Archaeologists Have No Idea What This Weird Glyph Is And Want Your Help

[maximus otter]

While excavating a site called Nesscliffe Hill last summer, the researchers came across an unusual figure carved into a red sandstone. Having dubbed their find the Nessglyph, the team are now asking the public for suggestions as to what it might represent.

Consisting of a hollowed-out circle and a few straight lines, the etching seems to have been created using some sort of metal instrument, although the archaeologists who discovered the relic have no idea who made it or why. All that is currently known is that Nesscliffe Hill was once the site of an Iron Age hillfort and was later occupied by the Romans.

“It is worth noting that Nesscliffe lies within the putative territory of the Cornovii, a name that has been suggested to reference to the ‘horned ones’. There is the possibility of a connection to a horned deity cult in the Roman army as depicted at several military sites across Britain,” said Dr Paul Reilly from the University of Southampton.

If you think you’ve cracked the mystery then send your thoughts to Paul Reilly at [email protected] or Gary Lock at [email protected]

https://www.iflscience.com/archaeol...-this-weird-glyph-is-and-want-your-help-67307

maximus otter

 

[Mythopoeika]

While excavating a site called Nesscliffe Hill last summer, the researchers came across an unusual figure carved into a red sandstone. Having dubbed their find the Nessglyph, the team are now asking the public for suggestions as to what it might represent.

Consisting of a hollowed-out circle and a few straight lines, the etching seems to have been created using some sort of metal instrument, although the archaeologists who discovered the relic have no idea who made it or why. All that is currently known is that Nesscliffe Hill was once the site of an Iron Age hillfort and was later occupied by the Romans.

“It is worth noting that Nesscliffe lies within the putative territory of the Cornovii, a name that has been suggested to reference to the ‘horned ones’. There is the possibility of a connection to a horned deity cult in the Roman army as depicted at several military sites across Britain,” said Dr Paul Reilly from the University of Southampton.

If you think you’ve cracked the mystery then send your thoughts to Paul Reilly at [email protected] or Gary Lock at [email protected]

https://www.iflscience.com/archaeol...-this-weird-glyph-is-and-want-your-help-67307

maximus otter

To me, it looks like it was used with a 'fire saw' to light a fire.
Then, maybe the owner decorated it a bit to make it look like a devil.

 

[brownmane]

Perhaps a warrior/protector? If you see it as a humanlike figure. The left side (ours) appears to be holding up something like a knife, a staff.

 

[Min Bannister]

It looks like the devil with a stylish cane in one hand and a toasting fork in the other.

Although on a more serious note, it looks like a cup mark that has later been added to. Possibly by the horny Romans mentioned.

 

[AmStramGram]

It reminds me of the sun god Helios / Sol, holding a torch with his right hand, and radiating rays of light from his head (the "horns"), like the Colossus of Rhodes. Alas, without more details about the context, I'm afraid it's almost impossible to conclude anything. It's a sort of Rorschach's test !

 

[Frideswide]

Drs Reilly and Lock are friends of mine, going back to 1985

 

[Salmonellus]

I was getting a Roman vibe off the design too, and it occurs to me that the "standing figure holding something long and something short" is a very common pattern on the reverse of Roman coins. Maybe it's an old cup mark that a bored Roman had a bit of fun with.

 

[Zeke Newbold]

Oh, C'mon guys! BO-RING!

This is obviously a straight depiction of a Praying Mantis type humanod alien visitor engaged in surverying the early societies of Homo Sapiens...or...or.. it's an ancient astrnaut donned in a radiation suit of some kind, using antennae to be able to keep in touch with the mothership which is orbiting the Earth in order to oversee the interbreeding with....

....oh, alright, alright, it's just some Roman geezer carrying a spear and a sword with lines coming out of his head to symblose the sun's rays or some shit like that. YAWN!

 

[Coal]

Is it really a glyph? It remind me of a mortar and it might have been used to grind something, so the grooves are to feed stuff in or feed out whatever the result was. It could also be used as a base for a firestick, with the resulting smouldering dust accumulating in the grooves.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Is it really a glyph? It remind me of a mortar and it might have been used to grind something, so the grooves are to feed stuff in or feed out whatever the result was. It could also be used as a base for a firestick, with the resulting smouldering dust accumulating in the grooves.

Yep, I think that's all it is.