AN OPTICAL ILLUSION? - IN ROCK ART:

Double Kokopelli, from Dorothy Hoard, 1995,

Sentinels on Stone, the Petroglyphs of Los Alamos,

Los Alamos Historical Society, Los Alamos, p. 11,

   photograph by Betty Lilienthal.

Double Kokopelli reversed, from Dorothy Hoard, 1995,

Sentinels on Stone, the Petroglyphs of Los Alamos,

Los Alamos Historical Society, Los Alamos, p. 11,

photograph by Betty Lilienthal.

This photograph is found in the book Sentinels on Stone by Dorothy Hoard (1995:11), with photographs by Betty Lilienthal. It shows a remarkable image of a kokopelli or flute player with some extra features. The remarkable thing about this flute player is that he works both ways, right side up and upside down. He is a twinned figure containing two images in one. This is, perhaps, analogous to the optical illustion of a rabbit's head that can also be a duck's head, and the drawing of the face of an old woman that can also be seen as a 3/4 rear view of a young woman. It also seems to be related to the phenomenon of the “ambigram”, a word written in such a font that it reads the same either side up. As the flute player image is the product of a pre-literate culture the term “ambigram” does not fit well, but in order to preserve the concept perhaps we can use the variation ambiglyph to describe this petroglyph. In any cased it is a remarkable example, purposely created to work as an image of kokopelli, the flute player, that can be recognized either way up.

Reference: 

Dorothy Hoard,

1995    Sentinels on Stone, the Petroglyphs of Los Alamos, Los Alamos Historical Society, Los Alamos,   photography by Betty Lilienthal, p.11.