Saturday, April 23, 2016

Prehistoric stone figures related to Blackfoot legend (Montana)


MISSOULIAN Apr 19, 2016 (No author name given)
     “All are rock outlines and clearly human figures. The torsos are typically square and contain a rock where the heart is, or a heart line – similar to pictograph and petroglyph depictions of humans that also dates to the same time period. Most have a waist line and some still have stones placed where kidneys are located. The Napi figures are all notably male, too, with a sometimes discernible phallus. A single line of rocks creates the legs, and the feet typically point outward.
     With arms outstretched, bent at the elbow in a “hands-up style” and fingers – if the smaller rocks remain – splayed out, Brink calls the pose one of supplication, the “human being surrendering to the spirit world.”
     ...Brink said ancient rock features that remain relatively undisturbed in places like the BLM’s Henry Smith site are helping to teach modern people an important lesson about ancient plains inhabitants.
      “These people had a deep spiritual life,” he said. “It was steeped in ceremony.”
      That makes sense considering the treacherous and fickle world in which they lived, he added.
       “For people who are not used to thinking this way, imagine putting yourself out somewhere on the plains and just stand there in the middle of nowhere and ask: ‘How do I survive?’”


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