maximus otter
Recovering policeman
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An old petroglyph was found during a survey in Sarkubeh Village in Iran, a site known for its abundant prehistoric rock carvings. Between 2017 and 2018, researchers happened upon the five-and-a-half-inch glyph that depicts what looks like a praying mantis with circles at the end of its limbs.
This ‘mantis-man’ petroglyph is estimated to have been created between four and 40,000 years ago—the disparity in these figures is due to the fact that sanctions keep Iran from utilizing materials to radiocarbon date the specimens.
Phys.org reports that glyphs portraying invertebrates “are rare,” which led to a collaboration between entomologists and archaeologists “to try and identify the motif.” The group studied and compared the recently discovered mantis-man with other petroglyphs from all over the world.
...the group of scientists concluded that the petroglyph featured Empusa, a genus of mantises.
The ‘man’ portion of ‘mantis-man’ comes from the circles that round out the mantis’ limbs—according to a paper published in the Journal of Orthoptera Research, the design on the rock “resembles a well-known ‘squatter man’ motif … found all over the world.”
Interestingly, the paper shares that the depiction appears “to have raised and opened its forelegs laterally” indicating that the artist was hoping to portray a threatening figure. Still, the reason why mantises would have been objects of interest to the point of someone taking the time to inscribe their likeness remains a mystery.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a31671962/praying-mantis-petroglyph/
maximus otter
This ‘mantis-man’ petroglyph is estimated to have been created between four and 40,000 years ago—the disparity in these figures is due to the fact that sanctions keep Iran from utilizing materials to radiocarbon date the specimens.
Phys.org reports that glyphs portraying invertebrates “are rare,” which led to a collaboration between entomologists and archaeologists “to try and identify the motif.” The group studied and compared the recently discovered mantis-man with other petroglyphs from all over the world.
...the group of scientists concluded that the petroglyph featured Empusa, a genus of mantises.
The ‘man’ portion of ‘mantis-man’ comes from the circles that round out the mantis’ limbs—according to a paper published in the Journal of Orthoptera Research, the design on the rock “resembles a well-known ‘squatter man’ motif … found all over the world.”
Interestingly, the paper shares that the depiction appears “to have raised and opened its forelegs laterally” indicating that the artist was hoping to portray a threatening figure. Still, the reason why mantises would have been objects of interest to the point of someone taking the time to inscribe their likeness remains a mystery.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a31671962/praying-mantis-petroglyph/
maximus otter
