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The first stones identified as Bird Effigies hadwhat looked like writing inscribed on them. These were initially thought to be grave stones written in a script most like Iberian Punic, a phoenician related alphabet found in Spain and Portugal that dates to 1,000 BC. Unfortunately, no 3,000 year old artifacts have been found on the SDM Site to support that time period. Everything found is clearly Paleo, with maybe a trace of Early Archaic.Many of the "inscriptions" turned out to be marks from agricultural machinery, commonly called "plow marks". Some, however, are not.Similar abstract symbols inscribed on rock appear in Western Europe by a distantly relatedculture over 15,000 years ago. That script was used strictly for religious and ritual purposes. Many Hundreds of roughly triangular granite stones without inscriptions have been identifiedas "Bird Effigies" because of the surface alteration done to them by pounding, pecking and chipping, in obvious contrast to the normally rounded and smooth glacial finish.These stone "Bird Effigies" range in size from under one inch to about four feet high, thoughmost are under about twelve inches. In numbers as well as mass, stone Birds are themost prominent artifact found on the SDM Site.Natural 'Bird' shapes are not uncommon if you look hard enough anywhere that stones or rocks are exposed. Most stones were found somewhere off-site and brought here to SDM to be modified.It is possible that 'birds' were made of other material as well such as bone, wood, or clay for example, and left at the funeral site where only the stone effigies survived.The idea and practice of making and using the "Bird Effigy" at a funeral or to be left at the cemetary in the far distant past evolved intothe erection of the uncounted thousands of Megalithic standing stones that start to appearall over the World well over 6,000 years ago.
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SDM STONE BIRDS
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