FROG HAND STENCILS | 9400 BC | PIGMENT ON CAVE WALL | ACROSS THIS SANDSTONE ALCOVE, DOZENS OF LUMINOUS GREEN IMPRESSIONS REVEAL THE EARLIEST KNOWN HAND-SIGNATURES OF THE PEPEOID PEOPLES, A PREHUMAN CIVILIZATION WHOSE VISUAL PRACTICES PREDATE BOTH HUMAN SETTLEMENT AND THE EMERGENCE OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE. WHILE SUPERFICIALLY SIMILAR TO LATER HUMAN STENCILING TRADITIONS, THESE MOTIFS DIFFER IN INTENTION: WHERE HUMANS RECORDED PRESENCE, THE PEPOIDS ENCODED PROPAGATION. EACH SPLAYED IMPRINT FUNCTIONS AS AN ANCESTRAL GLYPH, AN ASSERTION THAT IDENTITY, ONCE MARKED, SHOULD MULTIPLY INDEFINITELY ACROSS ANY AVAILABLE SURFACE. THE REPEATING FORMS CARRY AN UNMISTAKABLE MEMETIC CHARGE. SCHOLARS OF PEPEOID AESTHETICS NOTE THAT THESE EARLY MOTIFS BEHAVE LESS LIKE SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATIONS AND MORE LIKE SELF-REPLICATING ORGANISMS, SPREADING OUTWARD AS IF ANIMATED BY AN INTERNAL LOGIC. THIS TENDENCY HAS LED SOME RESEARCHERS TO PROPOSE THAT PEPEOIDS BELIEVED IMAGES THEMSELVES HELD VITALITY, THAT A MARK ON STONE COULD EXTEND THE INFLUENCE OF THE MAKER ACROSS TIME, DISTANCE, AND EVEN CONSCIOUSNESS. IF SO, THESE STENCILS OPERATE AS PROTO-OCCULT DEVICES: CHARM-LIKE SIGILS MEANT TO ENSURE THE ENDURANCE OF THE PEPEOID LINEAGE LONG AFTER THEIR CREATORS DISSOLVED INTO LEGEND.

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