A few pictures of birds

They were taken in my local park by Nikon D50 and telescopic lens. Probably birds is my favorite theme and I spend a lot of time in parks for a good shot.

Karelian Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs are rock carvings made by the ancient man and exceptionally valuable evidence of the remote past coming to us from the Neolithic Age. The age of Karelian Petroglyphs is estimated at 6 thousand years.

Originally the images were painted with ochre, coal and blood, but water, snow and ice quickly washed them out. The desire to make them resistant and eternal led to rock carving. All petroglyphs in Karelia are carved with single-point strikes of the stone, most likely the quartz. The usual depth of the carvings is two or three millimeters.

Some images show only the outline but some are entirely carved out. They are usually small 10 to 60 centimeters long but there are exceptions. Some of the carvings can be seen only by the sidelight during either the sunrise or the sunset in sunny weather.

Petroglyphs were believed to be the reflection of the Evil Spirit that’s why ancient people gave them such names as Besov Nos (Devil’s Nose) or Tchertovy Sledki (Devil’s Footprints). Most of the images are recognizable. You can distinguish waterfowls, sea and land animals, boats, people and human-like creatures. But you can also find quaint and mysterious images as well as solar and lunar signs. The natural proportions of the images are often distorted.

The bond between Karelian petroglyphs and the system of beliefs and ceremonies and the general attitude of ancient people is doubtless. Rock canvases are the core of the sanctuaries that were settled in isolated places of the coast. Ancient magicians tried to mark out the centers of the sanctuaries with the help of rock images and make the main objects of worship visible and accessible.

What do Petroglyphs really mean?

There are a lot of theories trying to explain what prehistoric people wanted to express with these signs. Sometimes it seems clear, when the attributes of real life are shown: animals, birds, boats, humans. Hunting scenes could be explained as a demonstration of "hunting magic". Onego Lake Petroglyphs in contrast to realistic White Sea Petroglyphs are more symbolic and fantastic. They depict the sun and the moon, enigmatic signs and imaginary creatures. The ideas of prehistoric people about the world around are conveyed in some pictures, for example, the sign of the moon has legs, because the moon "goes" over the sky. Some Petroglyphs have no good explanation, so everyone can put forward one's own theory.

There are 23 groupings of Onego petroglyphs stretching for almost 20 kilometers along the coastline of Onego Lake. Half of the petroglyphs are accumulated on two capes – Besov Nos (Devil’s Nose) and Peri Nos (Peri Nose). More than a thousand of images both separate and in compositions have been discovered here.

Solar and lunar signs are typical for Onego petroglyphs. In general they are more metaphoric than Belomorsk petroglyphs. The leitmotif is a waterfowl that symbolized seasons and the cycle of time. Birds can also be interpreted as the mediums between the middle world, the Earth, and the upper world, the Heavens.

On the west cape of Besov Nos there is perhaps the most famous image of Onego petroglyphs. It is a devil’s image. It looks like a gnarly human being with outstretched and bent in elbows arms with five opened fingers. His head is quadrangular. The crack divides the body into two symmetrical parts. A funnel in the devil’s mouth and a smooth crack testify that the devil was given food and drink and most likely it was blood of the killed animals. Above the devil’s image a Christian cross with an inscription is carved. It was probably carved in the fifteenth century by the monks of the nearby Muromsky monastery.

Belomorsk petroglyphs are located on the islands of the Vyg River where it flows into the White Sea stretching for almost 2 km. The largest and the most famous groupings of petroglyphs are Staraya (Old) Zalavruga, Novaya (New) Zalavruga and Erpin Pudas.

Belomorsk petroglyphs were discovered in 1926 by Alexander Linevsky, a student at that time, who later on became a famous archaeologist. However, the local population was aware of their existence long before Linevsky came to this area and was shown the carved images on the reddish rock.

There are approximately 2000 images discovered in this area. The images of boats and people hunting beluga whales and sea cows prevail. People wanted to imprint real (or imaginary) events as narrative scenes. Ancient painters and their tribesmen lived close to their rock canvases. There were more than 50 settlements in the proximity to petroglyphs. People had been settling here for thousands of years from the 5th century B.C. when the islands of the river Vyg started to emerge from under the water.

The most popuar and impressive image of Belomorsk petroglyphs belonging to the group called “Devil’s footprints” is an image of the devil and his seven footprints. The devil is a picturesque male image

with a hunchback and disproportionate big phallus and foot. His arm with an opened palm is stretched forward. According to Linevsky there are approximately 300 images in this group located within 40 sq. km. A tense carpet that covers the rock features the images of deer, elks, bears, white w

hales, birds, boats with and without sailors, odd stars, circles and crosses.