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31 Aug, 18 tweets, 7 min read
Thread: The other day Gavin Lee @realgavinlee posted this in a tweet: "...bronze figurine of wild water buffalo... Hunan, middle reaches of Yangtze River...13-11 Cent. BC...

I only today saw what's on buffalo's back: a tiger!

This is very important...Here is why: ImageImage
Both wild and domesticated water buffalos are seasonal breeders in most of their range, with the mating typically peaking in Oct/Nov... ImageImage
This means that they are a very good animal calendar markers for Oct/Nov...

In Mesopotamia, the climatic year is divided into hot/dry summer and cool/wet winter. Oct/Nov is when the winter starts... Image
So buffalos were used on Mesopotamian seals as positive symbols for winter (cool/wet season) linked with water (all the precipitation that feeds the water tables falls during winter season):

Buffalo was used as an animal calendar marker for winter in India too. In India the year is also divided into two seasons, wet and dry...But in India, Oct/Nov is the beginning of the dry season... Image
So buffalo symbol in India acquired a negative meaning and became a "buffalo demon" Mahishasura...The enemy of Devas (Gods, good guys). I talked about this buffalo demon in this post:

oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/07/mahish… Image
This opposite climates resulted in Devas being gods in India and demons in Mesopotamia/Persia...

This is the climate in Hunan, China. You can see that the year is divided into hot and wet summer and cool and dry winter. And the mating season of the buffalos marks the beginning of winter again... Image
So a buffalo could be used as an animal calendar marker for winter in China too...

But was it? Enters the tiger 🙂
That this buffalo is indeed an animal calendar marker for winter, can be seen from the fact that it has a tiger on it's back...

Cause guess who mates right after buffalos, during mid winter, Dec/Jan? Continental Eurasian tigers. Of the kind that also once lived in China... Image
Which is why they are used as a symbol for winter...I already talked about tiger symbol in Chine in this post about the origin of the dragon - tiger symbol

oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2021/08/tiger-… Image
Here tiger is opposed to the Chinese dragon, a positive symbol of water and prosperity. Remember that dragon is a pretty universal symbol of summer sun's heat...And summer in the area where Chinese culture originated is also the wettest part of the year...
oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2021/08/chines… Image
So....Crouching tiger on a buffalo's back...Both animals mating in winter, both used as animal calendar markers for winter...Hmmm...
What do you think? Do we here have an example of a Bronze Age Chinese animal calendar marker? I think so...

That is if the animal on the buffalo's back is indeed a tiger. 🙂 I know that the Chinese sources say it's a tiger. But it looks very spotty to me...Just like a leopard... ImageImage
But this changes nothing...Continental Eurasian leopards also mate during the winter, a bit later, at the end of winter, beginning of spring, Jan/Feb...

Which is why they were used as a symbol for winter (and spring)
So weather the cat on this buffalo's back is a tiger or a leopard, this ancient Chinese artifact could be a complex animal calendar marker...For winter...

More about animal calendar markers in China can be found in this thread

So, I think that now we have another, proof that the early Chinese didn't live and develop their culture in limbo. They also used animal calendar markers, just like all the other Eurasian and North African cultures from Neolithic onwards...
More about animal (and plant) calendar markers found in ancient cultures, start here oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/p/animal-solar… then check the rest of the blog posts I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 6 months behind now

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More from @serbiaireland

oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
11 Sep
Thread: Middle Assyrian Cylinder Seal with a "Lion-Dragon", 1300-1200 BC.

I found this seal on this great site archaicwonder.tumblr.com/post/145026318… Unfortunately I am unable to get more info (where the seal was found, where it is now) cause the link provided is dead. But the seal is AMAZING
The seal depicts a tiny flying dude facing an advancing giant winged monster with lion body, bull horns and scorpion tail...Above the monster are some "heavenly objects", namely 7 stars, most likely Pleiades, a large star, most likely Sirius, and a crescent moon...
Why is this seal so special?

Cause this seal is an amazing example of a complex animal calendar marker.
It is also an amazing example of the mapping of these ancient animal calendar markers to "heavenly objects".
Read 40 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
9 Sep
Thread: This is very interesting indeed. The top symbol consists of two birds facing yellow flowers growing on a tree. This is a common tree of life symbol and usually the animals facing the tree of life are animal calendar markers for the fertile period of the year....

Soooo:
The word "pavoncella" means Lapwing (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_…). One of these cute fellows
On the page "Checklist of the birds of Sardinia" (gruppoornitologicosardo.blogspot.com/2008/11/checkl…) we find this:

Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus M reg, W reg

Basically it is a migratory bird which spends winters in Sardinia...
Read 6 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
8 Sep
Thread: About bio diversity, sustainability, and goats...Of course...

This is a stunning pic of the Dublin bay, with the Howth Head, the tip of the Howth peninsula in the foreground... Image
Now here is another stunning pic of the Howth head, with some wild flowers in the foreground... Image
And it is these yellow ones, gorse (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulex), which are causing serious problems... Image
Read 11 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
7 Sep
Thread: This Achaemenid cylinder seal, found in Iran and dated to the 6th–4th century BC is currently kept in the Met Museum. metmuseum.org/art/collection… Image
Now the scene depicted on this seal could be just an "ordinary king hunting a lion" scene 🙂 Although I already asked a question whether there is anything ordinary about the Persian king's obsession with lion hunting in this thread

And in this thread I explained why I think that this was most likely a ritual in which the king imitated the rain (and war) god Ninurta/Ningirsu killing Nergal...Or "winter rain storms" ending "summer drought"...Which ever you like best...

Read 31 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
3 Sep
Thread: How old is the Irish (Gaelic) language? Why am I asking this? Because there is something very interesting in the Irish language, which can possibly help us determine when and where this language had originally developed...This:
This image shows a person standing at the door of his house. The door is facing east. What is astounding is how these words for direction of movement and orientation match in the Irish (Gaelic) language...
This language characteristic can only be explained if we assume that this part of the Irish language was developed by the culture which lived in a world which faced east...Where facing east was something everyone did every day...
Read 13 tweets
oldeuropeanculture Profile picture
2 Sep
#FolkloreThursday Thread:

Q: "Which way to turn myself I know not?"
A: "If you worship the gods, right-hand wise, I apprehend."

Ever wondered why "clockwise" means "circle to the right" and "anti clockwise" means "circle to the left"?

Cause the original clocks were sundials
You can make a sundial by sticking a stick in the ground, and drawing a circle around it. As the sun moves from east to west, which is in the northern hemisphere "to the right" the shadow made by the sundial stick will move in the opposite direction, to the left...
But by doing that it will draw "rightward" circle around the sundial stick, with the stick, and the sun, always "on the right" side...This movement eventually became known as clockwise, but really it is "sunwise"...
Read 38 tweets

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