of the imagination. If they simply told themselves that prehistoric Native American artisans could create images that leave no doubt, they could avoid falling into the trap of thinking they need their imagination to determine an effigy is man made. If they saw a sculpture by Michaengelo, would they ask themselves "is this man made or natural?". I hope not!

Here is a small sandstone frog effigy. Prehistoric Native American. Does it look like it was made by Mother Nature. Again, I hope not!




Bottom line. The vast majority of the time, when people see images in stone that are not man made, or the shape of a natural stone as the product of a human sculptor, they have not yet learned that using pareidolia to identify rock art does not work! It is a fatally flawed way to find effigies. You may need the imagination to determine what is represented by a man made effigy, but one does not need one's imagination to determine if it is a man made work of art to begin with. And, if you do, stop: you are falling for a completely wrong headed approach.

[TJdave]

Thats a very insightful response, thank you.
I have 3 giant white oak trees in my yard, two of them have loads of burls (yes I have plans for them on their demise). One of the trees has a burl that is unmistakable as a hippo, nostrils even have holes. I think of that tree every time I see a "thunderbird" for sale

[clambellies]

There's a small local museum down the street from my home. Among locally donated antiques is a small case of Indian artifacts that a local gentleman donated back in the 1960's. Among the locally found pieces there are about a dozen real Western artifacts including obsidian points. Oddly enough there is a 4" Thunderbird effigy. Obviously the collector bought Western artifacts including the fraud Thunderbird. I've talked to the currator and explained that the Western points were not found locally here and the Thunderbird is a fraud. All I got was a shrug.

[CMD]

Effigies, etc., Robbins Museum, Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Middleborough, Ma. The large rock at the top has a turtle incised on top. One pendant shows a Christian meeting house with a cross on top and small crosses on the corners.



Sea mammal effigies, Robbins Museum.