African Stone with Unkown Symbol

[Red-Coat]

I picked this up during a trip to South Africa in a not very populated area in the vicinity of Stellenbosch.



I’m told it’s a ‘story stone’, and would have been part of a set, used in the manner of a picture book to bring a folklore yarn to life (and not necessarily just for children). With some edge enhancement, you can see more clearly that it’s a cat, and I think intended to be a leopard.



The image is not so much ‘engraved’ as ‘scratched’ into the stone and then highlighted with colours in the scratches. I suspect ‘modern’ paint rather than any kind of traditional pigment and it probably isn’t more than tens of years old. A local suggested it was probably ‘bushman’ (San people) work and probably from around the 1940s.

On the back, there is this symbol, produced in the same way by scratching and highlighting with pigment. I’m sure I have seen the symbol somewhere before but just can’t place it.



Does anyone have any further insight? I’m sure this isn’t just a completely modern child’s decoration of a stone.

 

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[Tony in SC]

Could be a cat. kinda looks like a fox?

 

[Red-Coat]

Could be a cat. kinda looks like a fox?

Thanks, but the only fox found in South Africa is the Cape fox which, unlike the image here, has large elongated ears and doesn't have such extensive face whiskers.

 

[DCMatt]

I looked for pictures of ancient, antique, and vintage story stones on-line. I didn't see any examples. ONly modern.

Plenty of ancient African stone art, though. Your cat is significantly more detailed.

I was not familiar with "story stones". They make infinite sense for teaching and story telling. I saw a couple of more contemporary sets for books that I read to my kids. The only downside to them is when one sibling gets old enough to realize he can chuck them at his brother's head.

 

[nagant]

When story stones attack! The cat looks very modern to me.

 

[USMC Reaper]

Cool find. That’s a “You’ve got mail” symbol. That was one hell of an advanced civilization.

 

[Red-Coat]

Cool find. That’s a “You’ve got mail” symbol. That was one hell of an advanced civilization.

I see it as this:



... rather than this:



I couldn't find it any of the pictograph-like African alphabets, but it looks naggingly familiar.

 

[tamrock]

The symbol reminds me of the shape of an oxhide ingot. Archeologists still haven't really pinned down why mostly copper and other metal ingots were made in that shape in the ancient world.

 

[chub]

I picked this up during a trip to South Africa in a not very populated area in the vicinity of Stellenbosch.

View attachment 1830809

I’m told it’s a ‘story stone’, and would have been part of a set, used in the manner of a picture book to bring a folklore yarn to life (and not necessarily just for children). With some edge enhancement, you can see more clearly that it’s a cat, and I think intended to be a leopard.

View attachment 1830810

The image is not so much ‘engraved’ as ‘scratched’ into the stone and then highlighted with colours in the scratches. I suspect ‘modern’ paint rather than any kind of traditional pigment and it probably isn’t more than tens of years old. A local suggested it was probably ‘bushman’ (San people) work and probably from around the 1940s.

On the back, there is this symbol, produced in the same way by scratching and highlighting with pigment. I’m sure I have seen the symbol somewhere before but just can’t place it.

View attachment 1830811 View attachment 1830812

Does anyone have any further insight? I’m sure this isn’t just a completely modern child’s decoration of a stone.

I live just up the road from where you found it. It doesnt look familiar. Certainly not a Rooikat or MeerKat. I havent really seen anything like this in the last few decades that Ive been here. It definately looks tourist orientated. I'm wondering if it actually is African in origin ? looks more like a tiger and the symbol more Asian?

Chub

 

[Yang Hao]

Any new developments on the Story Stone? I like the design of it. If it is "scratching" a stone that must have taken time. Maybe the back symbol is a cat? If it is a story stone and used to tell a story, the stones would be face down and turned over when that stone plays a part in the tale. Perhaps that symbol is used to ID the stone as a cat stone? Maybe the other story stones would have different symbols on the back? All speculation of course.