Spanish Hill

John Dunkleberger in Williamsport recently made me aware of your excellent and fascinating Spanish Hill web site. While I was perusing it, the soapstone figure caught my attention; since you are asking for suggestions as to its origin, I'd like to offer some information. I don't pretend to be anything more than an amateur archaeologist, but I have looked long and hard at many such figures. It is almost certainly an aboriginal American artifact, and the motif is very common and apparently widespread in North America, although professional archaeologists seem reluctant to recognize it, calling it "amorphous" and "the product of natural weathering". It also appears in European Paleolithic material and, in more refined form, in Inuit "transition art". It is a Janus-like figure with faces looking in opposite directions, one typically being noticeably anthropomorphic and the other more bird-like but with human-like features. Very likely the motif is quite ancient and primal, and I would bet that it appears in recognizable form in most parts of the world.

To see enough of these figures to last you for quite a while, please take a look at my own web site, http://www.daysknob.com , describing an apparently quite old habitation site I have been investigating here in southeastern Ohio. It presents my description and attempted interpretation of various components of this "Bird Spirit" figure, and I think that after reading it you will quickly recognize more than just the human face in the soapstone.

The Bird Spirit typically exhibits the following characteristics when all features are present:

At least as frequently as the actual bird form, the image of a hybrid bird-human creature appears - referred to here as the "Bird Spirit". (Since this author seems to have discovered it, at least in this context, he presumably can call it whatever he likes.) For a while, this author was tentatively identifying numerous figures on stone tools as animals such as bear and wildcat. Then came the discovery of what appeared to be the image of a human head (shown leftmost in the top row below) made of a hard mud/ochre/coal amalgam, half buried at the bottom of a washed out rut in the "driveway" up the knob. In its mouth were two distinctly detailed birds joined together, and it was adorned with several other small bird images. Looking more closely at the mischaracterized "animal" images on the tools then revealed that these usually had mouths generally or distinctly shaped like birds, leading to the recognition of a highly standardized bird-human figure. The constant repetition of a complex and recognizable pattern was unmistakable.

The Bird Spirit typically exhibits the following characteristics when all features are present:

A mouth consisting of two birds conjoined most of the way back from their heads, and facing away from each other with their heads forming or occupying the corners of the mouth. When the figure is depicted only in profile, the mouth has the form of a bird facing toward the back of the head. This gives an appearance that easily causes the image to be misidentified as an animal such as a bear or wildcat.

A bird, resting or sometimes perched, facing forward on top of the head, often suggesting shaman headgear.

One or more birds or Bird Spirits emerging from the mouth.

Eyes in the form of birds or bird heads, the two eyes typically being different in shape.

A nose consisting of a bird facing downward.

Ears in the form of birds.

If a significant chin is present, this may be in the form of a bird or Bird Spirit head.

A bird or Bird Spirit emerging in the manner of an egg, when the figure appears in full-length bird form. Possibly as a variation on this, a bird or Bird Spirit face often also appears at the posterior end of the figure.

A bird or Bird Spirit emerging beneath the primary figure (when in full-length form), as if from the belly.

The head of a Bird Spirit may be strongly anthropomorphic, with distinctly human nose and eyes at the front of the face, or more bird-like with an elon- gated head. In either case, it normally has a bird-shaped mouth rather than a beak. Below is a sketch of the general form, a simple schematic showing the typical components described above. (Unlike the people that created these objects, this author has no artistic talent. Do not laugh.)

I am certainly no archeologist and cannot say for sure what to think of it scientifically - but it sure is strange!