HOPI CLAN REGISTERS AS A ROCK ART LEXICON FOR THE SOUTHWEST - RABBIT:

 Jackrabbit, Legend Rock, WY. Photograph Peter Faris.

Black-tailed or desert jackrabbit, Wikipedia.

Mimbres bowl with rabbit in the moon. From Kachinas in

the Pueblo World, 1996, Polly Schaafsma, University of

New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, p. 96.

The rabbit is found in rock art throughout the American West and Southwest. It is a well known fact that most Native American cultures saw the figure of a rabbit on the face of the moon, as on the Mimbres bowl that shows a rabbit on a crescent moon. Given this, a rabbit in rock art is often assigned lunar connotations Assuming, however, that a rabbit image always implies the lunar connotation would be a mistake.

1894 Hopi Petition. Big Falling Snow: A Tewa-Hopi Indian’s

Life and Times and the History andTraditions of His People,

Albert Yava, 1978, University of New Mexico Press,

Albuquerque, page 11.

A wonderful reference into many of southwestern rock art symbols, previously mentioned, is found in the 1894 Hopi Petition, a document from Hopi clan chiefs to U.S. government officials in Washington D.C. urging them to cease the reallocation of Hopi lands into individual holdings, and also to designate official Hopi reservation boundaries. This document “was signed in clan symbols by 123 principals of kiva societies, clan chiefs, and village chiefs of Walpi, Tewa Village, Sichomovi, Mishongnovi,Shongopovi,Shipaulovi and Oraibi.” (Yava 1978:167) In his book Big Falling Snow (1978), Albert Yava illustrated two pages (pages 11 and 14 found between pages 82 and 83) of these signatures with their interpretations. These identified symbols surely provide a useful lexicon for rock art imagery in the Southwest.  

Rabbit Clan symbol, #87, from 1894 Hopi Petition, page 11.

Rabbit track as symbol for the Rabbit Clan,

#92, from 1894 Hopi Petition, page 11.

Rabbit tracks. Photograph Peter Faris.

One of the images from page 11 of the 1894 Hopi Petition is the symbol for Rabbit Clan, #87. Another Rabbit Clan symbol is #92 showing rabbit tracks but conveying the same meaning as a rabbit designation.

Its presence in the Hopi Petition as a clan identification symbol suggests other possible affiliations as well. Many North American tribes include the rabbit in their collection of clan symbols. Among the Hopi Masau’u owned this world and welcomed the Hopis when they climbed into it from below. Masau’u was also their ‘giver of fire.” The ceremonial portrayal of Masau’u includes smearing the head with rabbit blood as part of the costume thus associating the rabbit with Masau’u, creation and even fertility. (Tyler 1964:20)

Rabbit with Barrier Canyon Style figure,

Harvest Scene, The Maze, Canyonlands,

Utah. Photograph, Don Campbell, 1979.

The rabbit serves roles in Native American mythology as well and a rabbit image might have been intended as a reference to one of these stories.

Three Rivers, New Mexico. Photograph

John and Esther Faris, 1988.

Finally, the rabbit was an important food source for Southwestern peoples who held periodic rabbit drives. A youth’s first kill as a hunter was often a rabbit and that was then often the occasion for ceremonial adoption into a male fraternal group, certainly an important occasion and one worthy of recording. Thus, I submit that the image or theme of rabbit has many more possible meanings than just the rabbit in the moon.

 REFERENCES:

Grant, Campbell

1981    Rock Art of the American Indian, Outbooks, Golden, Colorado.

http://research.archives.gov/description/300340

Schaafsma, Polly

1994    Kachinas in the Pueblo World, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Thompson, Marc

1994    The Evolution and Dissemination of Mimbres Iconography, from Kachinas in the Pueblo World, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, p. 93 - 105.

Tyler, Hamilton A.

1964    Pueblo Gods and Myths, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Yava, Albert

1978    Big Falling Snow: A Tewa-Hopi Indian’s Life and Times and the History and Traditions of His People, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

NORTHERN PLAINS SHIELD BEARING WARRIORS - A BOOK REVIEW:

I cannot speak for everyone else, but Shield Figures have long been a favorite rock art theme of mine. The many ways they are portrayed, and visual conventions used, have fascinated me from the beginning. Additionally, they have a feeling of personal identity lacking in many other rock art symbols. Especially in instances where a shield design can be discerned the viewer has the sense that this represents a particular, identifiable individual. Thus I was particularly thrilled when I received a copy of the new book Northern Plains Shield Bearing Warriors by the dynamic duo James D. Keyser and George Poetschat, and published in 2014 by Oregon Archaeological Society Press, Portland.

SBW-WY-161, Castle Gardens, Wyoming.

Photograph James Adams.

The authors state that “the shield bearing warrior motif is the best known and most widespread in Northern Plains Ceremonial Tradition rock art. Found throughout the region from north of Calgary, Alberta to near Denver, Colorado, and from Wyoming’s Green River Basin to the Black Hills of South Dakota, the motif shows a human whose torso is almost entirely positioned behind a large circular (or in rare instances, rectangular) shield.“ (p. 7)

SBW-MT-164, Hilej Site, Montana.

“The shield bearing warrior motif shows a standing or (less frequently) horseback-riding warrior holding a shield that obscures most of his torso. Typically the warrior’s head (and sometimes also his neck) projects above the shield and his legs extend below it. However, it is not unknown for a shield bearer to lack either a head or legs  - as if the shield were actually covering more of his person. Many shield bearing warriors also have a weapon; often projecting out from behind the shield perimeter, usually between the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock positions. Other warriors extend their arm out beyond the shield’s margin to hold a weapon.” (p.7)

Shield figure record, site SBW-MT-122, page 189.

This remarkable 314 page compendium, with contributions by Becky Steed, Sue Ann Jansen, Susan Gray, and David Kaiser, discusses the subject of shield bearing warriors at length, explaining their history, style, and cultural affiliations, it provides an exhaustive listing of examples from the Northern Plains, including; Alberta, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Each listed example is provided with a black and white drawing and extremely detailed description including: media, site, and features. Appendix II lists 604 examples of shield bearing warriors from some 157 sites – how is that for exhaustive? Keyser and Poetschat have provided rock art researchers with a whole reference library of the subject in one volume. My only disappointment with the whole thing is that they did not continue their coverage on further south to include examples in Utah, New Mexico, and the rest of Colorado. This book is required reading for anyone interested in the rock art of North America, and the history and art of Native Americans in general.

Keyser, James D., and George Poetschat,

2014    Northern Plains Shield Bearing Warriors: A Five Century Rock Art Record of Indian Warfare, Oregon Archaeological Society Press Publication #22, and Indigenous Cultures Preservation Society Publication #2, Portland.

SHIELDS AND SHIELD FIGURES IN ROCK ART:

All-American Man, Salt Creek, Canyonlands, UT.

Photograph: 1983, Don I. Campbell.

One fascinating class of imagery in rock art is the well-known shield figures of the American West. Although seen in a number of variations the shield figure is basically a shield (usually the larger sized shield carried by a pedestrian warrior) with portions of the anatomy of the figure carrying it seen protruding from the edges of the shield; legs at the bottom, head at the top, and with weapons or ceremonial items often portrayed as well. Shield figures have always fascinated me because they very often portray the sorts of details of adornment, decoration, or accessories that allow us to assume that the representation is of a specific shield that would be the property of a specific, and recognizable, person – in other words a portrait.

All-American Man, Salt Creek, Canyonlands, UT.

Photograph: 1983, Don I. Campbell.

One of the most famous shield bearing figures is found in Utah, in Canyonlands National Park. The “All-American Man” figure is rounded and bears a brightly decorated shield. He is seen in front view with straight legs and feet angled down slightly to his left. His face and head are seen straight on and we can discern facial features as well as some form of neck band as well as two antenna-like projections from his head, perhaps feathers in a headdress. His name refers to his decoration in red, white, and a bluish paint and references indicate that he has a radiocarbon date of A.D. 1295. 

Close-up of shield figures, Werstwater canyon, UT.

Photograph:  Oct. 8, 2001, Peter Faris.

With his rounded contours All-American Man resembles the shield bearing warriors from Westwater Creek, Utah, much more than the shield bearing warriors from McConkey Ranch, near Vernal, Utah.

Shields, Castle Gardens, Fremont County, WY.

Photograph: Peter Faris, Sept. 1992.

Dr. Lawrence Loendorf has written some insightful comments about shield figures: “The oldest shields or shield warriors found in the Montana and Wyoming region are in the Castle Garden Shield Style. - - Castle Garden Shield Style figures are made in a unique way. Before making these pictographs, the artist prepared the rock surface by abrading it to remove undulations or protuberances and produce a flat, smooth palette. This surface preparation removed the less-consolidated outer layer of surface sandstone to reveal a harder, inner layer for painting."

 Shields, Castle Gardens, Fremont County, WY.

 Photograph: Peter Faris, Sept. 1992.

           "Once smoothed, the artist incised a pattern of the shield or shield warrior on the rock palette. - - Paint colors include two shades of red (one more purple than the other), two shades of orange (one more yellow than the other), black, white, and green. Polychrome paintings are rare in Wyoming and Montana and this is one of the criteria by which the Castle Garden Style shields and shield warriors can be identified. Use of green paint is also an important criterion because it is rare in the region.

            In an excavation in the Valley of the Shields, I recovered two sandstone-abrading tools used to smooth the surface in preparation for the paintings (Loendorf 1990). One of these had paint adhering to it as though the artist picked it up to do some additional smoothing while in the process of applying paint. The tools were found in direct association with the remains of a hearth, and it was possible to obtain standard radiocarbon dates on the charcoal. Two dates with overlapping sigma were obtained using the correction tables it is clear the Castle Garden Shield Style pictographs were made at the Valley of the Shields ca. A.D. 1100.” (Loendorf 1990:49) Great information Larry, as always.

Shields and shield figures are so fascinating to me because they offer entry points into a whole range of questions in rock art: portraiture, the pedestrian-to-equestrian warrior transition (and thus the societal changes cause by the adoption of the horse), heraldry, and even inter- and intra-tribal interaction and communication.

REFERENCE:

Loendorf, Lawrence

2004   Shields and Shield Warrior Pictographs and Petroglyphs in the Intermountain West, pages 103-117, in New Dimensions in Rock Art Studies, edited by Ray T. Matheny, Museum of Peoples and Cultures Occasional Papers No. 9, Brigham Young University, Provo.

ROCK ALIGNMENTS IN THE SAN RAFAEL SWELL, UTAH:

The lower loop of the large, 450' rock figure.

Photograph courtesy of Jonathan Bailey.

Have you ever wondered what, in our fascination with looking at rock art on the cliff faces, we might be missing under our feet? Well, it appears that in some places we might be missing quite a lot. An article by photographer Jonathan Bailey, printed in the Fall, 2014, issue of the quarterly newsletter of the Colorado Archaeological Society, The Surveyor, (p. 23-24), discusses and illustrates some geoglyphs or rock alignments that he has photographed in the San Rafael Swell in Utah, an area notable for wonderful rock art.

Anthropomorphic rock alignment resembling

Barrier Canyon Style figures. Photograph

courtesy of Jonathan Bailey.

In his article in The Surveyor Jonathan Bailey described the largest of these rock alignments: “This layer is carpeted with hundreds of thousands of discarded chippings, the remnants of prolific prehistoric tool makers huddling around one of the only reliable water sources: a perennial spring that collects into an impression in stone, a veritable storage tank that provided water for hundreds of people separated by thousands of years.

At the sandstone's apex, a colossal geoglyph commands recognition. The four hundred and fifty-foot convex form slithers along its horizons, placing its head near a natural sandstone pathway to the south-west. The 'head' is composed of two large bulbous knobs and a single line-like neck. Its form and shape are not distinguishable even from the air and appears to represent an entoptic phenomenon, relating to a visual experience within the eye or brain.

It is not the only geoglyph within the San Rafael Swell. I have been researching these earth structures for some time, photographically documenting accompanying artifacts, correlating cultural ties, and identifying similarities in the space, context, and structure. It is one of ten geoglyphs I have photographed within the San Rafael Swell but incomparably larger than the others.”

An example of a "simple curvilinear form including

parallel lines, circles, and half circles commonly found

in batches near Barrier Canyon Style images."

Photograph courtesy of Jonathan Bailey. 

Bailey also stated that the rock alignments “are located within a half mile of typical Barrier Canyon Style images containing ghostly, elongated anthropomorphic figures with circular eye sockets and other diagnostic elements” possibly suggesting a relationship between the geoglyphs and the people who created the Barrier Canyon Style pictographs.

Another example of "simple curvilinear forms including

parallel lines, circles, and half circles commonly found

in batches near Barrier Canyon Style images."

Photograph courtesy of Jonathan Bailey.

As Bailey put it “These geoglyphs are isolates in a profusion of Barrier Canyon Style artworks or maybe they are just the surviving archetypes of a traditional medium.” I urge you to check out Jonathan’s photography at his website listed below, and also take a look at The Surveyor, quarterly newsletter of the Colorado Archaeological Society, edited by Robert Dundas.

REFERENCES:

Bailey, Jonathan

 2014   The Surveyor, Fall issue, Vol. 12, number 4, p. 23-24, edited by Robert Dundas.

http://coloradoarchaeology.org/PUBLICATIONS/Newsletters/Newsletters.htm

http://www.jonathanbaileyimages.com

HOPI CLAN REGISTERS AS A ROCK ART LEXICON FOR THE SOUTHWEST - SQUASH BLOSSOMS:

Back in the 1980s, Jim Keyser pointed out the value of sources of Plains Biographic Style art such as robe painting and ledger book art as a lexicon for understanding Plains Biographic Style imagery in rock art. Since then he has used these insights as the basis for his tremendous contributions in interpreting so much of the rock art of the northern Great Plains.

Hopi Clan Symbols, Willow Springs, Arizona.

Illustration from Campbell Grant, p. 39.

On Saturday, October 4, 2014, I posted a column entitled Clan Symbol Rosters – Tallies or Not? In this I looked at the question of whether the Hopi Clan Registers at Willow Springs, Arizona, where some 40 boulders contain 2,178 images of Hopi Clan symbols can be considered tallies, or have another implication. Since the specific meaning of most of these can be designated by modern residents of the Hopi villages these should serve as much the same sort of lexicon for rock art of the American Southwest as Keyser’s Plains Biographic Art serves as a lexicon for interpreting rock art of the Great Plains. 

1894 Hopi Petition, Page 12 signatures.

Source: U. S. National Archives.

Another wonderful reference into many of these symbols is found in a 1894 document from Hopi clan chiefs to U.S. government officials in Washington D.C. urging them to cease the reallocation of Hopi lands into individual holdings, and also to designate official Hopi reservation boundaries.

Squash Blossom Clan signature, #98, 1894 Hopi

Petition, page 12. Source: U. S. National Archives.

Squash blossom.

This document “was signed in clan symbols by 123 principals of kiva societies, clan chiefs, and village chiefs of Walpi, Tewa Village, Sichomovi, Mishongnovi, Shongopovi, Shipaulovi and Oraibi.” (Yava 1978:167) In his book Big Falling Snow (1978), Albert Yava illustrated two pages of these signatures with their interpretations. These identified symbols surely provide a useful lexicon for rock art imagery in the Southwest. Other symbols from the clan symbol signatures can also be identified for inclusion in this lexicon.  

In order for this to work, of course, I would have to be able to find symbols in rock art that match symbols drawn in the registers of clan markings. One obvious example is the symbol for the Squash Blossom Clan (#98, page 12). Examples of this can be found in rock art throughout the southwest.

Squash blossom, West Mesa, Albuquerque, NM,

Photograph: Peter Faris, 1988.

  

Signal Hill, Tucson, AZ, Photograph:

John and Esther Faris, 1990.

Other examples of this can be identified and I will present more in future postings.

 REFERENCES:

Grant, Campbell

1981    Rock Art of the American Indian, Outbooks, Golden, Colorado.

http://research.archives.gov/description/300340

Yava, Albert

1978    Big Falling Snow: A Tewa-Hopi Indian’s Life and Times and the History and Traditions of His People, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.