Teh One Who Knocks
12-26-2011, 11:31 AM
By Charles Walford - The Daily Mail
Whoever carved the statue would not have had TV's favourite cartoon anti-hero in mind - but there is no doubting the resemblance of this stone head to Homer Simpson
It was found by Rosalind and Donald McIntyre when they were clearing the bottom of their garden at their home in Fife, Scotland, earlier this year.
The couple were working in their garden when Mrs McIntyre picked up the head.
She took it to St Andrews Museum, and the discovery has been referred to the National Committee for Carved Stones of Scotland.
http://i.imgur.com/OVnOw.png
Experts on the committee held a meeting last week to try to shed more light on the discovery, but at the moment remain 'completely baffled'.
Mrs McIntyre, 46, from Cupar, believes it could be a gargoyle from a former church in the area built in the 1200s.
She said: 'We have had a lot of people saying how much it looks like Homer - it’s quite funny really. I think it is the shape of his head.
'We found it in June when we were doing some work on the garden as it was a bit of a mess.
'There were a lot of stones that we were moving about.
'I picked one up and Mr McIntyre said there is a face on that.
'It was covered in moss and we thought it looked a bit like a monkey, which would have been much nicer than what it turned out to be when I cleaned all of the moss off.'
Mrs McIntyre, who works in the doctor’s surgery, and Mr McIntyre, 50, a painter and decorator, spent several days trying to work out what it could be by consulting the internet.
http://i.imgur.com/Lsy2g.jpg
She said: 'We looked all over the internet looking for it. The most similar thing that we could find was a type of gargoyle that we saw in Peru, but we are a long way from Peru, so I have no idea what it could be.
'There was an old church that dated back to the 1200s that used to be in this area, so we are not sure if it was something to do with that.'
After fruitless searching, the couple decided to seek some expert advice.
Mrs McIntyre said: 'Our sons took it to St Andrews Museum and they were completely amazed by it. They said that they would try and carbon date it.
'They had it for 11 or 12 weeks, but they couldn’t find out when or where it was from, but they said they thought it was very, very old.
'They sent it around various places but no one could find out anything about it.
'When they gave it back to us you could see where they took parts of the stone from behind the ear to try and date it.'
Mrs McIntyre said that the bulbous-eyed sculpture was completely solid, and very heavy, but full of detail.
She added: 'If you put your finger into his mouth you can feel all the ridges and his teeth.'
Since the head has come into their lives, the intrigue has taken up so much time that the artefact has become part of the family.
'There is no other word to describe it other than ugly, but we have become quite attached to it,' Mrs McIntyre said.
'He sits on the kitchen window now, and when we have people over they always comment on it.
'We just really want to know where he is from.'
She joked: 'If we don’t find out what it is, it will curse us forever and we will just have to bury it back in the garden.'
Historic Scotland is carrying out ongoing investigations to find out where and when the head is from.
A spokesman for Historic Scotland said: 'Historic Scotland is very intrigued by the discovery, which is also being studied by the National Committee for Carved Stones of Scotland.
'Historic Scotland’s Collections Registrar Hugh Morrison is a member of the committee, which is continuing to investigate the carved head.
'We look forward to finding out more about this remarkable discovery.'
Whoever carved the statue would not have had TV's favourite cartoon anti-hero in mind - but there is no doubting the resemblance of this stone head to Homer Simpson
It was found by Rosalind and Donald McIntyre when they were clearing the bottom of their garden at their home in Fife, Scotland, earlier this year.
The couple were working in their garden when Mrs McIntyre picked up the head.
She took it to St Andrews Museum, and the discovery has been referred to the National Committee for Carved Stones of Scotland.
http://i.imgur.com/OVnOw.png
Experts on the committee held a meeting last week to try to shed more light on the discovery, but at the moment remain 'completely baffled'.
Mrs McIntyre, 46, from Cupar, believes it could be a gargoyle from a former church in the area built in the 1200s.
She said: 'We have had a lot of people saying how much it looks like Homer - it’s quite funny really. I think it is the shape of his head.
'We found it in June when we were doing some work on the garden as it was a bit of a mess.
'There were a lot of stones that we were moving about.
'I picked one up and Mr McIntyre said there is a face on that.
'It was covered in moss and we thought it looked a bit like a monkey, which would have been much nicer than what it turned out to be when I cleaned all of the moss off.'
Mrs McIntyre, who works in the doctor’s surgery, and Mr McIntyre, 50, a painter and decorator, spent several days trying to work out what it could be by consulting the internet.
http://i.imgur.com/Lsy2g.jpg
She said: 'We looked all over the internet looking for it. The most similar thing that we could find was a type of gargoyle that we saw in Peru, but we are a long way from Peru, so I have no idea what it could be.
'There was an old church that dated back to the 1200s that used to be in this area, so we are not sure if it was something to do with that.'
After fruitless searching, the couple decided to seek some expert advice.
Mrs McIntyre said: 'Our sons took it to St Andrews Museum and they were completely amazed by it. They said that they would try and carbon date it.
'They had it for 11 or 12 weeks, but they couldn’t find out when or where it was from, but they said they thought it was very, very old.
'They sent it around various places but no one could find out anything about it.
'When they gave it back to us you could see where they took parts of the stone from behind the ear to try and date it.'
Mrs McIntyre said that the bulbous-eyed sculpture was completely solid, and very heavy, but full of detail.
She added: 'If you put your finger into his mouth you can feel all the ridges and his teeth.'
Since the head has come into their lives, the intrigue has taken up so much time that the artefact has become part of the family.
'There is no other word to describe it other than ugly, but we have become quite attached to it,' Mrs McIntyre said.
'He sits on the kitchen window now, and when we have people over they always comment on it.
'We just really want to know where he is from.'
She joked: 'If we don’t find out what it is, it will curse us forever and we will just have to bury it back in the garden.'
Historic Scotland is carrying out ongoing investigations to find out where and when the head is from.
A spokesman for Historic Scotland said: 'Historic Scotland is very intrigued by the discovery, which is also being studied by the National Committee for Carved Stones of Scotland.
'Historic Scotland’s Collections Registrar Hugh Morrison is a member of the committee, which is continuing to investigate the carved head.
'We look forward to finding out more about this remarkable discovery.'