MP Gallery - Markings, Signs, Graphemes; f) bachokirozigzag6045

Middle Paleolithic symbol makers appear to have innovated a new grapheme, the 'zigzag' mark motif. So far one securely dated example is known, Bacho-Kiro:

• Bacho-Kiro, Bulgaria, Mousterian, >43,000 BP; zigzag on bone fragment (Marshack 1976, in Kozlowski et al 1982; Kozlowski 1992)

It is shown below.

As it does in later prehistoric and more recent traditions, it may signify,, lightning, communication or power connection between upper world and this world, heaven and earth.

Photo after © Stringer, C. and C. Gamble. 1993. In search of the Neanderthals: Solving the puzzle of human origins. New York: Thames and Hudson.. Figure 92.