(this material is an excerpt from the book "The Message of the Stones", by Dr. Javier Cabrera)
(EXCERPT #2A)
THE KEY TO THE GLIPTOLITHS
THE GLIPTOLITH
Many cultures have left figures carved on stone as a record of their existence. These carved stones are known as petroglyphs, and they are scattered throughout Peru and in other parts of the world. Despite the large number of specimens that has been found and the perseverance of the investigators who attempt to interpret them, these stone writings, if you will, remain undecipherable, constituting one of the most puzzling mysteries of archeology the world over.
Unlike petroglyphs, the Engraved Stones of Ica are, in form, much like river rocks. Carvings on stones similar to them have also been found in Acambaro (Mexico), and in Colombiere and Dordogne, France. But even so the Ica Stones are notable for their abundance, the quality of the engravings, the wealth of information they contain, and the unquestionable presence of a system expression which has been used to reduce that information to a communicable norm. To distinguish the Ica Stones from petroglyphs and from the stones of Acambaro, Colombiere, and Dordogne, I have called them gliptoliths.
In the course of examining thousands of these gliptoliths I have come to the conclusion that they obey a system of communication in which certain figures and parts of figures are used as symbols to denote subjects, actions, objects, qualities and circumstances. These symbols permit us to decipher both simple and complex sequences.
I have identified three types of symbols. One is very simple: a figure symbolizes what it represents. For example the figure of a bird is also the symbol for bird; the drawing of a continent symbolizes " continents", and so on with other figures such as men, animals, leaves, and stars.
The second type of symbol consists of a figure whose significance is not precisely or solely what it appears to be (as in the first type), but something related and yet transcendent. To illustrate, the figure of a bird might in some contexts mean not "bird", but apparatus for flight. The figure of a primitive camel, an animal ideally suited to withstand high temperatures, symbolizes planetary overheating. A pyramid symbolizes a complicated technological system where by energy is captured, accumulated, and distributed. A leaf may signify biological energy, conversion of photosynthetic energy into electrical energy, or even "cognitive energy" (the reflexion power of man). A branch is the symbol for trees and also for a group of people. A star is the symbol for a central energy source.
The third type of symbol is not an identifiable animate or inanimate object. For example: a series of rectangles that may signify human life or man's capacity to reflex; the number of rectangles gives a given subject a numerical dimension; parallel lines are the symbol for vegetable life or knowledge in general; a grouping of rhomboids means animal life; two concentric circles are the symbol for the apparatus for space flight.
Sometimes the symbol associated with a figure takes on a more complex meaning. For example, lines drawn through a figure of a table already identified as an operating table mean that there is a system of energy at work during the surgery; the angle of the lines serves to indicate the stage of the operation itself. The figure of a house juxtaposed with the rhomboids means that the "house" is a stable or corral. A primate holding a leaf (the symbol of human life) means that the animal is on the verge of attaining the power to reason which will elevate him to the status of human. If next to this primate we see two concentric circles - symbol of the apparatus for cosmic flight - this forms a complex grouping of symbols which, taken together, mean that the step from primate to human was brought about by the actions of intelligent men from outer space.
Understandably, few of the figures engraved on the stones look exactly like what they are meant to represent; the majority are symbols, and are rather far from resembling their models. For example, a surgical operating table is shown as a sort of rustic bench. The surgeons are not depicted using sophisticated tools, but simple, almost primitive instruments, their true nature being communicated though the group of symbols that make up the scene. The advanced technology is not described figuratively, but via symbols that on first glance appear to have no significance whatsoever. Social hierarchies, determined by mental capacity, are represented graphically by what might seem to be ornaments on the heads and body of the individuals pictured, but are in fact symbols.
As we have seen in Chapter One, a grouping of gliptoliths contains information around a certain theme, so that the grouping forms a series. The number of gliptoliths that make up a series varies according to the complexity of the theme. Thus I have one series of six gliptoliths that deals with the process of brain transplant; each stone is about one meter in diameter. Another series, on the reproductive cycle of the agnata, is composed of more than two hundred stones of varying sizes. The smaller stones are used for the early stages of the cycle and as the cycle progresses the stones increase in size.
In complementary fashion, these two characteristics of the gliptoliths - the nature of the drawing and the size of the stone - came together to communicate the ideas intended. In the majority of the specimens, the engraving has been made using simple grooved etchings, a method used when the figures do not need details to make the idea clear. The depth of the grooves is one or two millimeters. On the other hand, when more details were required, a second method was followed: the bas relief. There are gliptoliths that combine both methods. Often, for example, the reproductive cycle of an animal is being shown, the grooved lines are used to convey the image of the animal in its very simple form, early in the cycle, whereas later, when the animal was more developed, bas relief was employed to show details and to convey the multiplicity of ideas that the artist wished to communicate. Complex themes demanded stones of over 1.3 meters in diameter. Such was the case with a gliptolith that pictured two space ships. Simpler compositions use smaller stones: gliptoliths that represent single animals, for example, whose diameter can be less than three centimeters.
The Engraved Stones of Ica, or gliptoliths, are, then, a unique system of writing employed million of years ago by an humanity who had achieved advanced levels of scientific and technological development. Modern man can refuse to believe that what the gliptoliths convey on first impression is a form of writing, and can prefer to think of them as mere drawings whose purpose was decorative, sentimental, or to amuse and occupy the artist. But the presence of themes dealing with incredibly advanced scientific knowledge is enough to dispel this disbelief, especially in addition to the fact that the schematized figures and signs are not things of beauty. It seems clear from this that the engravings were intended to transmit messages in code to the men of the future.
But to decipher the messages contained in each series of gliptoliths requires two things: first, one must have access to at least the majority of the gliptoliths that made up the series, and second, one must have a good, up-to-date background in the knowledge that modern man has acquired regarding the themes in the series. Without the first, one runs the risk that the messages are not complete, and without the second, the gliptolith loses its sense and becomes merely a stone.