Petrosomatoglyph

A petrosomatoglyph is a supposed image of parts of a human or animal body in rock. They occur all over the world, often functioning as an important form of symbolism, used in religious and secular ceremonies, such as the crowning of kings. Some are regarded as artefacts linked to saints or culture heroes.

The word comes from the Greek πέτρα – petra ("stone"), σῶμα – soma ("body"), and γλύφειν – glyphein ("to carve"). Feet are the most common; however, knees, elbows, hands, head, fingers, etc., are also found.

Stylised representations of parts of the body are often open to dispute and are therefore on the fringes of acceptability as identifiable petrosomatoglyphs. Natural objects, such as rock crystals and rock formations which look like petrosomatoglyphs, whole animals, plants, etc., are collectively called "mimeoliths".

Many examples of petrosomatoglyphs are likely to be natural in origin, such as rock-cut basins in rivers; however they still have relevance as they have often become associated with Saints, legendary figures, fairies, etc.

Feet are the most common; however, knees, mythological heroes, saints, etc. Some may be man-made but have become a petrosomatoglyph by the original function being forgotten.

A typical example of a possibly re-used concavity is the footprint on Dunadd which some locals at one time thought was a cast for a bronze axe head. A pseudofossil of an apparent footprint of a human foot wearing a sandal with a trilobite fossil in the print has been quoted by anti-evolutionists to show that modern man did walk the earth at this time, around five hundred million years ago. The Burdick Print (or Burdick Track) from Glen Rose, Texas, USA, is claimed by some creationists to be part of a "giant man track", walking alongside dinosaurs.

In the Mabinogion, the story is told of Culhwch and Olwen, and part of this relates to the hunting by King Arthur and his knights of the wild boar Twrch Trwyth with dogs. Cefn Carn Cafall (the ridge of Cafall's cairn) is a mountain near Builth in Breconshire where the footprint of King Arthur's favourite hunting dog, Cafall, is located in a conglomerate boulder on top of the cairn. If taken away, the boulder always mysteriously returns to its position on the cairn. Cafal or Cabal also appears in Geraint of the Mabinogion as Arthur's favourite hunting dog in the hunting of the white stag. The Black Dog of Blythburgh in Suffolk entered the church and killed a few people in its progress through the building before exiting and leaving its claw-marks on various stones in the building.

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