Birth of Lorelei 12,500 BC

A little girl is born. Childcare is of enormous importance and extensively written about on inscriptions from 14,500 years ago. They tell us about a little Rhine Maiden. The story on many inscribed stones, or plattes, includes: her birth, making her crib, sanitary care, making her diapers, her quilt, a winter outing, and weaving at the loom by lamplight. Recognizable symbols and signs are many; still there’s so much of this that’s not yet readable.

Call this just-born little Rhine maiden Lorelei. We don’t really know what her name is; perhaps those hereafter will discover it in a deeper reading of this beautiful story written on stone. The calendric indicates it’s close to or at winter solstice.

Inside, the ladies have a cradle ready. It’s padded, soft, and warm inside, and made of strong horsehide outside.

Together, five ladies of the house greet the newborn: mother, three ladies, and a young teenage daughter. A spearmen works outside to keep away beasts, and he stoke fires, heats bed-warming stones, and waits for the really-welcome newcomer. The teenage boy scurries in and out of the winter house, bringing in warming stones that he heats outdoors, to make her mother comfortable. He fetches moss and dry grass and collects hair for felt padding as needed. Outside, on the icy long-grass prairie, a mother fox cries. Perhaps a fox paw is hung on the cradle.

Many things come from earlier horse hunts: hides of the horses for the outside of a cradle, hair from the horses with which to sew, make cord, and weave strong warps of our fabrics; wool with which to make felt to make the woven fabrics warmer; bones and teeth of which to make tools and things; hooves to shred for glue and waterproofing; horse meat to eat inside the house that has insulated horse-hide walls. The substance of horses you hunt nurtures your child. They are included on the inscription.