There are
many rock art enthusiasts who try to read written messages in the shapes and
relationships of the elements of a pictograph or petroglyph. I have generally
been a skeptic on this, I see no element of writing in North American rock art.
Australian Aboriginal rock art.
Internet, Public Domain.
Hawaiian rock art,
Photo. Paul and Joy Foster.
There is,
however, one facet of this question that I have to confess might in some few
cases have some validity. I am referring to portrayals of gestures that might have
meaning in a sign-based system of communication. Carol Patterson has done some
work with Australian Aboriginal and Hawaiian rock art where she found meanings
in arm and leg positions which strike me as plausible.
We are
accustomed to finding petroglyphs of Kachinas in the American southwest. Some
of them can be identified by their markings and shapes. Severin Fowles (2013)
points out that the identity of a kachina is also carried in his gestures and
motions. "The Kachina dance, to be
sure, involves masks and costumes that can be hung on walls and treated like
art in a conventional sense, just as the overall choreography can be diagrammed
and analyzed as a kind of finished product. It is quite clear, however, that
the fluid series of gestural movements are themselves the source of the dance's
potency. It is the dancer-in-motion - indeed, the community-in-motion that both
makes and is made by the 'art'." (Fowles 2013:71) Perhaps this gesture
and motion could also be portrayed by the position of parts of the image in a
panel of rock art.
"Each is distinguished not only
by the painting and decoration of his mask and body, but also by his songs, his
dance step, his call, and his bearing. One moves across the plaza with long
swaggering steps, another dances lightly from place to place, while a third
moves with stately dignity."
(Kennard 2002:4) In other words the identification of a Kachina would involve
recognition of motion (gesture) as well as visual appearance. "These differences in dance steps serve
to distinguish one Kachina from another; they become as essential
characteristics as the painting and decoration of a mask." (Kennard
2002:12)
The viewer,
recognizing the imagery of the mask and costume, associates the motions that go
along with it mentally. In the vernacular of modern art this would be called
"performance art", the image is only a remaining vestigial record of
the gestures/performance that were the point in the first place.
Shalako, stars, shield, and dragonfly,
Galisteo Dike, Comanche Gap,
New Mexico, Photo. Peter Faris.
Close-up of the Shalako,
Galisteo Dike, Comanche Gap,
New Mexico, Photo. Peter Faris.
On November
11, 2009, I posted a column in RockArtBlog titled Kachinas In Rock Art - The Shalako. In it I wrote the following about
these fascinating beings. "One very distinctive example
is the Shalako. Although they are not technically Kachinas, the Shalako dance in
pueblo ceremonials like the Kachinas. Resembling giant birds, the Zuni Shalakos
are up to ten feet tall. While dancing rhythmically, they clack their beaks.
They dance till near sunrise. The tall, conical and long-necked
form of the Shalako with their long beaks was probably derived from the
Sandhill crane."
Shalako, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Photo. Peter Faris, 1988.
Rock art depictions of the Shalako can
be dated back to the 14th century but its recent history is more
complex. In her book Kachinas in the Pueblo World, Polly Schaafsma described
the loss of much of the Kachina cult at Hopi. First through the efforts of the
Spanish after their conquest of the southwest to eradicate native religions and
supplant them with Christianity. This was conducted by the destruction of
religious items and shrines, even religious leaders on occasion. Among Pueblo
peoples this was manifested by burning Kachina masks, costumes and dolls, and
outlawing the dances and ceremonies. Then in the nineteenth century Hopi was
swept by smallpox epidemics which killed many of the elders who possessed the
ceremonial knowledge necessary for the rites.
This was apparently the case with
the Hopi Shalako. Its first recorded appearance at Hopi was in 1870 and its
second was in 1893. At the 1893 reappearance a Hopi informant stated that their
Shalako ceremony had not occurred for over 30 years. This Hopi Shalako was
based on the Zuni Sio Shalako, but the ceremony was Hopi based upon
reconstructions from memories. Schaafsma relates this story on pages 142 and
143 of her book Kachinas in the Pueblo World, University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque, 1994. She also related how the lost Hopi Shalako returned to Second
Mesa through the efforts of the great Hopi painter Fred Kobotie who painted a
reproduction based upon two tablitas he found in the basement of the New Mexico
Museum of fine arts, and recognized them as belonging to the Hopi Shalako based
on his memories of descriptions by his grandfather.
Zuni Shalako dance,
Internet, Public Domain.
Shalako mask pictograph, Zuni,
Village of the Great Kivas,
New Mexico. Photo. Teresa Weedin.
Shalako depictions are found in rock
art in the area of the Western Pueblos near both Hopi and Zuni, and are also
found in the Rio Grande area. The examples shown here are petroglyphs of
Shalakos from west of Albuquerque and from Galisteo dike east of the Rio Grande
and south of Santa Fe, and a beautifully painted contemporary pictograph of
Shalako from the panel of Kachina masks at the Village of the Great Kivas near
Zuni." (Faris
2009)
Zuni Shalako, early 1900s,
p.138,Classic Hopi and Zuni
Kachina Figures, photo Andrea Portago,
Mus. of NM Press, Santa Fe.
Sia Salako, Zuni Shalako, p.102,
Hopi Indian Kachina Dolls,
by Oscar T. Branson, 1992.
The Shalako
certainly have impressively distinctive shapes. "In the personization of these giants, the mask is fastened to a
stick, which is carried aloft by a man concealed by blankets which are extended
by hoops to form the body." (Fewkes 1985:66)
Seeing the
motions of this giant, birdlike being, with its head gracefully bobbing and
dipping high in the air, would be an unforgettable experience. And seeing the
image (the petroglyph or pictograph) of this being inevitably recalls the
accompanying sounds and motions. For me it always happened when my
grandchildren watched big bird on Sesame Street.
NOTE:
Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for
public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public
domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner
will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should
read the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
Faris, Peter
2009 Kachinas
In Rock Art - The Shalako,
November 11, 2009, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
1985 Hopi Katcinas, Dover Publications, Inc.,
New York
Fowles,
Severin, and Jimmy Arterberry
2013 Gesture
and performance in Comanche Rock Art, pages 67-82, in World Art 2013, Routledge,
Taylor and Francis Group, UK.
Kennard, Edward A.,
2002 Hopi Kachinas, Kiva Publishing, Walnut,
CA.
Schaafsma, Polly
1994 Kachinas in the Pueblo World, University
of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
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