Spyrock (Spy Rock) Petroglyphs Mendocino County California Mark Stars of the Sky ca. 3000 B.C. from the Autumn Equinox to Vernal Equinox

Mark Gary and Dan Foster in Mendocino County and Rock Art Conservation, Society for California Archaeology NEWSLETTER, Volume 24, Number 3, May 1990, show an image of the Spyrock (also found spelled as Spy Rock) Petroglyphs (MEN-1912). The Keystone Petroglyph Boulder (MEN-2200), which we have just deciphered in the previous posting, is also covered. One basis for our decipherment is a copyrighted drawing of Spy Rock by John Betts published there, together with online photographs and other materials.

As Gary and Foster write, the Spyrock Petroglyphs (deciphered by us now in this posting) are regarded to be:

"[A]n example of the complexity of rock art motifs found in Mendocino County ... concentric circle figures could date to 100 BC and are though to be the oldest style known for the northwest coast".

Yes, they are indeed old, and much older than 100 B.C. In our book, Stars Stones and Scholars we noted already in 2003 that concentric circle figures on megaliths in Europe marked areas of the sky with few or no visible stars, i.e. stars not visible to the naked eye, viz. heavenly "voids" as it were. Such whorls are among the oldest megalithic markings in Europe.

The Glas Ghu cupmarked stone of the  Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, which we photographed personally some years ago, is a good example. Take a look at that link.

The Spy Rock whorls similarly mark such heavenly "voids", which have been misinterpreted as marking "objects", whereas they mark "no objects".

Our decipherment of Spyrock viz. Spy Rock is shown below:

Spy Rock Petroglyphs, Mendocino County, California

Deciphered as Astronomy ca. 3000 B.C.

Marking Stars from the Autumn Equinox to the Vernal Equinox

The figures drawn on the Spy Rock are very, very old and point to an Old World origin of the megalithic makers, with Ophiuchus, for example, represented as a Hippopotamus, and mounted by several birds at Hercules and Serpens Caput. Corona Borealis seems to be represented as a coiled serpent above Boötes, a man, with Virgo depicted further below as a woman, and with the star Spica marking the Ecliptic. High above, Draco is represented as a flying serpent and to its right are found both Ursa Major and Ursa Minor depicted as birds of prey, with Leo below them marked by two lions, i.e. a lion and lioness. Cancer appears to be marked as a bird of some kind.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 117 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Spyrock (Spy Rock) Petroglyphs Mendocino County California Mark Stars of the Sky ca. 3000 B.C. from the Autumn Equinox to Vernal Equinox