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tiompan T
tiompan Mar 10, 2009 17:13:34
Replying to Littlestone

Littlestone wrote:
The ones with the specs are very interesting. It could be nothing to do with it but I remember seeing some bone 'specs' in the British museum or somewhere - but really they were so people didn't get snowblind, they had a thin slot to peer out of. Is it conceivable the ones on your statues could be sunglasses too, maybe for when you're rowing out on the sea?
Hi Rhiannon

The snow specs that you saw may have been similar to the one shown on this figurine - http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/thumb/a/ae/JomonStatue.JPG/424px-JomonStatue.JPG These clay figurines are from the early Japanese Jomon Period (approx 11,000-300 bce). There are both Polynesian and Mongolian elements in the ethnic makeup of the Japanese so both a sunglass or a snowglass theory are possible.

Inuit use them too .

L Littlestone
Littlestone Mar 10, 2009 17:44:44
Replying to tiompan

Inuit use them too .
Ahh, interesting.

Remember watching an Inuit film some years ago (called The Runner or summat) and being struck by the similarity between the sound of the Inuit language and modern Japanese. What clinched the similarity though was that the word for 'elder brother' in both languages seems to be the same. Dunno if there's an ethnic relationship but there could be.

But getting back to snow/sun specs - I guess people would arrive naturally at some sort of eye protection against strong sunlight wherever they were.