Teaching Rocks solar boat

The "Solar Boat" petroglyph from the Teaching Rocks site in Peterborough, Ontario. 

Vastokas and Vastokas (1973) dated the entire site to ca 500-1100 C.E., though other researchers, such as Jack Steinbring (1975), note its resemblance to known Archaic rock art at the Jeffers Petroglyph Site in southwestern Minnesota. 

Sources:

Vastokas and Vastokas, Sacred art of the Algonkians: A Study of the Peterborough Petroglyphs, 1973, pp. 121-129

Jack Steinbring, Taxonomic and Associational Considerations of Copper Technology During The Archaic Tradition, 1975

What is the meaning of this scene?

Lake Ontario is generally navigable for small boats from late May through Sep, with the peak boating season occurring between Jun and Aug...

Hence "sun boats"...

I talked about the navigation on the great lakes and animal calendar markers used to depict sailing and mining calendars in this post "Mishipeshu", about this amazing deified composite animal calendar maker from Great Lakes, USA...

Some people, are of the opinion that the Teaching Rocks site's boats have much more in common with Neolithic-Bronze Age rock art traditions of Siberia, northern Russia, and the Baltic's hunter-gatherers and pastoralists than they do with historic Algonquin boat art. 

The ground stone and slate toolkit used around eastern Ontario during the Mid-Late Archaic also matches those other regions, too. So they propose that the site is multi-component site, spanning the Mid-Late Archaic to late Mississippian times...

And they say that if some of the boats from the Teaching Rocks site do date to the Archaic period, then they're the only know petroglyph representations of Old Copper Complex boats...

Some other people say that the boats depicted on Teaching Rocks could be bark canoes (like the ones depicted below in the Codex Canadensis), which were very widespread in the region and almost never survive in the archaeological record...

They also say that boats depicted in Siberian petroglyphs seem different. They often had a rectangular silhouette and almost always an elk head shaped figurehead...

BTW, I talked about Northern Russian Bronze Age petroglyph animal calendar and why Elk was used as symbol for sailing in my post "Bes" about petroglyphs from Lake Onega in Russia. In it also explain why elk head was used as a symbol for the sailing season...

The proponents of the Siberian - North American cultural link point at the Altai region or the Amur River region petroglyphs. The image shows two boats from Shalabolino, Krasnoyarskiy kray, Russia. Similar, but different, showing regional variants going from west to east...

Very interesting. And these boats seem to have the sun column too...I talked about the sun boats petroglyphs from the Baltic region in my post "Sun eyes" about the solar cult in Early Bronze Age Baltic.... 

The sailing in this part of the world is also only possible during the hot half of the year, Apr/May - Oct/Nov...

Anyway, I don't know how old the Teaching Rocks site solar boat petroglyph is, but I definitely know what it depicts...

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

PS: Speaking of Ontario, who here remembers "The wolves of Ontario"?

Bison man

An amazing pic by Mike Wilson of an amazing petroglyph from Utah, SW USA, depicting what???

Well, I think these are SW Monsoon "rain bombs"...

Which are symbolically depicted like this: A "mysterious" creature depicted on the rocks of North Eastern Arizona. Holbrook area. Pic by Mike Davenport...You can read more about this in my post "Rain cloud", in which I talk about rain bombs...And how (why) they look like corn knobs... 

The rain bomb dude is accompanied by a big horn sheep...Why? Well cause the rain bombs fall from the sky during the SW monsoon season, which overlaps with the big horn sheep mating season...I talked about this in my post "Alosaka", where I also talk about Alósaka/Muyingwa, two aspects of The Corn God of the Hopi pantheon: The God of Germination and The God of Growth (of corn). And why he has big horn sheep horns...

Here is another great pic, this time by Randy Langstraat, of another one of the rain bomb dudes and his pet horned snake with hands, spewing water...Why horned snake spewing water?

Well the horns are the horns of the big horn sheep, which is an animal calendar marker of the SW monsoon season...But why snake? Cause the SW monsoon season is also the time when snakes are most active...I talk about this in my post "Horned serpent"...

The SW monsoon season is also the time when rattle snakes dance...

Which is what snake dancers imitate...

In order to bring rain...

I talked about this in my post "Snake dance"...

Ok so we can explain everyone on the original pic, except this dude? Who is this dude? Who (what) does he represent?

His horns don't look like big horned sheep horns

or pronghorn antelope horns (equivalent animal calendar marker). 

Both are found in SW Indian rain related mythology and petroglyphs cause they mate during the SW monsoon season, Jul-Sep...

There is another animal, which originally lived from Canada to Mexico...American bison. 

Check the horns and tail. And guess what: Male and female herds usually do not mingle until the breeding season, which can occur from July through September...

Which is when the snake dance and the rain bombs freak the shit out of the local SW USA Indian corn farmers...Enough for them to deify them...

So I think we have just, by chance, discovered another animal calendar marker...

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Mesa Mouliana vessel

A very interesting Minoan vessel found in Mesa Mouliana and dated to 1200-1100BC. Do you see the two nipple like things just under the spout? And wavy lines originating from each "nipple " and [my interpretation] symbolising the flow of water (milk of Mother Earth)?

This object is extremely stylised version of this. Ceramic vessel form Crete dated ca 2200-2000 BC. Probably during rituals the liquid would pour out of her breasts symbolically providing nourishment. It’s believed to represent the mountain goddess of Crete...

Both objects are in the Archaeological museum in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. 

What was poured out of this vessel was drinking water. I explained why in my post "Anavlochos mountain" about ancient Mother Earth sanctuaries found on it.

Now here is something that just occurred to me. Look at this beauty: Minoan jug decorated with flying swallows and small breast-like buttons - 1700-1650 BC, discovered in Akrotiri, Santorini. Currently at the Prehistoric Thera Museum, Santorini, Greece

Similar kind of jug, with nipples, but instead of water pouring out of the nipples, a swallow in flight is depicted  on the jug's belly. Why? I already talked about swallows as animal calendar marker for Apr/May, the beginning of summer, in Minoan art in my post "Minoan spring fresco". In it I analysed the animal (swallow) and plant (lily) calendar markers depicted on the "Spring Fresco" from the Akrotiri Site at Thera (Santorini), dated to 1550 – 1500 BC, and I suggested that based on the link between swallows nesting season and the lily blooming season, the fresco should be called "Summer fresco"...

But just now, I discovered that swallows were also linked with saffron crocuses. This is a strainer found in room 3 of the Xeste 3 house in Akrotiri. It is decorated with swallows flying over flowering saffron crocuses...The pic is from this paper...

Crocus flowers in Oct/Nov and is used in Minoan art as a plant calendar marker for Oct/Nov. I talked about this in my post "Male - female Minoan vessel", where I analysed this 16th c. BC Minoan vessel found on Thera, Akrotiri, depicting (according to the museum curators) on one side wild goats and saffron crocuses and on the other side dolphins and sea grass...

What is very very interesting is that swallows are summer visitors to Crete, arriving in Apr/May and leaving in Oct/Nov...

Minoans were maritime people and the swallow migrations marking the beginning and the end of the sailing season must have had a special place in Minoan culture...This veneration of swallows was also found in Ancient Greece. I talked about it in my post "Herald of spring". Did you know that Ancient Greeks had a constellation swallow (Ancient Greek: χελιδών). "...The sun entered into this constellation, when the swallow appeared in Greece as the herald of Spring..." 

And the same link between swallows and sailing was found in Roman culture and later European cultures...I talked about it in my post "Swallow tattoo"...

The period between the arrival of swallows (Apr/May) and the departure of swallows (Oct/Nov) marks the hot, dry half of the year on Crete.

How can this explain the nipple jugs with swallows? Well, the swallow migrations divide the year into female (Wet, Cool, Yin, Sowing - Creating life, No Sailing, Peace) and male (Dry, Hot, Yang, Harvesting - Destroying life, Sailing, War) halves...

The wet half being linked to the (earth) goddess, symbolised by saffron crocuses, goats and boobs 🙂 and the dry half being linked to the (sea/sun) god, symbolised by lilies, bulls and no boobs 🙂...

This is seriously cool...BTW, I already talked about the calendric symbolism of flowers in Minoan art in my post "Three Minoan flowers"...

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Three Minoan flowers

In this paper, Marcia Nugent talks about "3 flowers as 3 Minoan calendar markers for 3 seasons":

1. Madonna lily = Spring

2. Sea daffodil = Summer

3. Saffron crocus = Autumn

She is right about the flowers, but wrong about the seasons...Here's why:

Madonna lily starts blooming on Crete in Apr/May. This is the beginning of summer (summer solstice is "mid summer")...So Madonna lily is the flower calendar marker for summer, not spring...

I talked about it in my post "Minoan spring fresco", in which I explained why this Minoan fresco from the Akrotiri Site at Thera (Santorini), dated to 1550 – 1500 BC, should be called "Beginning of summer" fresco and not "Spring Fresco" 🙂...  

Sea daffodil start blooming on Crete in Jul/Aug. This is the beginning of autumn (autumn equinox marks the middle of autumn)...So Sea daffodil is the flower calendar marker for autumn, not summer...

I talked about it in my post "Minoan griffin fresco", about this detail of the griffin fresco (reproduction) from the throne room, palace of Knossos, Crete, dated to 1700-1450 BC, in which I explained why I think that the flowers depicted around the lying griffin are sea daffodils...

Saffron crocus starts blooming on Crete in Oct/Nov. This is the beginning of winter (winter solstice is "mid winter")....So Saffron crocus is the flower calendar marker for winter, not autumn...

I talked about saffron in several of my posts, "Saffron", "Origin of saffron", "Pan goat of rain", "Crocus fairy", in which I also talk about the famous Minoan "Saffron gatherers" fresco. In them I also talk about the origin of saffron crocus...And why saffron crocus was the sacred plant on Minoan Crete...And why it was linked with Ibex goats...And mother goddess...

Knowing this, here is the fixed flower-season diagram

That's it. To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

Male - Female Minoan bowl

A 16th cent. BC Minoan vessel found on Thera, Akrotiri, depicting (according to the museum curators) on one side wild goats and saffron crocuses and on the other side dolphins and sea grass...

According to the museum curators:

The vessel was found in the so-called "House of the Ladies", a building of both residential and ritual character...We think that the vessel had (possibly) ritual meaning and use, but we don't know what meaning and what use...

Maybe I can help here. This vessel is a ritual calendar, depicting a division of a solar year into cool/wet half of the year (goat) and hot/dry half of the year (dolphin)...

Why goat and dolphin? The beginning of the hot dry season coincides with the beginning of the mating of the dolphins (Apr/May) and the beginning of the cool wet season coincides with the beginning of the mating of the wild goats (Oct/Nov)...

I actually talked about this in detail in my post "Horned animal attacked by a dolphin" that analysis this strange Minoan seal...

Hot dry season Apr/May - Oct/Nov (Dolphin season) is also the sailing season...Extremely important if you were a Minoan...

I talked about this in my post "Minoan dolphin fresco" about the famous Minoan "dolphins fresco" from Knossos, Crete, dated to 1500BC...

What about crocuses? Well, wild Cretan crocus, the ancestor of all the saffron crocuses, starts flowering in Oct/Nov...

At the beginning of rain season, when wild Cretan Ibex goats start to mate...

Talked about this in my posts "Saffron" and "Origin of saffron"...

Which is why crocus was The Flower of The Goddess of Fertility...2nd millennium BC faience (glazed ceramic) models of female garments decorated with crocuses excavated by Arthur Evans during the excavations of the the Temple Repositories at Knossos...

This is the famous Minoan Hagia Triada Sarcophagus, a late Minoan limestone sarcophagus, dated to around 1400 BC. 

On it, we see a priestess presiding over a bull sacrifice wearing a skirt decorated with crocus flowers...

I talk about this in my posts "Agia Triada sarcophagus" and "Minoan bull sacrifice"...

BTW, Apr/May, the beginning of the sailing season in the Eastern Mediterranean is marked with a Bull, Taurus...This is because Apr/May was the time when wild Eurasian cattle calving season used to start...I talked about the "Old Taurus" in many of my posts...

I talked about the symbolic division of the Minoan year into Goat and Bull halves in this post "Theseus ring", about Winter (Ibex) and Summer (Bull) Minoan rings. Article about the opposite goat - bull symbolism in Minoan art. 

This 14th-13th c. BC larnax (a container for human remains), found in Mycenaean Tanagra cemetery, but created under strong Minoan influence, depicts:

The top part: Ibex goat (ritual?) hunt

The bottom part: Auroch bull (ritual?) leaping

Why?

This is typical Cretan climate chart:

Top: Ibex goat, symbol of cool, wet half of the year. Ibex goat animal calendar marker for Oct/Nov, start of the Ibex mating season

Bottom: Auroch bull, symbol of hot, dry half of the year. Auroch bull animal calendar marker for Apr/May, start of the Auroch calving season

Ritual ibex goat hunt marks the start of the cool wet half of the year and the end of the sailing season?

Ritual bull leaping marks the start of the hot dry half of the year and the start of the sailing season?

You can find more interesting things about this in my post "Goat riding thundergod"...

Because sailing was male dominated activity and saffron gathering and processing was female dominated activity, we could say that the Thera vessel is divided into male (Bull/Dolphin) and female (Goat/Saffron) halves...

Reflecting the division of the Cretan year into female (Wet, Cool, Yin, Sowing - Creating life, No Sailing, Peace) and male (Dry, Hot, Yang, Harvesting - Destroying life, Sailing, War) halves...

That's it. What do you think?

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...