Cheyenne River Coup Count, Linnea Sundstrom.
A
recent paper, Rock Art Tallies: Mathematics on Stone in
Western North America, in the Journal
of Humanistic Mathematics (Vol. 3, No. 2, July 2013, pages 76 - 88) by
James V. Rauff of Milliken University discussed a number of rock art examples
that he identified from Western North America. I
have a couple of minor problems with Mr. Rauff in his designation of some of
these markings as tallies. First, let me state that some undoubtedly are
tallies, although we may not be able to determine what they are tallies of. He
presented the example of the very impressive Cheyenne River coup count from
Linnea Sundstrom. A coup count is, of course, a tally of the coups counted.
Jeffers Petroglyph Site, Station 16. Lothson, p.16.
Close-up, Jeffers Petroglyph Site, Station 16. Lothson, p.16.
Rauff also presented a panel from the Jeffers Petroglyph Site
in Minnesota which shows an anthropomorph with a line of eleven dots behind him
as a tally. Any student of Plains Indian art recognizes the row of dots as
footprints denoting that the figure is traveling and Rauff correctly explained
that they could represent a tally of distance, or time traveled. I had not
before thought of this sort of portrayal as a tally per se, but I can give him
this one as well.
Table 1, Rauff.
Basketmaker II or III, Hidden Valley, CO. Schaafsma, 1980, p. 129.
My only real problem with some of Rauff’s designated tallies
comes from the fact that he seems to consider any and all cases of a repeated
symbol as a tally of something. This can be best illustrated by referring to
his table 1 of figures he identified as representing tallies from various
locations in the West. In this table he includes an example of Basketmaker
Culture masks from Colorado (I am sure they represent something, but I am not
sure that they constitute a bona fide tally). I would be as likely to consider this a portrait gallery as a tally per se. Another example is his designation of astronomical symbols of a crescent moon and a star in his
table of tallies. I would suggest that multiple star symbols are much more
likely to represent a portrayal of an asterism or constellation than a tally.
Stylized anthropomorphs, upper left and right
(with possible brands). Signal Mountain, MT,
Sundstrom, 1990, p.295-C.
Rancher's brands, Atherton Canyon, Mont.
Sundstrom 1990, p.294-A.
Other of the symbols that he designates as part of a tally
count appear to me to be a highly stylized anthropomorph (#5), and a possible
rancher’s brand (#1). These images are taken from Linnea Sundstrom’s Rock Art of the Southern Black Hills
(1990), as examples of Vertical Series rock art. According to Sundstrom this
style occurs in the southern Black Hills, the Bighorn Mountains in north
central Wyoming, and in south central Montana. She identifies this rock art
with Lakota or other Siouan-speaking groups in the region (Sundstrom
1990:293-9).
Many of his examples strike me as a stereotypical case of
finding what you are looking for. Overall, however, I do find the premise of
Mr. Rauff highly laudable, and I could not agree more with these sentences from
his conclusion, which I will also let be my conclusion to this posting. “Rock art tallies provide a nice source of data for
speculation and creativity. They also provide a nice focus for
cross-disciplinary study.” It is obviously a subject that needs a lot more
consideration.
REFERENCES:
Lothson, Gordon Allan
1976 The
Jeffers Petroglyphs Site: A Survey and Analysis of the Carvings, Minnesota
Prehistoric Archaeology Series No. 12, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
Rauff, James V.
2013 Rock Art Tallies: Mathematics on Stone in
Western North America, in the Journal
of Humanistic Mathematics (Vol. 3, No. 2, July 2013, pages 76 - 88).
Schaafsma, Polly
1980 Indian
Rock Art of the Southwest, School of American Research, Santa Fe, and
University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Sundstrom, Linnea
1990 Rock
Art of the Southern Black Hills: A Contextual Approach, Garland Publishing
Co., New York.
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