Re: "Epic carving found in Vero "

[quailspg@frii.com]

Quoting the article:

> "In what a top Florida anthropologist is calling
> 'the oldest, most spectacular and rare work of art
> in the Americas,' an amateur Vero Beach fossil
> hunter has found an ancient bone etched with a
> clear image of a walking mammoth or mastodon."
> http://www.verobeach32963.com/news/News060409/060409_BoneCarvingFind.htm

The legs are drawn with tremendous sophistication -- more so than the
head. Plus, the animal is doing a proper elephant pace -- legs on the same
side of the body moving in unison. One could imagine that the artist had
lots of experience being very close to the living animals.

Additionally, I can't help but notice there don't seem to be any weapons
depicted and none mentioned in the article. Who knows -- maybe this is
actually an example of one individual's fascination with an animal's form
(an artistic exercise) rather than the standard hunting narrative
(recording an event, evoking magic, or celebrating a kill).
[Bald sociological speculation over.]

-- Donna Braginetz

P.S.  Tell us, Dan, exactly what were you thinking?