Venus of Willendorf

The retreat of the glaciers 10,000 years ago in northern Europe set the stage for human advancement. Pinniped hunters exploited the waterways and islands of lakes to harvest the aquatic mammals of the near shore. Seals were easily caught with minimum risk and energy expenditure. During the winter a hunter need only to wait above an airhole in the ice until a seal surfaced to take a breath. Breeding season was equally profitable with hunters clubbing pups and adults alike. Inland seas, great lakes, rocky fjords and island chains were habitats shared by a variety of pinnipeds and early man.

The migration of peoples into northern Europe followed the coastline and inland waterways as they depleted each region of seals. From south to north, pinniped rookeries on mainland sites were eliminated. Some species of river dolphin and freshwater seals went extinct. At the northern most point of this human invasion was the inland gulf of Bothnia and Saimaa basin. The last remnant of freshwater seal still survive here. There is more shoreline in Saimaa per unit of area than anywhere else in the world with a total length of nearly 15,000 kilometres (9,300 mi). It's many rocky islands (over 14,000) offer safe haul-outs for adults and marshy deltas hide juveniles to adulthood. The ancient word used for seal in this region is orken. The en ending is similar to oxen indicating a group of ox or a group of ork.

The Sami were the first migrants to this region arriving first along the shore. The archaeological evidence for these people can mostly be found after they started to move inland. Pottery found inland has been dated to 5,600 b.c.e. however, artifacts from bands of people that lived mostly on canoes would likely be at the bottom of the body of water. It has been well established that bands of humans followed the departure of glaciers so the ancestors of the Sami may have arrived as early as 10,000 b.c.e.

This northern region is one of the few places ceramic technology developed before farming. Large quantities of pottery shards that have a distinctive shape and cross-hatch pattern incised over the entire piece have been discovered. One style is made from 90% asbestos mined from only one vein located on the shore of the gulf of Bothnia. The pottery shape has a rounded or pointed bottom. Scientists speculate the pot was set in a fire and the rounded end made it more stable. However, amphora have the same type base and were used as storage for liquids while packed on ships. A layer of sand was used as a stabilizer and the handles were strung together with cord. The asbestos pit-ware could provide a similar function as liquid storage on a boat or canoe. The thermodynamic character of asbestos allows the clay to prevent heat transfer from the stored liquid. A pot filled with seal oil could then be used on a canoe as a lamp for nightime hunting without heat transferring to the boat. Later evolutions of ceramic vessels found look amazingly like trypots; cauldrons for blubber rendering used on whaling ships.

Charles Darwin described canoes on the coastline of Tierra del Fuego with similar small fires built in the bottom of the boat. The Yamana people lived primarily on their canoes and maintained a small fire in a pile of sand. Darwin stated in his writings that the boats floating on the water resembled the stars in the sky with their twinkling fire. Seal oil lamps would create a similar effect; a glowing arc of light made possible by the oil of ork. The round uniform edge of the pot imitates the curvature of the earth and the glow would produce a miniature arc of light likened to the rising sun. PIE *ark; "to hold, contain and guard". PIE *arku- "bowed, curved, arched".

Orc is a very ancient phoneme and is the root of many words. Porc is an animal whose fat is rendered to make oil. Torque is modern word meaning the power generated from the burning of fuel. Torch is a wick dipped in oil and set on fire to use as a lamp. Turk may come from Orkhon, an ancient river in Mongolia. The Archons are the first beings to inhabit the earth in Greek Mythology. Finally, archaeology may have at its root orc as the phoneme that carries the ancient meaning of glowing seal oil.

The pot of oil would require a wick first made from fibers of dried, twisted rush and later spun linen and cotton. A ball of tightly twisted wick would burn evenly and consistently. Releasing the fire held within the wick was possibly the first alchemy. Duplicating the Divine spark and creating combustion made humans into magicians. Wick twisting would surely have been accomplished by women. Gathering rush reeds and processing them for torching would be a subset of wickerwork. Wicce, witch and wick could be derived from the ancient skill of wick twisting and rendering fat at the cauldron.

The Venus of Willendorf may represent a Wicce giving birth to the arc of the sun. Her head is a ball of twisted wick, her bulbous form relates to the round ball of the sun. She does not need feet and arms as her only purpose is combustion. This carved stoneage art captures the mother the moment before she gives birth to the sun. In the next second, birth occurs and the brilliant arc of combustion appears on the horizon.