Saturday, September 15, 2007

Cairns, Standing Stones & Inunguaks

A piece of Wikipedia information on the section Cairns As People....

"The practice is common in English, cairns are sometimes referred to by their anthropomorphic qualities. In German and Dutch, a cairn is known as Steinmann and Stenenman respectively, meaning literally "stone man". A form of the Inuit inukshuk is also meant to represent a human figure, and is called an inunguak ("imitation of a person"). In Italy, especially the Italian Alps, a cairn is an "Ometto" a small man."
I am fascinated by these rock art structures.
Large man-made formations are also know as standing stones, megaliths and orthostats. These huge stones standing upright are believed to be as old as 2800 B.C.E. (how politically correct am I?), maybe older.
Amazing....

7 comments:

Donna said...

Inukshuks are startling in their beauty in the far North here in Canada, being seen from miles away on the horizon. Its fascinating to watch the caribou herds divide around them, reforming further on, just as they do for a group of people who stand on the tundra...

h-bomb said...

You are uber politically correct, Mom. I didn't even know what B.C.E. meant until I just looked it up.

I think the Cairn thing is really interesting. Its great subject matter.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

This is a fascinating series you are working on. Can't wait to see more.
Wanda

Micki said...

These are great looking Denise.

artmixter said...

When I lived in Strathpeffer, we were fortunate enough to have two lots of standing stones. One was ancient, the Eagle Stone, which is carved with an eagle. There was also a modern stone circle, made from stones brought from all over the Highlands, a Millenium celebration piece. It's very beautiful; they both are. I agree with you; it is wonderful subject matter.

Elizabeth said...

Hello, stopping by here from Andrea's Blog... what fantastic work! So glad I found your blog.

These are lovely, nice colours! We have some great standing stones here in the UK too, though I hadn't thought of them as stone people before.
You must be VERY PS 'cos I don't know what B.C.E. means either.... off to look it up :-)
Elizabeth

Anonymous said...

Hallo - I just found your wonder-filled blog, via jude's spiritcloth - and am enjoying your archives.

I'm saying Hallo via this post, because you may like to know about a book called Inuksuit: Silent Messengers of the Arctic. At last look it has become rather expensive, but may still be available affordably somewhere. It is exquisite.

Thanks for all your inspiring work!

xxx