Oldest ceramic, not just a goddess

 The Venus of Dolní Věstonice is a ceramic statuette of a nude female figure dated to 29,000–25,000 BCE. It was found in 1925 at the Paleolithic site Dolní Věstonice in the Moravian basin south of Brno / Czech 

It is considered the oldest known ceramic article in the world, crafted from fired clay mixed with bone ash.

@Moravian Museum in Brno.

One may also have a thought or two whether the artist who modeled and carved this figure in clay, then burned it in the firepit was a man or woman.

Thanks for hosting Tuesday's Treasures, Tom the Backroads Traveller!

I've posted lots of other ancient goddesses. Here are a few of them.

Happy 2026

Peace on Earth

Maybe the Angry Women -4

Celebrations of Light

Maybe the Angry Women - 2

Well, there are a lot more, but these came up first in my search!

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Some more ancient wonders:

Built before the pyramids, Newgrange is aligned with the winter solar solstice. This civilization included minds which remembered a year to year event, engineers and artists who could build forms to show how the sun would shine down a passageway at that yearly event, and a group of people who could mound up all that earth and move those stones without metal tools or wheels. Whenever a civilization can build monuments, it means there is enough sustenance and wealth that people don't all have to be focused on survival issues, raising food and families and protecting themselves against the elements and possible enemies. I'm always in  awe of these ancient skilled peoples.

Dawn shines down the passageway at Newgrange on Winter Solstice

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Art in Bloom - Alchemy of Clay blog has some photos each day for this year's display of art with floral arrangements at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts 

Hail the Mighty Oak

Latvian song at Summer Solstice in honor of the Oak Tree.

Comment by nauriss from 4 years ago:

 Before the lyrics, I’ll try to explain a few words:

Līgo - sway (name of the first day of Midsummer) Jānis - Diety of fire (name of the second day of Midsummer) (just in plural - Jāņi) Oak tree, oak tree, Your big width, Three days sun came, Yet couldn’t come. Oak tree, oak tree, Your big bushiness, Three days Partridge came, Yet couldn’t come. Oak tree, oak tree, Your big greatness, Daughters/Girls came singing, While breaking branches for the flowers crowns. Oak tree, oak tree, Your big eld, I was born, found you, I will die, you will stay. Gather along children of Jānis, Under the bushy oak tree, Under the bushy oak tree, There’s the Jānis’ place of honor.

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Glassmine Falls overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway

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"If you believe the earth is sacred, you have to do something to stop greedy and stupid people from destroying the very life-support systems that sustain us." 

- Starhawk, from her invitation to her 75th birthday celebration June 17, 2026.

A very wonderful book, The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl, offers some great words about oak trees.

"At the base of each new tree, Haywood sets a five-gallon bucket with a hole he drilled into the bottom. This was my mother's approach for keeping young plants alive, a poor man's drip-irrigation system. The slow release of water allows the tree's roots time to take up moisture. As it grows, Haywood moved the bucket farther out, coaxing the roots to reach, giving them a reason to set themselves firmly into the earth. Once a tree is well established, it's time to plant another.

and

"...more and more I ponder words like bounty and replete and enough. I think of what we are losing from this world and of what we will leave behind when we ourselves are lost. The trees. the stories. The people who love us and who know we love them, who will carry our love into the world after we are gone."

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Art in Bloom - Alchemy of Clay blog has some photos each day for this year's display of art with floral arrangements at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts 

 

Being creative

Here's the link for more photos from the Art in Bloom exhibit at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, on my blog, Alchemy of Clay.

 

Summer solstice 2026 is at 4:22 am eastern daylight time, which is 2:22 am UTC. In the southern hemisphere of course it's winter solstice. 

That's what the records indicate, except for one. I've also seen this 2 hour difference, and another one with a 4 hour difference.

Since UTC is 4 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Savings Time, this means it doesn't occur actually at the same time on different parts of the world. If it did, the ESDT would be 4 hours different...earlier in the east of the US. making it 10:22 pm of the prior day. 

But the fun thing is, it takes a couple of days to actually have different amounts of daylight after this change happens.

Here's a picnic celebration we had in 2022 along the stream in  Montreat NC. Do you remember how nice it was to again gather with other people and no masks after the pandemic?

It's probably the opposite for oldest sons...

And that reminds me, Happy Father's Day to all the people who have helped raise children, and still are fathers even after they're grown!

Oldest son and my granddaughter, Cayenne and grandson,Will

Doug, the father of my two oldest sons.

My second son, father of three beautiful smart daughters.

 Granddaughters, Kate, Caroline and Audrey

My father standing between his parents, Dallas TX about the time I was born.

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The Marginalian is a newsletter edited by Maria Popova. Today's post includes an article on Creativity, featuring my mentor Mary Caroline Richards (though she didn't actually mentor me, I was inspired by her!) On Creativity

Obama speaking at the opening ceremony of his Presidential Center (not just a library!)

The Obama family

Malia and Shasha Obama

Obama speaking at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center on June 18, 2026. 

What are the words at the top, everyone asks.

The words on the Obama Presidential Center serve as a lookout point for visitors of the center to the South and West Sides of Chicago, are from a 2015 speech given by President Barack Obama that marked the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

The quote reads: “You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, ready to seize what ought to be. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there is new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We The People.’ ‘We Shall Overcome.’ ‘Yes We Can.’ That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.”

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Helen speaking with friend and docent, Dawn Wilson, while I grab their photo at the Art in Bloom show in the gallery Saturday. We ran into so many old friends, most from having been members in the past of the Unitarian Universalist Church here in Black Mountain NC.

Some critters to share

 

Mountain goats by Marilyn Spears (look just right of center)

by Mikell Harick, Spicebush Swallowtail

Today marks the summer solstice,  late tonight actually at 10:22 pm, the longest day of the year. The heat will continue as the minutes peel away toward the Autumnal equinox. Enjoy the hours of sunshine while we have it!

Sharing with Saturday's Critters

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By .Rina Khatun