REPTILES IN ROCK ART - THE HORNED LIZARD:

Regal horned Lizard. Wikipedia.

Like many people, I have always been fascinated by horned lizards. These endearing little guys seem to have something special about them. It has always been a pleasurable experience to run across one in the field. On August 14, 2010, I posted a column titled “Reptiles in Rock Art - A Horned Lizard Petroglyph Associated with a Solstice Sunset Alignment.” It detailed the discovery of a Solstice Sunset alignment site in South Mountain Park in Phoenix recorded by City of Phoenix archaeologist Todd Bostwick.

Horned lizard petroglyph at Winter solstice sunset in notch in Sierra Estrella mountains, from Lizard Monolith site. Photo Todd Bostwick.

“These rock art sites are identified as having been created by the Hohokam people. City of Phoenix archaeologist Todd Bostwick photographed a winter solstice sunset with the sun’s disk disappearing into a notch in the Sierra Estrella mountains to the west from one site. Remarkably, the viewing point at this site is a pointed boulder with a petroglyph of a thick-bodied horned lizard, facing downward, pecked on the face of it.” (Faris 2010)

“In his 2003 volume ‘Introduction to Horned Lizards of North America’, Wade Sherbrooke stated (p.149) that Hohokam art clearly depicted two species of horned lizard, the Short-horned lizard, and the Regal Horned lizard. Both of these species are found throughout the area inhabited by Hohokam peoples. The Latin name for the Regal Horned lizard is Phrynosoma solare, from the Latin solaris for ‘belonging to the sun.’ These heat-loving lizards retire from the evening cool and the cold of the night by retreating into underground burrows or burying themselves in sand. This may well be reflected in the downward facing position of the horned lizard in the picture of the Gila Vista site, implying the retreat of the lizard at sundown being observed through this alignment, and possibly identifying this image as the Regal Horned lizard.” (Faris 2010)

Three horned lizards, Petroglyph Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photo Peter Faris, 1988.

     Closeup of horned lizard, Petroglyph            Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico.                  Photo Peter Faris, 1988.

Horned lizards are found in the mythologies of Native people’s of the American Southwest and the Plains. Both the Navajo and some of the Puebloan groups credit the horned lizard with helping the warrior twins kill off the giants that threatened the people’s existence on earth. He also often interacts with Coyote/Trickster and foils his plots. In a Hopi of these myths the horned lizard loans the hero his scaly skin for a helmet and armor enabling the hero to defeat the giants and monsters. (legendsofamerica.com)

Two horned lizards, Petroglyph Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photo Peter Faris, 1988.

Riggs, Eugene, Hohokam Horned Toad, Image 19, slide 26A, Cochise College Library, Cochise College, Cochise, Arizona. Photo used by permission.

In the American southwest “humans and horned lizards have shared each other’s company for thousands of years. This relationship is recorded from Anasazi, Hohokam, Mogollon, and Mimbres indian cultures through their use of horned lizard images on pottery, petroglyphs, effigy bowls, figures and shells. Hopi, Navajo, Papago, Pima, Tarahumara and Zuni indian cultures portray horned lizards in their ceremonies and stories as symbols of strength. Piman people believe horned lizards can cure them of a staying sickness by appealing to the lizard’s strength and showing their respect to the animal. They formulate a cure by singing at a patient’s side songs describing the lizards and their behaviors. A horned lizard fetish may be placed on an afflicted person’s body during the songs.” (mstexan7)

And although it is somewhat unprofessional to anthropomorphize animals, I personally find horned lizards to be endowed with a lot of character and personality, perhaps because they seem so confident and relaxed when gently held (I realize that they may be petrified with fear, not relaxed, but that is the way they come across), and I suspect that the First American peoples did as well. That would be why we find them portrayed so often in rock art.

REFERENCES:

Faris, Peter, 2010, Reptiles in Rock Art - A Horned Lizard Petroglyph Associated with a Solstice Sunset Alignment, August 14, 2010, RockArtBlog, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/reptiles-in-rock-art-horned-lizard.html

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-legends/

http://mstexan7.tripod.com/id22.html

Riggs, Eugene, Hohokam Horned Toad, Image 19, slide 26A, Cochise College Library, Cochise College, Cochise, Arizona. Photo used by permission.

Bostwick, Todd W., 2002, Lanscape of the Spirits, Hohokam Rock Art at South Mountain Park, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Sherbrooke, Wade C., 2003, Introduction to Horned Lizards of North America, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles.