This sort of decrepitude (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4713323.stm) can only be the result of licentious cave paintings and other debaucheries of popular culture. I blame Grand Theft Wheel:Lascaux myself.

Just wait till they unearth the CroMagnon Mary Does Mammoth Town tapes!

heh makes you wonder what those cave paintings and drawings would depict. in one scene they are engrossed in some ritual with the prehistoric dildo, in another they are lighting fires with said dildo banging it on rocks.

Am I the only one that thinks they're stretching pretty far by calling that phallic?

you don't think it is?

They don't call Sanchek "pretzel penis" for nothing, Fil!

Maybe it is, maybe it's not. But, by that same logic someone could find my Sonicare toothbrush 5,000 years from now and say it was actually a primitive vibrating dildo.

They could find it tomorrow and think the same thing, sicko.

well I tend to think that phallas stone is closer in appearance than a sonicare toothbrush....

I mean not that it couldn't be used as a toothbrush if someone really wanted to use it that way.

I can hear it now ... "Come here honey and let me brush your teeth. No really this is a sonicare!" :D

Maybe it is, maybe it's not. But, by that same logic someone could find my Sonicare toothbrush 5,000 years from now and say it was actually a primitive vibrating dildo.

...that was also used for brushing teeth! And they'd probably be right ;). You folks with the 'outies' seem to think you own the market on wierd (pre)pubertal experimentation, but if only our parents had known what those innocuous-looking Snoopy toothbrushes and Water Piks were getting pressed into service for from time to time, they'd have sent us all off to therapy (since it was the 1970s, today I imagine they'd either try to ban or slap a huge parental advisory on them ;) )

For the record, I did not personally learn the facts of life via my Snoopy toothbrush, but have had multiple female friends attest to its utility and that it was quite convenient that the detachable toothbrushes were color coded...

As far as the phallus they found, it looks pretty obvious to me as well, but it does make one wonder what other sorts of religious/ritual or everyday objects were also found in the area that might provide some clues as to the context in which it was used.

Regards,
Nydia

Ah, the Snoopy Brusha Brusha Toothbrush. Good Times.

Seriously, what does it say about the males of this culture, that the item used to break flint is shaped as such? Is it safe to assume that the males forged these phallic tools themselves, and took them to work/ceremony in addition to using them as a sex aide?

I know for a fact that I would not be permitted to bring my "toys" to work or church, even if I were using them for a work/worship-related purpose. The symbolism would be completely lost on my co-workers, or church deacon. I am glad to see that the marriage of creativity and functionality was not lost on the ancient stonecarvers. I bet they sold like hotcakes.

I don't believe we've met, Flashcube, as I don't play EQ anymore, but I like you already ;).

Interestingly enough, you don't have to dig that deep, even in modern times, to find more relaxed attitudes about, hm, multifunctional tools, or at least less puritanical views about the appropriateness of phallic and other such sexual motifs in other cultures. My partner's family is from the Yucatan, and every time one of his aunts/uncles comes up they bring us what they think are very cute items that by American standards would be considered not so family-friendly, such as the combination keychain/bottle opener whose mechanism is an anatomically correct couple doing it from behind, or the Santa Claus with his penis hanging out of his pants plant watering indicator (also available in the ranchero version with a peasant in a sombrero) ;). Down there, they don't provoke anything more than a giggle... In Dallas, where I lived for many years, Mexican immigrant families would bring their children out to Oak Lawn and participate in the gay community's Halloween party and parade, and the nudity and sexual energy that was flowing didn't seem to bother them a bit. In India and in some other non-Judeo Christian cultures, you see fertility symbols revered and openly displayed as venerated (or household decorative) objects, and if you like paisley, you're wearing sexual imagery on your skirt :).

It's rather bizarre what a schizophrenic hysteria we live in about sexuality in this country, and in some other 'modern' cultures. It's both amazing and sad how much oppression and bloodshed has come out of some people's fear and obssessive need to control/suppress a natural part of the human condition (and as I am typing this I am remembering the coverage I saw on C-SPAN this morning of the latest in the hysteria over 'protecting the children' (from adult paranoia, mostly), namely the new Democratic commission that is proposing the new online porn industry tax and regulation bill). Wouldn't it be nice if we could just get over it and acknowledge the *ordinariness* of sexuality? I think it'd be a lot healthier, and that you'd see a lot less hypersexual (and criminal) behavior that results from all that repression, to boot. Personally, I'd like to live in a world where I could buy a letter opener or a hammer with a phallic or other fertility motif, and wish they'd bring back the Maypole dances :)

Regards,
Nydia

(Interestingly enough, my home town of Jacksonville, Florida still does a highly sanitized 'May Fete' every year that involves many of the local children in various spring-themed outfits doing dances and culminates with a Maypole dance - this, along with my mother's insistance at putting out a cornucopia every autumn, and a wreath every Christmas, always makes me smile)

We haven't met, as I don't play EQ at all, but I look forward to the day... ;)

I agree that our modern culture does embrace more liberal ideas about "household sexuality" than we normally give due credit. That being said, I feel we've got some growing room yet in Red America before I can take the Hello Kitty shoulder massager for a cruise around the conference table.