An Olmec Celt

Clifford C. Richey October 2013

It might be helpful to read: http://www.scribd.com/doc/125076415/Universal-Prehistoric-Depicted-Sign-Language when reading this paper as it explains the use of Form, Imagery, Gesture signs, Stance, allusion and position as used in composing glyphs.

Illustration 1: An Olmec Celt The Olmec also carved sculptures in jade, a material that all Mesoamerican peoples highly prized. Sometimes the Olmec carved it into ax-shaped polished forms called celts, which they then buried as ceremonial offerings. The celt shape could be modified into a figural form, combining relief carving with incising. Figures represented include jaguar-human representations, called "were-jaguars." Such human-animal representations may refer to the belief that shamans underwent dangerous transformations to harness supernatural forces for the community's good.1 ...Or maybe not. The overall Form of this Olmec composition is in the Form of an Celt or Ax. The Ax was a sign for the Sun. Next we have the Imagery found on the Ax which was composed to give the impression of a Child, A child of the Sun. Before we go any further in translating this composition we must negate one of the myths found in our culture today. This myth is that there were groups of people who are indigenous to the Americas and that these people were American Indians or Native Americans. There was and is no such group of people. All the peoples found by the European explorers in the Americas were originally from other parts of the world and related to them. Like all the rest of the people in the world they were sometimes forced to migrate in response to attacks by other more powerful groups who coveted their lands. Sometimes they moved as a result of climate change, following animals upon whom they depended as
1 http://www.cengage.com/art/book_content/0495093076_kleiner/online_study_guide/ch14/ch14_1.html

a food supply, or they moved simply to find areas where they might find better living conditions. In this sense they were little different than the European explorers who discovered them and the Americas thousands of years later. The Olmec like many of the other groups that arrived in the Americas brought with them some roughly similar cosmological beliefs as well as some common cultural and survival knowledge derived from their past experience in other parts of the world. They also brought with them a non-verbal language that used gesture signs to enable them to communicate with other groups, speaking different languages, for the purpose of trade and the exchange of ideas. Much of the ancient knowledge possessed by the Olmec was also possessed by other groups of people in various parts of the world. This explains the similarity of ancient signs found in caves or depicted in petroglyphs and on pottery throughout the world. We will begin our translation from the bottom of the Ax Form as that seem to be the most logical in terms of the overall message.

Illustration 2: Olmec Celt

Illustration 3: Color Coded

A child of the Sun. The Form of the Ax combined with the Imagery of a Child. The Journeys, The (tan) Feet Within Positional

The earth, The (green) Vessel Form as a metaphor for the earth as a container of water.

Illustration 4: Color Coded In the East and West, Left and Right as is traditional in gesture signing Below, Positional The vertical-places, (light green) Vertical Rectangles East and West, Left and Right as is traditional in gesture signing On the sides. Positional at The Center, The Middle Line made by the back of the two Feet. The male-spirit, The (light blue) sign patterned after the glans penis. Positioned as an allusion to the Figure's gender area. The Steward of the Sun (yellow) In effect, His Hand, the Hand of the Sun. The one on the surface, The upside down T Form on the wrist of the Hand.

Here, The Thumb on the Form of a Severed Finger pointing a direction. Arising, The (light blue) arising sign in front of the Hand,

Illustration 5: Color Coded His appearance, His Face at The Holes, An allusion to the Ears as orifices positioned, as : On the sides. of The water-source, The Mouth of the vessel. The water-source, The Mouth of the Face. Covered, The Upper Line of the Lop. The movement, The undulating sign for motion serves as the lower Lip. Here,

The Upper Lip as two severed Fingers pointing a direction. Below, Positional On the sides. Positional.

Illustration 6: Color Coded The Hills, A metaphor made with the (light tan) Breasts of the female-earth as Hills. The Holes, An allusion to the Nose as dual orifices. in The East and West, Left and Right as is traditional in gesture signing from them Positional Arising. (light green) curved arising signs. The The Eye of the Sun, Venus An allusion to the area of the (blue) Eyes of the Face. A metaphor made with Venus as a kind of scout for the Sun. Unseen, Double Lines

in The underworld. The signs, Lower Half Circles, meaning the underside or underworld. The stretched out places, the land's surface, The gesture sign for spread out land compounded with a Rectangular, horizontal-place sign

Illustration 8: Throne of Lower Egypt Illustration 7: Color Coded The break in the surface, A break between the two horizontal place signs. The center, Between, in the middle, positional. from it The arisings, (dark tan) Two Severed Fingers, in the Form of the arising sign, pointing a direction upwards In the east and West Left and Right as is traditional in gesture signing. Held as in a bowl, The curved gesture sign. The many seats,2
2 A similarly shaped sign appears among Egyptian hieroglyphs and is found worn on the heads of Pharaohs as a sort of crown. See Illustration 8. It is called the Throne of Lower Egypt and thus seems similar in meaning to the Olmec sign.

(light blue) Form of seats or chairs. The many places of arisings, Compound of a rectangular-place sign, an edge sign, and two arising signs. in The east and west, Left and Right as is traditional in gesture signing. Within, Positional The Great Upper-world, Relative size of the (green) Forehead as a large upper-half sign. The opening, The V shaped gesture sign for an opening. At The center. The cosmological and metaphorical center of the earth.

This tells us that this sign (Image) is probably older than both the Egyptian and Olmec depictions.