(ORDO NEWS) — From time to time, archaeologists dig up something that baffles them, as apparently happened to a group of scientists from England.
Last summer, while excavating at a site called Nesscliff Hill, researchers came across an unusual figure carved into red sandstone. Calling their find a Nessglyph, the team is now asking the public to speculate about what it might mean.
The engraving, consisting of a hollowed out circle and a few straight lines, appears to have been created with some kind of metal tool, although the archaeologists who discovered the relic have no idea who made it or why.
All that is currently known is that Nesscliff Hill was once an Iron Age site and was later occupied by the Romans.
“The round shape of the cup and the straight lines indicate two different types of technology: grinding and carving,” explained Dr. Paul Reilly from the University of Southampton.
Returning to the site to resume excavations begun in 2019, Reilly and colleague Dr Gary Locke of the University of Oxford came across a strange symbol in a ditch that had originally been explored in the 1950s and then filled in.
“We can assume that the non-glyph is figurative and the goblet is the head,” Reilly said.
“It has two long horns and two small horns, a central line of the body and two arms, one raised up and the other lowered, the upper one showing a possible hand holding a pipe or weapon.”
By now, the research team has been inundated with alternative interpretations from people all over the world. Speaking to the BBC, Reilly said that “People have suggested that we need to turn the stone and it could represent a pregnant woman, others have suggested that the character is holding a weapon, others an instrument of some description, and even that it could be an archer.”
“It is also worth noting that Nesscliff is in the supposed territory of Cornovia, a name that has been suggested for the ‘horned ones’.
There is a possibility of a connection with the cult of the horned deity in the Roman army, as depicted in several military installations throughout Britain,” he said.
Since the mystery has not yet been solved, archaeologists are hoping for the help of everyone who has information, knowledge, or even just a guess about what this nessglyph might represent.
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