Tsagaglalal, Horsethief Lake State Park, Washington.
Photo: Peter Faris, July 2000.
In the summer of 2000 I had the good luck and great
privilege to be guided around Horsethief Lake State Park, in Washington State,
by Dr. James Keyser, one of the great names in North American Rock Art studies.
There is considerable Yakima polychrome painted style rock art in this area and
it is also the site of numerous petroglyphs including the marvelous petroglyph
known as Tsagaglalal, “She who
watches”, which originally probably also included some paint.
Along with considerable rock art, the vicinity of Tsagaglalal also contains some small
rock shelters which seem to have been used as vision quest sites. The rock
floors of these shelters show a considerable degree of butt-polish apparently
acquired by frequent sliding in and out of place accompanied by long periods of
sitting. The rock here is volcanic, apparently basalt, and naturally fractures
in angular blocks. The rock shelters are located in low cliff and are the
result of large blocks cracking loose and falling away leaving small, roughly
rectangular openings. Many of the nearly right angled edges of the rock around
these shelters have been chipped away in small flakes. Keyser suggested that
the rock might have been chipped away for medicinal purposes because of the
spiritual nature of the site (so near to Tsagaglal). Additionally, the supposed
vision quest shelters also usually contain petroglyphs as well.
Native American beliefs in animism attributed a spirit
presence to many of the physical features around them. According to Wikipedia
animism “is a philosophical,
religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans and
animals but also in plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder and
lightning, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, or other entities
of the natural environment.” The presence of Tsagaglalal
would have added a strong spiritual attraction to the environment as well. I
can picture that a young Native American undergoing a successful vision quest
in this environment might well have wanted to take a chip of the rock with him,
to include its power in his medicine bundle.
Pebble wedged in a crack. Horsethief Lake State
Park, Washington. Photo: Peter Faris, July 2000.
Another
interesting phenomenon found in these rock shelters is the placement of small
pebbles of stone into cracks in the rock face at these shelters, perhaps as
some sort of offering. I think of this as the “Kilroy was here” motivation, the
human urge to make some sort of visible change, to leave some record of their
existence. Alternatively, the pebbles may have originally been jammed into the
crack to hold some sort of organic offering in place that has since been lost
to the elements.
Perhaps any study
of a rock art location should include a much more detailed study of surrounding
rock surfaces for such modifications as further clues toward the later
interpretation of the purpose and significance of the rock art.
Note: I am deeply grateful to my friend Jim
Keyser for taking the time and effort to guide me to these locations.
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