Manuscript Discovered

 

This old manuscript was found buried in the archives of the Riversleigh Mouseion.  It appears to refer to the newly found cave in Lemuria and seems to have been written by someone who had explored the shaft at the back of the main gallery.

The text of the manuscript is as follows:

“Night is falling in the Neolithic era. A small group of women and men retreat to the safety of their cave, lit with stone lamps filled with animal fat and fires burning in pits. The people surround a woman who lies in the center of the cave, surrounded by piles of food offerings, flowers and animal sacrifices. This woman is about to give birth, and the people prepare themselves to participate in the mystery that is about to take place. The women pound the roots and seeds of plants into a liquid that will produce the trance state required by the shaman. As representatives of the Great Mother Earth who provides all, only women are allowed to perform the magic that transforms raw animal flesh into stews and jerky and seeds and grains into the life-sustaining breads. When the hallucinogenic liquid is ready, the people gather in a circle around the birthing woman and each takes a small sip. One young man, who is wearing a cape made of bird feathers and a bird mask, drinks the rest of the liquid left in the bowl.

Outside, the sky becomes dark as the earth enters the cave of night, the womb of the universe. The bird-man stands, and the women lead him down into the bowels of the cave. As they descend, the feeble lights of their lamps illuminate the huge representations of bison, horses, stags and elk that line the walls of the cave. The people begin to make sounds that, echoing off the damp walls, accurately reproduce the voices of the animals depicted here. The way is long and torturous. Finally, they reach a shaft that is sixteen feet deep. An old woman descends the shaft on a wooden ladder and, at the bottom, draws a rhinoceros and a huge bison. Then the bird-man descends and, deep in the trance produced by the liquid, draws a lance that passes through the body of the bison, eviscerating him. The bird-man depicts himself, as a man with a bird’s head, lying on the ground behind the rhino. As the man draws his death scene, the people let out a sigh that becomes a high, ululating trill like that of a flock of birds startled into flight.

Slowly, the people lead the man back the way they came. As they return, they hear the cries of the woman as the new life emerges, and rush to surround her and care for the baby. They wash the infant, carefully preserving the water now mixed with the blood of the woman. The people emerge from the cave as the sun emerges from the cave of night, the womb of the universe. The old woman feeds the bird-man the roots and seeds the women mashed earlier. As his heart stops, the women pour the water mixed with blood over his head. Buried in fetal position, the man is returned to the womb of the Great Mother, completing the cycle of birth and death. As the Goddess gives, so She takes away.”

If anyone can shed any light on this manuscript, please contact Mari Mann at the Riversleigh Mouseion.  Photos by Rod Mann.

Cave Paintings Discovered in Lemuria

For For Immediate Release: Cave Paintings Discovered in Lemuria

March 5, 2007

Location: Lemuria, near the Murmuring Woods and the Riversleigh Manor House, approx. GPS co-ordinates to follow. Exact location is being kept secret at present to allow archaeologists to map and document the site completely and to prevent possible damage to the paintings by visitors.

Possible site dates: Preliminary analysis of the paintings points to an age of approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years before the present, during the Paleolithic era at the beginning of the Magdalenian Age.

Description: the paintings are located in a limestone cave, approximately 40-45 meters from the cave opening, in a gallery about 15 meters long. The cave floor slopes deeply from the opening down to the gallery, and sufficient light is needed for viewing the paintings. Initial mapping of the cave gallery also revealed a small opening in the cave floor near the back of the gallery, which appears to lead down a narrow shaft, which has yet to be explored.

The paintings appear to be of manganese oxide, charcoal and iron in powder form. In the section of painting reproduced above, the principal figure is of an aurochs, a type of wild ox now extinct. Between his horns is a depiction of a horse’s head, and at the auroch’s side is a horse’s body. In front of the auroch’s head is a sketch of a stag, with massive, branching horns. Lines of dots appear at the top and to the right of the painted area.

Interpretation: Similarities to the Lascaux Cave paintings in the Dordogne region of France are apparent. However, the paintings in the Lascaux cave appear to depict scenes of hunting, killing and war-like behavior, although there are other, more mythological interpretations. There are no indications of violent activities in the Lemuria paintings. Because of the depth at which these paintings were made and the attendant difficulties of reaching these paintings (both now and at the time of their making), the site archaeologist believes these paintings of animals to be a form of sympathetic magic. The cave is a womb, which the artists impregnated with representations of the animals they wished the earth to then give birth. This assured their supply of animals for food, for ritual and for companions.

Further exploration will be made in the summer of 2007, when the team of archaeologists is assembled and funding is assured. All artifacts recovered will become property of the Riversleigh Mouseion.

Report submitted by site archaeologist and artist: Mari Mann