ARCHITECTURE IN ROCK ART – TIPIS – Part 1:

In their records left on the rocks by Native Americans of their deeds and situations, we can look for clues to the environment that these feats were performed in. One common feature of the environment in Great Plains rock art is one or more residences, their tipis. In the tradition of Plains Biographic Art much of the imagery in a composition is intended as information. In this way a figure seen in relation to a group of tipis would represent a specific person involved in some activity next to that tipi village.

Horseman in lower left, Anubis Cave, Cimarron

County, OK. Photo Peter Faris, 21 Sept. 1986. 

My awareness of this came back in the 1980s on one of a frequent number of trips down into southeastern Colorado. In the so-called Anubis Cave in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, I saw a small equestrian figure on horseback in front of the upside-down “V” of a tipi. It occurred to me at that time that it placed a figure in a specific place, and thus at a specific time, the time when he was there. In other words it was telling a story, a simple story certainly, and one that did not provide me with much information, but a story nevertheless. This is the basic premise of James Keyser in his statement that the Biographic art of ledger books and painted robes can provide a lexicon toward the interpretation of some rock art.

Tracing by James D. Keyser and Mark D. Mitchell, Box

Canyon site, 5LA8464,  Picketwire Canyonlands,

Las Animas County, CO. 1999.

Photograph of a portion of the Box Canyon site, 5LA8464, 

Picketwire Canyonlands, Las Animas County, CO.

Photo Peter Faris, August 1999.

Detail of tracing showing tipi near the center (directly

under the elk). Box Canyon site, 5LA8464,  Picketwire

Canyonlands, Las Animas County, CO. August, 1999.

In the Box Canyon Site in the Purgatoire river canyon in southeastern Colorado a couple of panels illustrate combat in relation to tipis. 5LA8464 was recorded in 1999 by a crew led by Jim Keyser and Mark Mitchell. This is a large panel, faintly scratched into a large flat side of the rock. This panel apparently records an attack upon a tipi village or family encampment by a group of equestrian warriors on the right, whom I believe are Pawnees by the details of their portrayal. The village or encampment being attacked is represented by a tipi on the left side of the panel and would probably have been Cheyenne or Arapahoe based upon the location. One defender seen by the tipi has been struck by an arrow. A number of unridden horses suggest that this combat bay have been in conjunction with a horse raid upon this encampment.

Red Rock Ledge, Picketwire Canyonlands, Las Animas

County, CO. Tracing by James D. Keyser and

Mark D. Mitchell, August 1999.

Red Rock Ledge site, Picketwire Canyonlands, Las Animas

County, CO. Photograph Peter Faris, August 1999.

Another plains biographic rock art panel recorded by James Keyser and Mark Mitchell is the Red Rock Ledge site in the Picketwire Canyonlands, near the Box Canyon site. This smaller panel tells a story related by Keyser in his subsequent published report. “The lightly-scratched petroglyphs at Red Rock Ledge compose a Biographic scene showing a pedestrian bowman who has traveled from a tipi village to engage and enemy represented by a crooked lance or coup stick. Beginning at the right margin of the scene, and following the action to the left, the composition consists of four major elements. At the far right is a group of nine triangles with forked tops representing a camp of tipis. One other incomplete figure probably represents a tenth tipi with one side no longer visible. A series of seventeen more or less horizontal dashes and four “C” shapes extends from the tipi camp toward the bowman. Based on comparisons with other Biographic drawings in various media, the dashes represent human footprints and the “C” shapes represent horse hoofprints. The third element, the bowman, is a simply drawn, rectangular-body figure with a circle head. His legs are shown with thighs, calves, and feet. The short diagonal lines that extend outward from the front of each leg indicate fringed leggings. In his right hand he carries a carefully drawn recurved bow that is shooting an arrow with a large triangular point. The fourth element, located at the far left of the scene, is a horizontally-oriented crook-neck coup stick, from which trail four groups of paired streamers or feathers. Each group extends diagonally downward to the left, and the four groups are spaced about equidistantly along the shaft, with the last at the end of the crook.” (Keyser and Mitchell 2000:26-7)

Picture Canyon, Baca County, CO. Photograph Peter Faris, 1986.

In the well known horse pictograph/petroglyph from Picture Canyon, in Baca County, Colorado, a number of very faint tipi shapes can be made out with careful observation. Indeed, a group of four or five very faint upside-down “V” shapes in the upper right corner of the photo represent a tipi village, with at least two more at the top just left of center.  These presumably represent the tipi village that the horseman himself is associated with.

Numerous other examples of tipis portrayed in rock art can be found in the literature. My point here is that in contrast to the common assumption that “we can never know what rock art is saying” we can, in many instances determine quite a bit about a rock art panel. I will show some other examples and share some other thoughts in future columns.

REFERENCES

Keyser, James D. and Mark D. Mitchell

2000   Red Rock Ledge: Plains Biographic Rock Art in the Picketwire Canyonlands, Southeastern Colorado, Southwestern Lore, Vol. 66, No. 2, Summer, 2000, p. 22-37.

A LOST BUT UNIQUE REPORTED ROCK ART SITE - COYOTE’S PENIS:

Coyote's Penis, Stein River Valley, British Columbia.

 York, 1993, They Write Their Dreams on the Rocks

Forever, fig. 13, p. 8.

On occasion rock art would be located in a place that lends meaning or power to the imagery because of features of the local topography. Such a place is found in the Stein River Valley of British Columbia, Canada, at a feature known as Coyote’s Penis.

“Indians also frequently painted pictures on rocks which were thought to be metamorphosis beings (originally human or semi-human, semi-animal, or semi-God-like character) concerning which, there were stories in their ancient mythological tales or traditions. These rocks are generally boulders corresponding roughly to human and animal forms or to parts of the body, etc., or to rocks worn into peculiar or fantastic forms of various kinds, suiting in some way the story that is told of them. By painting on them power in some degree, it was thought, might be obtained from them or their spirits. . . (Teit 1918:3).” (York 1993:8)

“One of these sites is found at Spence’s Bridge in the vicinity of Spaeks ha snikiap (Coyote’s Penis) were the genitals of Coyote and his wife, as well as her woven cooking basket, were turned to three rock formations by Xwekt’xwektl.  Xwekt’xwektl had tried to transform them totally to stone but due to the countervailing shamanic power of Coyote, the transformer was able to succeed only with the Coyote’s penis, his wife’s vulva and the basket kettle from which they had been picknicking (Teit 1898:44, n. 132; 1900:337).” (York 1993:8-9)

In this case the local First Nation’s population remembers that there is a rock art panel near Coyote’s Penis but it has not been located in contemporary searches. Perhaps some damage has destroyed it, or perhaps vegetation is currently concealing the pictographs. One has to hope that it will be rediscovered and recorded as rock art from such a location carries possibly evocative meaning and content. At worst we can hope that it illustrates the myth recorded above, and thus would give us an opportunity for comparative analysis. In any case it does carry a very large curiosity factor.

REFERENCES:

Teit, J. A.

1898    Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia, American Folklore Society, Houghton Mifflin, New York.

York, Annie, Richard Daly, and Chris Arnett

1993    They Write Their Dream on the Rock Forever: Rock Writings of the Stein River Valley of British Columbia, Talonbooks, Vancouver, British Columbia.

HORSE DECORATION IN ROCK ART – FEATHERS:

Biographic panel from Joliet, Montana. Keyser and 

Klassen, 2001, Plains Indian Rock Art, p. 237.

On any important occasion a Native American wanted to be as memorable as possible. Part of the preparation for that was to dress oneself up in finery, and that went for their horse as well. Not only for ceremonial occasions, but often for combat, a warrior’s horse would have been painted with symbols carrying spiritual protection, and announcing the warriors strength and prowess. Another essential part of the decoration of any Native American’s horse is eagle feathers.

Mail's illustration of a decorated horse. Thomas Mails,

Mystic Warriors of the Plains, p. 222.

Thomas Mails explained this as follows: “Golden eagle tail feathers were often tied to the mane and/or tail of the war horse when the owner was about to go on a mounted war party. A common Plains custom was that of tying up the horse’s tail when preparing for battle. The Indians believed it sensible to get the long tails out of the horse’s way. Sometimes the tail itself was simply tied in a knot. Other times it was folded and bound with buckskin strips, or in trade days with red blanket cloth. Feathers and fringes were often added to the ties for more spectacular effect.” (Mails 1991:223)

Detail, Biographic panel from Joliet, Montana. Keyser and 

Klassen, 2001, Plains Indian Rock Art, p. 237.

The rock art image from Keyser and Klassen Plains Indian Rock Art (2001:237) located at Joliet, Montana, shows horses and riders in a battle. The detail illustrates a feather decorated horse carrying two riders, the rear rider turned and firing his rifle at an enemy. The image of a horse carrying two riders is usually an illustration recording the heroic rescue of a downed comrade in a battle. The horse that the two warriors are riding has an eagle feather attached to its forelock and also appears to have three feathers hanging from its tied-up tail. This horse was carefully decorated for war so I assume that it represents the aggressors, the defenders presumably would have been caught by surprise and not had enough time to make such careful preparations.

Horse petroglyph, Writing-on-stone Provincial Park,
Alberta, Canada. Three lines from the back of the
horse's head represent feathers, or possibly two
ears and one feather.

“Siya’ka said that on one occasion when he was hard pressed on the warpath, he dismounted, and, standing in front of his horse, spoke to him saying: “We are in danger. Obey me promptly that we may conquer. If you have to run for your life and mine, do your best, and if we reach home, I will give you the best eagle feather I can get – and you shall be painted with the best paint.”” (Horse Capture and Her Many Horses 2006:41)

Horse images with decorative feathers attached are found in many media utilized by Native American artists. Some examples are shown and listed below.

Bone quirt handle. George Horse Capture and Emil Her

Many Horses, 2006, A Song For The Horse Nation,

Horses in Native American Cultures, p. 38.

Bone quirt handle showing a feather tied to the tail of the horse – “1870s, By identifying stylistic motifs, scholars can often determine which groups created the drawings, and occasionally, a match can be found by comparing figures in rock art to those items made by contemporary tribes, confirming that some ancient art styles reach across the centuries. A wedge-shaped anthropomorphic figure carved into a stone wall in southern Alberta, Canada, is similar to the one incised into the handle of this quirt, collected in the early twentieth century.” (Horse Capture and Her Many Horses 2006:38)

Portrait of High Wolf. George Horse Capture and Emil Her

Many Horses, 2006, A Song For The Horse Nation, Horses

in Native American Cultures, p. 40.

Ledger painting, horse with feathers both on his tail and forelock – “Yellow Nose (Ute raised as Cheyenne), Portrait of High Wolf, circa 1880. This drawing shows high wolf counting coup with a riding quirt against a Nez Perce. The imitation scalp under the horses chin indicates the accomplishments of both horse and rider.” (Horse Capture and Her Many Horses 2006:40)

Shield cover. George Horse Capture. and Emil Her

Many Horses, 2006, A Song For The Horse Nation,

Horses in Native American Cultures, p. 70.

Shield cover, horse with feathers tied to his tail - “Cheyenne River Sioux painted hide shield cover, circa 1880s – This shield cover records a battle scene between the Lakota and some of their enemies, possibly Crow or Pawnee, who are recognized by the topknot hairstyle that was popular with both tribes. The hero/owner of this shield, wearing a split horn war bonnet, is at the center, moving left.” (Horse Capture and Her Many Horses 2006:70)

Portrait of Few Tails by Red Dog, ca. 1884. George Horse Capture 

and Emil Her Many Horses, 2006, A Song For The Horse Nation,

Horses in Native American Cultures, p. 87.

Ledger portrait, the horse has a feather fan tied to his tail – “Red Dog (Lakota), Portrait of Few Tails, circa 1884. Fully decked out in warrior society accoutrements, Few Tails appears to be dressed for battle. Most portraits, like this one, incorporate stylized faces. Because each Plains warrior’s shield was decorated differently, individuals or tribes were identified in artwork by their shield designs and clothing styles.” (Horse Capture and Her Many Horses 2006:87)

As Jim Keyser has demonstrated in his many analytic rock art publications, much can be learned from careful attention to the details in rock art, and by comparison with other art forms which display the same sort of imagery. In the case of horses decorated with feathers it can represent a warrior prepared for war, or for a ceremonial occasion.

 REFERENCES:

Afton, Jean, David Fridtjof Halaas, and Andrew E. Masich

1997    Cheyenne Dog Soldiers: A Ledgerbook History of Coups and Combat, Colorado Historical Society and University Press of Colorado, Denver.

Horse Capture, George P. and Emil Her Many Horses

2006    A Song For The Horse Nation, Horses in Native American Cultures, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., and Fulcrum Press, Golden, CO.

Keyser, James D.

2012    “My Name Was Made High:” A Crow War Record at 48HO9, The Wyoming Archaeologist, Vo. 55, Spring 2011 (pub. Oct. 2012).

Keyser, James D. and Michael A. Klassen,

2001    Plains Indian Rock Art, University of Washington Press, Seattle.

Mails, Thomas E.

1991    Mystic Warriors of the Plains, Barnes and Noble Books, New York.

DEVIL’S TOWER, WYOMING:

Bear's Lodge Butte (Devil's Tower), Wyoming.

Photograph: Peter Faris, June 2013.

High on every list of sites that are sacred to Native Americans is Bear Lodge Butte, listed on our maps and in our records as Devil’s Tower. I can remember being fascinated with this pretty much all of my life after seeing a picture of it in a Little Golden Guide to Geology as a child.

Bear's Lodge Butte (Devil's Tower), Wyoming.

Photograph: Peter Faris, June 2013

In his book Where Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places, Peter Nabokov gave a description of the beliefs and mythology that are attached to this location by Native Americans. “Best known of the Black Hills outliers was what Indians called Bear Lodge Butte, but which whites in offensive contrast to its heroic role in Indian mythology, came to name “Devil’s Tower.” Remembered by most Americans, this volcanic upthrust, located to the north of the Hills that jutted into the sky like a great horn with its tip lopped off, was the Mother Ship’s landing pad in director Steven Spielberg’s 1977 science fiction classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But to the Kiowa tribe the 867-foot promontory was revered as T’sou’a’e, or “Aloft on a Rock.” Here was the embarkation point for that early period in Kiowa Indian history that the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist N. Scott Momaday called “the setting out.” From these high plains their ancestors migrated south, to ultimately reach the area of Rainy Mountain in western Oklahoma, where their reservation is found today.

Like a number of Plains Indian tribes, the Kiowa never forgot the Tower’s place in their mythology. They told of the seven sisters and a brother who were playing together. Transformed into a monster bear, the brother attacked his sisters, who ran for their lives. When they reached a giant tree stump it told them “climb up on me.” Once they were on top the stump began to grow, leaving the bear pawing at them and raking its sides with his claws – those vertical grooves remain to this day. On the summit the girls were finally safe, but the Kiowa say the sisters then ascended into the sky, to become the constellation we know as the Big Dipper (other tribal versions say the Pleiades).” (Nabokov 2006:215-16)

  

We finally undertook the trip there in June 2013. A long day’s drive got us to Sundance, Wyoming, which serves as the gateway to the Devil’s Tower National Monument. In Sundance we had a nice motel room at a reasonable price, and ate fine meals in a couple of good restaurants. The next day we drove out to the tower itself. It was every bit as impressive as I had hoped. We hiked around the spire and saw probably a couple of dozen rock climbers working their way up various routes. I could certainly get a small sense of the unease that Native American peoples feel to a greater extent seeing these people climbing up this sacred rock.

Offerings at Bear's Lodge Butte (Devil's Tower),

Wyoming. Photograph: Peter Faris, June 2013.

While walking around the vicinity of the rock many small offerings could be seen in the trees in various locations around the tower reinforcing its spiritual nature for some people. I am pleased to be able to report that there does not seem to be any meddling with these offerings, such as collecting or removing them. 

As we might imagine for a site with such spiritual significance there is rock art in the area although the park personnel greet such inquiries with an assumed air of ignorance. In her interesting book Storied Stone: Indian Rock Art in the Black Hills Country, Linea Sundstrom has illustrated petroglyphs at a site designated 48CK1544, which is located within view of the tower.

Left side of main panel, Site 48CK1544, 

Sundstrom, Fig 12.4, p. 146.

Right side of main panel, 48CK1544,

Sundstrom, Fig. 12.4, p.147

Incised face and design, 48CK1544,

Sundstrom, Fig. 12.6, p.147.

Sundstrom wrote about the rock art near Devil's Tower "petroglyphs located upon a ridge within distant view of Devil's Tower reflect a link between landscape and rock art. Although they are part of the incised rock art tradition, these petroglyphs are unlike others in the area. Some of the rock art represents thunder beings - eagle- or hawklike creatures with outspread wings (fig. 12.4). One petroglyph shows a creature with some human and some thunderbird characteristics. Perhaps these record the trance of some vision seeker."

For more about the rock art near Devil's Tower and, indeed, for rock art throughout the Black Hills region read Linea Sundstrom's writings. And, for a great trip to a beautiful area, and a moving experience, I highly recommend a visit to Bear's Lodge Butte/Devil's Tower.

REFERENCE:

Nabokov, Peter

2006    Where Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred

 Places, Peter Nabokov, Viking Press, New York.

Sundstrom, Linea
2004     Storied Stone: Indian Rock Art of the Black Hills Country, 
           University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

HORSE DECORATION IN ROCK ART – PAINT:

Warriors of the Plains horse tribes painted their horses for special occasions. These painted markings and symbols were not so much an identifier in the nature of the Angle horse brand as they were an enhancement, visual or spiritual, of the horse’s and the rider’s presence. Some of the symbols represented specific accomplishments and so could be read like a biography of the warrior. Other symbols conferred spiritual powers and abilities that had been shown to the warrior on a vision quest. Some examples of painted horses can be seen in rock art and other Native American art forms, and some of these messages can still be read in the painted markings.

Symbols from painted horses, Thomas E. Mails, 

Mystic Warriors of the Plains, 1991, p.220.

Thomas Mails illustrated a number of commonly seen marks in his book Mystic Warriors of the Plains (Mails 1991:220) and examples (including variations) of some of these symbols can be seen in examples of Native American art. “Painted exploit symbols used on horses. a, war party leader. b, enemy killed in hand combat. c, owner fought from behind breastworks. d, hail. e, coup marks. f, horse raids or number of horses stolen. g, mourning marks. h, medicine symbol.” (Mails 1972: 220)

Picture Canyon, Baca County. Photograph: Peter Faris.

Close-up of symbol on the horse from Picture

 Canyon, Baca County, Colorado.

In Picture Canyon, Baca County, Colorado, a horse figure that is faintly drawn in black and also lightly incised into the cliff face has markings carved into his front shoulder that might represent a variation of Mail’s marks for coup counts. An extremely faded rider can be made out and the shapes of tipis in the background are now almost invisible.

A coup count, Dog Soldier Ledger, pl. 91, p. 189.

Detail, A coup count, Dog Soldier Ledger, pl. 91, p. 189.

Coup count symbols can be seen on the horse illustrated in one of the plates in the Dog Soldier Ledger (p. 91, p. 189) in which an unidentified warrior has dismounted to count coup with a strike of his bow on a wounded soldier.

Keyser, James D. and Michael A. Klassen,

2001, Plains Indian Rock Art,p. 237.

An incised panel from Joliet, Montana, is illustrated in James Keyser’s and Michael Klassen’s 2001 book Plains Indian Rock Art (p. 237). The large horse in the center of the illustration carries an “H” on his hip which might represent an Anglo brand, but the horse also shows a open-bottom rounded symbol on his front shoulder which is quite possibly Mail’s symbol for horse raids and/or horses stolen, a could possibly actually refer to the capture of the horse illustrated by its rider.

White Bird lancing a soldier, a circle is painted

on the hip of his horse. Dog Soldier Ledger,

plate 100, p. 203. 

Another illustration from the Dog Soldier Ledger (p. 100, p. 203) shows White Bird lancing a white man. White Bird’s horse is painted with a circle identified by Mails as signifying fighting from behind breastworks or from some sort of defensive position. Additional illustrations of White Bird in the same publication show the same symbol on his horse.

“A warrior often painted his favorite war horse with the same pattern and colors he used for his own face and body. And when he was preparing for ceremonial events or for journeys into enemy territory, he painted his horse at the same time as he painted himself. – The main thing to bear in mind is that the painted horse always carried a message about his owner, hence sometimes the quality of the horse bearing the marks – although the painted horse might not always be the one the owner had ridden on the raids described.” (Mails 1991:219)

The value and importance of the horse painting is illustrated by George P. Horse Capture and Emil Her Many Horses in their 2006 book “Song for the Horse Nation”. “Siya’ka said that on one occasion when he was hard pressed on the warpath, he dismounted, and, standing in front of his horse, spoke to him saying: “We are in danger. Obey me promptly that we may conquer. If you have to run for your life and mine, do your best, and if we reach home, I will give you the best eagle feather I can get – and you shall be painted with the best paint.”” (Horse Capture and Her Many Horses 2006:41)  “The best paint” presumably is paint made with the rarest, or hardest to acquire, pigments, the value being due to the effort or expense of acquisition.

A range of motives and reasons led to painting of their horses by Native American Plains warriors, and many of these motives and reasons were of such importance that the same symbols were occasionally portrayed on rock art of horses. Indeed, many of these symbols can often be found independantly painted or pecked into the rock as well, but that is a subject for a later posting.

REFERENCES:

Afton, Jean, David Fridtjof Halaas, and Andrew E. Masich

1997    Cheyenne Dog Soldiers: A Ledgerbook History of Coups and Combat, Colorado Historical Society and University Press of Colorado, Denver.

Horse Capture, George P., and Emil Her Many Horses

2006    A Song For the Horse Nation: Horses in Native American Cultures, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., and Fulcrum Press, Golden, Colorado.

Keyser, James D. and Michael A. Klassen

2001    Plains Indian Rock Art, University of Washington Press, Seattle.

Mails, Thomas E.

1991    Mystic Warriors of the Plains, Barnes and Noble Books, New York