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Submitted: October 18, 2012
Image Size: 123 KB
Resolution: 1228×768
Submitted with: Sta.sh

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The First American Wildlife Artistby *deskridge

Digital Art / 3-Dimensional Art / Scenes / Other

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Prints of this image are for sale here: [link]

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On a fallen log in a marshy field sits a bearded man wearing a brown furry animal hide. On a piece of bone he is carving an image using a chipped piece of stone. The subject of his art is a Columbian mammoth that is trudging through the clearing a few hundred feet away.

This image is based on a real artifact, the oldest piece of art found in the western hemisphere. In 2009, near Vero Beach Florida, a local fossil hunter named James Kennedy discovered a piece of bone, likely that of a mastodon, mammoth, or giant sloth. On the bone was carved an image of a mammoth, specifically, based on the shape of the head, a Columbian mammoth. Testing by scientists at the University of Florida and at the Smithsonian indicate that it is authentic.

James Kennedy contacted me and asked if I could come up with an artwork involving the find. So this is it. A few things to take note of:

I designed the landscape to be typical of that of Florida: flat, grassy, and wet. It's not really a marsh, but more of a squishy field with sandy soil. I didn't want it to be quite as watery as, say, the Everglades. At the time, the area was actually several miles further inland than it is today as sea levels were a bit lower back then.

The mammoth has much less hair than a woolly mammoth. The Columbian mammoth, which was found further to the south, had less need of a thick coat. I've positioned it to match the actual caving as much as seemed natural for the creature's stance.

The human appears European. While there is no proof that there were Europeans in the Americas during the ice age, something called the Solutrean Hypothesis poses the idea that there may have been. Pleistocene era cave paintings depicting mammoths are common in Europe, but the Kennedy Mammoth Bone is the only example of such art found in North America. Consequently, articles on the Solutrean Hypothesis often mention the bone. So, I thought it might be interesting to depict the carver as I did.

Thanks for looking!
Daniel

P.S.

Follow me on Facebook: [link]

A Zazzle store featuring my few of my artworks on items such as mugs, puzzles, phone cases, and even skateboards: [link]

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~docarroyo Jan 6, 2013 Hobbyist General Artist

nicely conceptualized.

*deskridge Jan 7, 2013 Digital Artist

Thanks!

*Y-eskii-lass Nov 17, 2012

Beautiful. The mammoth has such a regal appearance. The man is suitably awed!

*deskridge Nov 19, 2012 Digital Artist

Thanks!

*adorety Oct 28, 2012 Professional Digital Artist

Fantastic image and excellent bit of history. They even believe there'e dna evidence of early European 'colonists' up to 15,000 years ago. Awesome work.

*deskridge Oct 29, 2012 Digital Artist

Thanks!

*VeeSwan Oct 26, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

What an interesting story, you really did your homework on this one and the way you depicted the carver is really well done. One of the reasons I really dig your work, my uncle was the lead archaeologist of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas some years ago, and I nearly went into that field myself. I was fascinated by his experiences and he stayed with us from time to time and since he loved the field so much, its all he talked about. One of my favorite stories is of him calling my mom so absolutely excited he could nearly speak, but what he had done was take a group of college students out to prospect a dig site in Colorado, and while he began his lessons in showing the students what to begin looking for in the way of terrain, or possible clues to find fossils, he stopped at one point and looked down because what he was describing was exactly what he just nearly tripped over. So he got out a few tools and started dusting away at a strange looking formation, and as he spoke he kept describing what to do, and before he knew it he had uncovered a wooly mammoth fossil, and as you could imagine, the students were beyond excited, it was supposed to be a simple field trip to get the students acquainted with the field, and as a result of that trip the find ended up being a full intact mammoth, it was a dream come true for him. True story!

*deskridge Oct 29, 2012 Digital Artist

That is a really cool story! Thanks for sharing!

*VeeSwan Nov 2, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

You betcha!

*chrisntheboat Oct 24, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

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