POLYDACTYLY REVISITED - PART 1:

Six-toed footprint, Newspaper Rock, Utah. Photograph Richard Coleman.

A fascinating feature of rock art is the occasional occurrence of polydactylism (polydactyly) in hand or foot prints. I have written on this subject a number of times before (see polydactylism in the cloud index at the bottom of this blog). The archaeologist H. Marie Wormington explained her theory of polydactyly in Fremont rock art to me back in the 1980s (a personal conversation). She had found a Fremont Culture burial of a six-fingered man who had deluxe grave goods interred with him and, from that, she inferred that the polydactyly made one special in that society, and hence more likely to be considered important, important enough to bury with special deluxe grave goods, and important enough to be pictured on the rocks.

Polydactyly of the hand. Online photograph, Public Domain.

"Bigfoot Man" with six fingers, McConkey Ranch, outside of Vernal, Utah. Photograph 10 September 1994, Peter Faris.

This may have been the case with the so-called “Bigfoot Man” at McConkie Ranch, outside of Vernal, Utah. This Fremont painting of a warrior shows him with six fingers on each hand.

Three Rivers, New Mexico. Online photograph, Public Domain.

Polydactyl Mayan hand print, Temple of the Frescoes, Tulum, Mexico. Online photograph, Public Domain.

In Crown, et al. (2016) polydactyly is classified as Type A (the extra digit may be well-developed and functional, or Type B. With Type B polydactyly the extraneous protrusion is without bones, comprised only of soft tissue. Type A postaxial polydactyly occurs in modern Native American populations in .11/1000 births, and in a ratio of males to females of 1.6. The figure for Type B is .73/1000 live births. The feet are affected more often than the hands and the left side more often than the right. (Crown et al. 2016:427)

Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah, Photograph Peter Faris, August 1993.

Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah, Internet photograph, Public Domain.

Hirthler and Hutchison have a higher figure citing “a relatively high incidence of polydactyly in contemporary Native American populations. The modern incidence of finger and toe duplication is approximately 2.4 in 1,000, with hands preferentially effected. Thumb duplication is more common in Native American populations (0.25/1,000) than it is in Afro-Americans (0.08/1.000) or caucasians (0.08/1.000).” (Hirthler and Hutchison 2012) Whichever set of figures is accurate, this condition, while relatively rare, is still known among First American descendants.

Then we come to six-toed footprints. For some reason (unknown to me at least) there are a large number of six-toed footprints at the Newspaper Rock site in Utah. 

6-toed trackway, Newspaper Rock, Indian Creek, San Juan County, Utah. Photograph Peter Faris.

Newspaper Rock, San Juan County, UT. Photograph Sherman Spear, October 1967.

Newspaper Rock, San Juan County, UT. Photograph Richard Coleman, October 2011.

This is part one of my revisit to the theme of polydactyly (polydactylism) in rock art. In part two I will continue with polydactyly at Chaco Canyon and then expand it into sandals and sandal prints that exhibit signs of polydactyly as well.

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:

Crown, Patricia L., Kerriann M. Hedman, and Hannah V. Mattson, 2016, Foot Notes: The Social Implications of Polydactyly and Foot-Related Images at Chaco Canyon, American Antiquity 81, 426-48

Hirthler, Maureen A., and Richard L. Hutchison, 2012, Polydactyly in the Southwest: Art or Anatomy - a Photo Essay, October 16, Hand (Journal), NY.