GELL'S SUMMARY OF ELEMENTS

Alfred Gell, The Art of Anthropology: Essay and Diagrams, Cambridge University Press, 1999

This figure is Gell's summary of elements in Iqwaye counting and culture (Mimiac 1988). Each 'level' (as indicated by the -->) is another way of writing the other levels; each is contained in the other. The very top of the figure shows Omalyce in a closed position. Omalyce is the combination of elements that make up every Iqwaye which Gell depicts in the relation with 'A'; this, however, only occurs according to the cosmogonic myth, referred to by Gell, when Omalyce release his penis/umbilicus in order to breath. The next level depicts 'A' as formed of male and female elements, all derived from Omalyce. One version is described in the cosmogonic myth, depicted in the next level.