Age of Water-snake

Water-snake, Hydra, Undervorld, Serpent, Eart-snake and Earth-eye, four seasons, Swan, Backa, Half-year snake,Isis, Osiris, Loke on the glue-stick, Killing of Balder, misteltoe, Fire drill, tree of life, Hulluppu tree, Handman

When looking at the known early ages it is easy to think about "we and them" and see them as primitive. I think and up to my knowledge we have to avoid that if we want to get a real picture. I cannot see that we win much if we compare two worlds with very different capital in technology. However many problems are eternal and them we should be aware of. That is why I compare with our world many times.

We often see in our days that our gods or nobility in charge have no sense of what is the map and what is terrain ... or what comes first ... the hen or the egg. In this time with many without a job our gods talk about education as a solution. But the main problem is how to get demand for products, which lead, to request of labour force. Others blame the workers and say that it is their fault that the production does not need workers. The truth is that there have to be money in the market and buyers before demand rises. The main part is depending on salaries or that the people have buying force.

Thinking awkwardly is easy especially when it is not your direct problem. We may speculate in the difficulties when our ancestors had to apply methods from the south to a northern climate. Believing in the message would be natural because they could see that the methods worked in Sumer and Egypt. Yet if they literally followed the scheme set by for instance following the same stars and time as in south it would work only occasionally. Nowadays genetic manipulators try to put in genes from fishes or what it is to make the crops better fitted for our climate. We may say that the problems of the past are still alive.

The early Sumerian zodiac corresponds better to our constellations than in any other culture. Watergate is the only natural phenomenon in sky and divides the zodiac in two halves. For about 6000 years ago the spring equinox was where the zodiac crosses Watergate at Geminis. Sumerian seals shows that they thought a heavenly river, which was the abstraction of rain. The other crossing in autumn fitted the time of rain or inundation in Egypt. In Babylonian figures we see one dot for spring and two for autumn.

Water-snake or Hydra begins under Cancer and they thought that as abstraction for the Underworld as womb when above the sun-orbit was land. The figure is extended to Scorpio, which was the symbol of cutting the seed and harvest.

Scorpio and Water-snake are widely spread all over the world. The Mayan symbol is the Feathered Snake and that is of course flying in the sky. It is as a thought that the Mayan calendar origins from ca 3114 BC. That is about the same time as the Indus calendar and when we see the grove grinding starts in Scandinavia. Overall we se something like a reformation in the great cultures.

Europeans always talk about when Europe discovered America, without mentioning others like the Scandinavians or asking when did the Americans discover Europeans. The statement is made too early. New experiences are finds of ancient Roman amphoras in South America approximately 300 AD and other concrete finds. There is the Serpent mound as a concrete example. The nearby Easter Islands have the statues in Americans style and the syllable alphabet in Indus style.

With global up to date view the two American continents' importance lies in the question: "Take away maize, tobacco, tomato, potato from world economy and it collapses and the population declines?" Future will bring more evidence about the culture flow. Why should we Europeans be the best or worst? Thinking a possibility that Americans were better sailors and first to discover Europe is of course too hard for Europeans? Our know-ledge about our own culture is too little to say that we had no guest from over there in the past?

We often see two snakes and the other is Serpent in the vocabulary of the zodiac. However there is also a bearer Opiuchus and why gad around with a snake? The snake is long and a good abstraction of time and space. Thus it becomes symbols of the harvest, which should be so good and big that it was enough to next harvest ... or at least the season when early vegetables may give food. But they had also to get time-space to fit the sun year. Then they needed a little bit to overcome the eleven days from twelve moons to a sun year. This symbolism stayed in Scandinavia until the church took over.

The Mound Age in the heydays of Bronze Age was between 1300 and 1100 and at same time we can note a rise in agriculture inland. At that time Water-snake was actual for the beginning of May and suitable mark for agriculture. In warm Sumer some crops needed only 40 days to ripen. In Scandinavia we need nowadays about three months a good year and during Bronze Age maybe less because it was slightly a warmer climate.

The associations go to the Mayan "flying feathered serpent" and on some ships in Bohuslaen we see it on stem or stern. Mostly with two horns but also with one or three horns. We may read the spiral itself IN or Out depending on whether it is right turn or left-turn.

The smaller ship has the IN <> OUT spiral in the stem. We see T-shaped figure on early Cretan symbols as a beam in the stem and we see it on some carvings. In stern is an undefined labyrinth symbol for the growing underneath, but could perhaps also be the life-giving udder. Under a pair with open gesture and here the third is only symbolised with the one-stroked foot. The animal may be a dog and end of season. To the left a naked foot and an open boat, perhaps sign of the beginning of the year.

The spiral era was also the era of the sun cult and surely inspired by Egypt. Cult for its own sake often includes admirers. In an upper corner is a symbol, which may be a mirror, which also belongs to the era. Maybe they originally made them for catching the sun. However the owner surely soon caught himself and got an own image to admire. We can perhaps note a rise in individuality and search for power at the time when man discovers himself.

The man used razors and caring for his outlook and that was also a symptom of time, when a group began to use all means to get power. Like for beauty of man and woman and their appearance including odds and ends like swords and the outfit for women. Look at a woman discovering herself in the mirror. The one with enough self-confidence will always find her best parts and she will find the way to blossom.

Above is the L Baltzer version of Backa Bohuslaen. It is of the kind that alters depending on who make it. That is because we may see many layers by modern techniques in documenting.

This is a good example of disorder. There is no thread to follow however we see that the ship with marked stem and stern and cargo tells about the time-space. Some figures or combination we can recognise and interpret others we have to leave undecided. In some sections they have tried to tie the symbols together like an organised language.

In the middle of the upper row of symbols we see a Scorpio-symbol, which was the most global symbol as for instance seen here in a carving from India. Ox, Cock, Labyrinth and Earth-eye we have in are common. See below.

On the section in the right lower corner we can only rely on the crossed circles and double circles. The two boats are perhaps season boats. One with an extra crossing stroke suggests the year splits perhaps in May in two half years. That may be up to moon counting. The sitting could show the known goddess, but later documentation shows that nine is sitting in the boat.

Half-year snakes

In and around the triple crossed circle at Backa are one figure in the middle of circles and bigger holding the "sun mirror" or year symbol and he has a companion. We see three smaller figures too but only in night-light. Then the question is, were all the figures done at the same time ore in steps and do they belong to each other? In the left upper corner is an almost similar figure holding a crossed double circle but the cross is in the angle for dividing the year in the Celtic way.

The scene with a mourning woman with pair of tumblers and deer may be the arrival of Isis to Backa. Tumblers may also be symbols of shifting the wheat from the chaff as we always have to look for the rational reason behind. The forehead of the ship may be of Egyptian influence. The three other ships have symbols in stem and stern surely indicating time-space or "verald" read "Age of man" including what is going on.

Tumblers and flying figures may show the two birds Eagle and Swan or wandering birds in autumn. Long-legged birds were perhaps symbols of spring, as for instance the cranes. Their dance is still popular amusement in some places and many songs are written about the crane and young love. Animal baiting is still today a popular amusement in some place and the best season for some species was in autumn.

The icon of Isis is found also in Vitlycke, Tuvene, Foss, Finntorp all in Bohuslaen and in Haugsbyn on Dal.

It is a word for dividing the zodiac in Egypt. Below the mourning wife we see symbols of Ramadan much in the same way as at Evenstorp despite the time is symbolised by wave lines. There are also two cupmarks and symbols of where Watergate crosses the zodiac in autumn. They are perhaps symbols of rain and inundation in Egypt and Sumer.

On the other side of "river" stands the ferryman with a symbol for Capricorn on his head. I suppose he is an early Loke symbol of many things but also to lock in or store the crops, which is the practical story about the harvest season. A man "He hit well" is practical in this moment and he is normally the big man mostly called Hercules, but have many names in Western Europe.

The upper wave lines are difficult directly to interpret. They made all lines in a way that we may expect they tried to write a running story by tying symbols together. Maybe the little boat with a small head is a symbol for the "child" or the germ on the River of Underworld.

Laukeberget Bohuslaen is one of the biggest carvings and counts about 400 figures in the L Baltzer version. Later they found about 40 more. Most of the figures are surely in the same style and made at once.

A few symbols associate to Egypt such as the bundle of twigs beside the big tree. We see the tree of Life already at Malta 4000 BC and in other forms in Sumerian and Babylonian culture. During the last millenium it became symbols of Cancer in some cultures. It is a main icon like the World Tree and the ash-tree in Edda: We see it also on runic carvings as that of Sigurd. The Celts had the oak as their World Tree.

... in my early neighbourhood was a place-name Viskinge with the root VISK- = bundle of twigs. It looks like a sistrum in the man's hand at the same ship's stem. That seems to be of the Egyptian type with the stem bound up. In the middle of the upper row is a figure, which may be the mourning Isis.

In upper left corner with some imagination we may see early Edda type gods. The one without arms may be Hanno, who never had an opinion and left the decisions to others and of course the doings too. He is of course also a symbol of democracy as others may be the whole society. Tyr may have been a foolish rowdy without too much between his ears and they lured him to give his arm. That was when they tied Fenriswolf ... that was perhaps when they made some line on the night sky to decide Ramadan. After that he had learned something and could be a good judge because he knew what pain is ... in this we see empathy as well as non violence in our ancestors.

Loke on the glue-stick

They surely often told the episode when Loke fastened on Tjatses' glue-stick in the guise of an eagle. That was to amusement in late dark nights. To get free he had to fetch Idun and her apples to Tjatse. That was not popular between Aesirs because Idun was the fertility in spring ... and Tjatse was the frost and cold in spring. So Loke hade to be a flyer again, but the second time he borrowed the falcon guise from Freya and made a raid to Tjatse. He found Idun and turned her to a nut easily to transport.

Tjatse took again the guise of an eagle. However, Loke got help of the Aesir who made a fire and that burned the feathers of Tjatse so they easily killed him. That killing was widely spread ... we easily remember things if we connect them to funny stories. The boring rationality behind the amusement is perhaps that they made fires against the frost as is known during Middle Age. Some fire symbols may be telling about that important knowledge.

Below the Flying Loke is a May Twig. On Dal it was custom that the day they let the animals out they made a rowan twig with finery and compared with the neighbour's. Twig, ear and cupmark become symbols of the beginning of the growing season. The twig was maybe meant to shoo away the animals from forbidden places. Besides that used to drive on the ox before the arder.

The headmaster has a sistrum as warner and the boomerang as weapon. We see a traditional suite with the "big man" as the year gone. Big Man was perhaps the harvest and that was also killing the idol of corn.

In the middle row to the left are three foot-prints on a ship and below that an Earth-eye. In Sumerian old symbolism we find that eye under a fork and symbolise the conjunction Cancer and Water snake. The left lower corner includes at least three snakes and is about the growing season. There are also a Flyer and a man with a fire drill. That we may compare with Tjatse's myth above.

The collection of twelve plus full-cut footprints is perhaps the Ramadan and the Celtic feast. It is a harvest feast as well as in sky the time when almost the entire zodiac is visible.

The fire drill and the Tree of Life

When ryes came, it was clearly a tool in burn beating. In the great cultures they had fire altars at that time and we know of course about the Roman Vestals too.

This man with hands has a real thing and it is a cut from Aspeberget Bohuslaen

The carving is from Sandar in Vestfold Norway. Some carvings look like tortoises. In India it was instead of Cancer and they talk about incarnation of Vishnu, which surely mean appearance in different time. In China they entwined the tortoise with a (water)snake and were the fourth part besides dragon, phoenix and qilin (tiger).

American Indians tell that the world tree has its roots in the tortoise. We see that this myth they had in common in Asia and in America and it tells about cultural trade about 1000 BC. The myths are much more complex than these few words of course.

There was also a period when the tree was a main symbol of spring and the journey to Underworld. At Skaelv Austergautland they made it symbols for the four seasons.

Still we see the Tree of Life at Malta as early as maybe 4000 BC and in Sumer it is surely the Hulluppu Tree and even the Babylonian symbolism used the tree.

A hand with three fingers showed the icon of moons counting. In India they perhaps adjusted the moon cycle trice a year as they had three different symbols. Observe that the symbolic meaning of many figures varies in time and places. In France 12^th century for instance the hand with three fingers shown was a symbol of justice.