Metal Smelting Furnace

Image: Alain Roussot
Image: Alain Roussot

The image above comes from the cave of Font-de-Gaume. The cave is located just down the hill from Bernifal. There are no modern Chinese characters that resemble this image. However, some early versions of the character zhù 鑄, meaning to smelt are highly pictographic, and seem to follow a similar theme¹. I think that there is a very good chance that the image is a pictograph of a metal smelting furnace.

Interestingly, the symbol in the centre looks like one of the alchemical symbols for tin, given in the table below.

Image: Basil Valentine
Image: Basil Valentine

References

Image Credits:

Metal Smelting Furnace: Alain Roussot, 1994: L'art préhistorique: Sud-Ouest université, Editions Sud-Ouest: http://nicole.rolin.pagesperso-orange.fr/prehistoire/Pages/Les%20tectiformes.htm: Accessed: 16 December 2012.

A Table of Mediaeval Alchemical Symbols: Basil Valentine, 1670: The Last Will and Testament: Wikimedia Commons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alchemytable.jpg: Accessed: 16 December 2012.

Note:

1. See Richard Sears: Chinese Etymology for excellent tables showing the different forms: http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?submitButton1=Etymology&characterInput=%E9%91%84: Accessed: 16 December 2012.