Re-imagined Piasa painted on the cliff at
Alton, IL. Public domain.
One of the early records of rock art from North America was
recorded by the French explorer Father Jacques Marquette during his exploration
of the Mississippi River.
"In 1673, Father Jacques
Marquette saw the painting on a limestone bluff overlooking the Mississippi
River while exploring the area. He recorded the following
description:
"While Skirting some rocks, which by Their height and length inspired
awe, We saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made Us
afraid, and upon Which the boldest savages dare not Long rest their eyes. They
are as large As a calf; they have Horns on their heads Like those of a deer, a
horrible look, red eyes, a beard Like a tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's,
a body Covered with scales, and so Long A tail that it winds all around the
Body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a
Fish's tail. Green, red, and black are the three Colors composing the Picture.
Moreover, these 2 monsters are so well painted that we cannot believe that any
savage is their author; for good painters in France would find it difficult to reach
that place Conveniently to paint them. Here is approximately The shape of these
monsters, As we have faithfully Copied It."" (Wikipedia)
German illustration, 1839. From Mallery,
1889, fig. 41, p.79.
Variously referring to the
Piasa monster or the Piasa Bird, such reports almost tell us more about the
state of mind of the western observer than they do any Native Americans who
were involved in the episode. One of the earliest illustrations of the Piasa
was taken from an 1839 publication in Germany and is illustrated in Mallery
(1889:79)
“Unfortunately, the
Alton Bluff paintings were destroyed by quarrying activities during the first
half of the nineteenth century and have been replaced through the years by
modern versions on a nearby bluff facade. For many years the piasa figure was
painted and repainted on the bluffs. Later a painted steel plaque depicting a
piasa was erected and more recently taken down and once again painted directly
on the bluffs in yet another location. A piasa, or an underwater spirit much
like it, was an important figure in the traditions of the region’s Native
American groups.” (Diaz-Granados et al. 2005:118)
It is necessary to keep in mind that the present representation of the Piasa is based on imagination with an eye to possibly unreliable early sketches. It is touched up periodically and exists much more as Chamber of Commerce advertising for Alton than as an artifact of previous people in that area. In fact, it is not even in the same place as the original.
“Although destruction
of the famous Piasa in Alton, Illinois makes reconstruction of that petroglyph
questionable , the recent description of another petroglyph Piasa in Illinois
shows bird-like wings on the back of a serpent. Unfortunately, the Piasa as a
motif in the Southeast is such an unpredictable mixture of human, feline, deer,
bird, serpent, and other characteristics that it is difficult to equate it with
the well-known Quetzalcoatl representation. Many of the serpents, such as
rattlesnakes occurring on shell gorgets, are obviously native to the Southeast.
The snakes frequently have antlers, which also seems to be unique to the
Southeast (Howard 1968)” (Cobb et. al. 1999:175)
Winnebago Medicine Animal, eastern Nebraska.
Photograph: Nebraska State Hist. Soc.
Winnebago medicine animal.
Although we do not have the original to view any longer, the
present reconstruction shows a creature which bears a strong resemblance to the
drawings of Winnebago "medicine animals" from other sources. This
creature seems to be a variation of Michi-Peshu, the "Water Panther"
of the eastern Woodlands, and I would think, provides a reasonable model for
our speculations of the appearance of the Piasa.
Piasa illustrated in Mallery, fig. 40,p. 78.
The modern so-called reconstruction is based upon the 1825 drawing by William Dennis and illustrated in Mallery (p. 78) with colors added imaginatively based upon the description by Marquette. One thing I am sure of is that it probably does not come close to the original pictograph. Sadly, this is often the case with older records as the portrayals are often improved upon by western observers.
REFERENCES:
Cobb, Charles R., Jeffrey Maymon, and Randall H. McGuire,
1999 Feathered, Horned, and Antlered Serpents,
pages 165-181, in Great Towns and
Regional Polities in the Prehistoric American Southwest and Southeast,
edited by Jill E. Neitzel, An Amerind Foundation Publication, Dragoon, Arizona.
Diaz-Granados, Carol, and James R. Duncan
2005 Rock Art of the Central Mississippi River
Valley, pages 114 – 130, in Discovering
North American Rock Art, Loendorf, Lawrence L., Christopher Chippindale,
and David S. Whitley, editors, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Mallery, Garrick
1889 Picture Writing of the American Indians, in
the Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of
Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1888-1889, U. S.
Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.
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