Or just wanted to make it decorative.
The whole “encrypted code” nonsense is probably just nonsense.
My guess: these delightful savages tattooed themselves from stem to stern with these very same geometric designs — because they were incapable of any other kind of décor.
Beat me to it. Probably tattooing.
Best guess these would have been ancestors of the Finno-Ugric speakers.
Amazed that the thing is 9 feet tall.