THE ENIGMATIC FIGURE AT BALANCED ROCK, UTAH - BOLAS, JUGGLING OR RATTLES:

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

Most rock art researchers, at least those in the western United States, know of the rock art in Nine Mile Canyon, Utah. “Nine Mile Canyon is a canyon, approximately 40 miles (64 km) long, located in Carbon and Duchesne counties in eastern Utah, United States. Promoted as the ‘world’s longest art gallery’, the canyon is known for its extensive rock art, most of it created by the Fremont culture and the Ute people. The rock art, shelters, and granaries left behind by the Fremont make Nine Mile Canyon a destination for archaeologists and tourists alike.” (Wikipedia)

Fremont Petroglyph, Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah. Photograph Peter Faris, 1993.

One well-known panel in Nine Mile Canyon is found at the site known as Balanced Rock which includes this interesting figure. Sometimes called “the juggler” or “balloon man”, this figure has prompted a great deal of speculation. It has even been suggested that he might be about to throw a bola or boleadora, the lasso equivalent of the Gauchos, horsemen from Argentina. What connection could a Fremont rock art figure, possibly two thousand years old, have with modern Argentinian gauchos? The answer is round stone balls.

Argentinian boleadora. Photograph Wikipedia, Public Domain.

“Gauchos used boleadoras to capture running cattle or game. Depending on the exact design, the thrower grasps the beleadora by one of the weights or by the nexus of the cords. The thrower gives the balls momentum by swinging them and then releases the boleadora. The weapon is usually used to entangle the animals legs. - There is no uniform design; most bolas have two or three balls, but there are versions of up to eight or nine.” (Wikipedia)

I believe that the actual structure of a boleadora is well known. A weight (like a stone ball) is enclosed in a leather or net pouch and attached by a long cord to other weights at a central point where the cords are all tied together. Well it so happens that round stone balls are an earmark of Fremont occupation sites.

Fremont culture round stone balls. Photograph http:www.natgeocreative.com, Public Domain.

“A number of other material items, such as stone balls, basin-shaped metates with small secondary grinding surfaces, and elongated, corner-notched arrow points are characteristic of the Fremont - .” (Madsen 1989:9) And “for a long time stone balls commonly found at Fremont village sites were thought to be part of a game but recent work suggests they may have been used with metates.” (Madsen 1989:33) And finally, “Some stone balls, such as this highly polished specimen from the Old Woman site, suggest a use other than as a grinding tool.” (Madsen 1989:66) So, did the Fremont use boleadoras to catch game? None have ever been found so, apart from this enigmatic Fremont petroglyh, we have no actual evidence that they did.

The actual panel this figure is part of includes a couple of desert bighorn sheep and some armed human figures including on with a bow and arrow appearing to aim at one of the sheep. So, in a hunting context, a boleadora might make sense, but this is certainly not conclusive.

The other commonly suggested interpretations, or designations, of this figure are “balloon man” and “the juggler”. We can do away with the name “the juggler” because the circles are all connected to each other by lines. This is no way to juggle. And “balloon man”? What balloons? They could be sheep or deer bladders full of water tied together for carrying, but I fear we may never know about this.

I even found one suggestion that the figure represents Spider Woman or Spider Grandmother, the mythical southwestern figure involved in creation and man’s presence on this earth. I suppose that whoever made this suggestion was basing it on some perceived resemblance between the object(s) the figure is carrying and a spider web, but I just cannot accept that similarity.

So, if the object(s) in the figure’s hand is not a boleadora, what could it be? It just might be a ceremonial rattle/tinkler.

Rattle of Arizona walnut shells from Antelope House, Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Collection of the Western Archeological and Conservation Center. photo Emily Brown.

A discovery at Antelope House in Canyon de Chelly provides another real possibility. A rattle or tinkler made of walnut shells on yucca twine could provide the model for the item possessed by the figure in the Balanced Rock panel. “An examination of this walnut rattle reveals the ingenuity of its maker. Each yucca cord was carefully twined, then threaded through a native Arizona walnut shell. The ends were then bound together in such a way as to make a handle. There are many rattles made by suspending hoofs or other objects in a similar way, but Brown found only two walnut rattles in the collections she researched. Both came from Canyon de Chelly.” (Hoover 2005:14)

Modern reproduction chestnut shell shaker. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

This is a variation on the more common deer or antelope hoof rattle. “The deer hoof rattle usually requires the use of twenty-four or thirty-two hoofs. Since deer are split-hoofed, hooves from three or four deer are needed to make this type of rattle. The hooves are boiled for a period of time so that the bone and cartilage can be removed and then shaped and dried to harden. The handles used for this type of rattle are a combination of leather and fiber cordage. The leather strips are used to attach the hooves to the fiber bundle that serves as the handle. The handle is held in the palm of the hand and the rattle is played by dangling the hooves toward)s the ground and moving the hand in sharp, downward motions.” (Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians)

Although called a rattle in both of these quotes this object is more properly designated as a form of tinkler or shaker, rattles consist of a closed container of some sort with smaller objects inside that rattle when it is shaken. A tinkler is a group of hard objects suspended in such a way that they make a sound when they contact each other while undergoing agitation or shaking. Other tinklers are commonly made of seashells, other types of nut shell, or during the historic period metal cones. And while Antelope House in Canyon de Chelley is a long way from Nine-Mile Canyon in Utah, aspects of the cultures are not so far apart. I assume that the Fremont people of Nine-Mile Canyon used rattles or tinklers like the Ancestral Puebloans of Canyon de Chelley. Therefor I submit that the enigmatic figure of balanced rock is a musician, shaking his tinkler, whether deer or antelope hoof, or walnut shell, we cannot know at this remove in time.

Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah. Photograph Paul and Joy Foster.

Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah. From Polly Schaafsma, The Rock Art of Utah, fig.33, p. 35.

Other petroglyphs in Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah, embody the same general shape and layout, although not shown as being held by an anthropomorph.

Three Rivers, Otero County, New Mexico. Photograph Peter Faris, January 1998.

Another petroglyph, this one an image from Three-Rivers site in New Mexico, just might represent another example of this form of rattle or tinkler 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:

Hoover, Joanne Sheehy, 2005 Making Prehistoric Music, American Archaeology, Winter 2004-5, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp 12 - 21

Madsen, David B., 1989 Exploring the Fremont, Utah Museum of Natural History and University of Utah, Salt Lake City

Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, Rattlemaking: Rattle Types, Temecula, California, https://www.pechanga-nsn.gov

Schaafsma, Polly, 2002, The Rock Art of Utah, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolas

Wikipedia,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninemile_Canyon_(Utah)

POLYDACTYLISM IN ROCK ART - BEAR PAW PRINTS, PART 2:

8-toed bear paw print, probable Fremont petroglyph, Nine-Mile Canyon, UT. Photograph Paul and Joy Foster.

Back to the subject of polydactyly in bears and bear paw prints; I have written previously about Marie Wormington's comments to me about a Fremont burial of a man with six toes that she had excavated. She related him to Native American beliefs that personal differences, mental or physical, can point to spiritual significance. That a person with six digits might have been thought special, and so, celebrated in rock art. I have long assumed the same thing for bears. Since one of the most significant things about a bear are his claws, the way to portray a significant bear, a legendary, mythical, or spiritual bear, might be to enhance the claws.

6-toed bear paw print, probable Fremont petroglyph, Nine-Mile Canyon, UT. Photograph Paul and Joy Foster.

7-toed bear paw print (top), probable Fremont petroglyph, along Green River, UT. Photograph Paul and Joy Foster.

There are many Fremont representations of polydactyl bear tracks. The Fremont culture is defined by an interesting group of traits found throughout northwestern and western central Colorado and much of Utah. “Think about a people who made clay figurines with shuttered eyes, staring at us from a distant past and then think about the Fremont. They inhabited the eastern Great Basin and western Colorado Plateau from approximately 650 to 1250 A.D., roughly a thousand years ago. They planted corn, irrigated their fields, and utilized wild foods with ingenuity. In many way, the Fremont correspond with the Anasazi. But in many ways they do not.” (Madsen 1998:IX)

Polydactyl Ute bear tracks representations may be found in western Colorado and eastern Utah in the area dominated by the historic Ute people. The bear is of great significance to Ute peoples. The Bear Dance is the preeminent Spring social event for the various bands of the Ute. Given that significance, the bear track would be expected to be a common component of their rock art.

7-toed bear paw print, Ancestral Puebloan, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico. Internet photo, Public Domain.

For the Ancestral Pueblo people the bear is the animal deity of the West. “From the Pueblo standpoint there is a polarity in the nature of Bear that accounts for much of his role. Physically he is much like a man, but symbolically he relates to the supernatural and is often a god.” (Tyler 1975:184)

“To these physical resemblances are added similarities of disposition, in that the bear is subject to sudden moods, to joyousness and clowning, or to melancholy and surliness. While a lion always behaves like a lion, a bear is entirely unpredictable. In food habits a black bear would prefer to be a man if he were given a choice. He will strip corn from a field, or eat cooked foods with relish, or he will gather roots and berries and vary these with all variety of game. - - - Probably no other animal is attended by such widespread ritual attention; bear ceremonialism accompanies the animal wherever he is found.” (Tyler 1978:184-5)

6-toed bear paw print, Ancestral Puebloan, Upper Sand Island, Bear's Ears National Monument, UT. Internet photo, Public Domain.

Bear is also given considerable significance as an animal that can bestow knowledge on healing. The bear’s feeding on plants and digging up roots reminded observers of gathering “medicine” plants.

6-toed bear paw print, Ancestral Puebloan, Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photograph Paul and Joy Foster.

“For many North American tribes, bears were also important as shamans’ spirit helpers. As part of the circumpolar emphasis on bear ceremonialism (cf. Hallowell 1926), bears were accorded significant shamanic power becaust they are the most ‘human of known animals’. They often stand and walk upright - especially when surveying an unknown situation and beginning an offensive charge - and they use their paws like human hands to manipulate objects. Their tracks look much like human hand and foot prints, and their skeletons are remarkably human like.” (Keyser and Poetschat 2015:156-7)

So yes, bear polydactylism is very much a theme in rock art from all over the American west. The bear as an animal was of tremendous import to the indigenous peoples of these areas, both practically and spiritually, throughout prehistory and down to the present. I see  a number of motives in this for the portrayal of extra claws on bears. Remember that in the tribes of North American First Peoples physical and mental differences were not usually seen as making the possessor less, but often more in the case of spiritual significance. In the spiritual world the bear with extra claws would be a bear of greater spiritual power. If my spirit animal were a bear I would want to picture him as important and dominant as possible, thus the extra claws. In the practical world a bear hunter who survived conquered a polydactyl bear could feel he had mastered something more important than a normal five-toed bear. That enhanced his reputation. Of bear as a healer, a polydactyl bear would be a greater healer, etc.

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:

Cole, Sally J., 1987, An Analysis of the Prehistoric and Historic Rock Art of West-Central Colorado, Cultural Resources Series Number 21,  Bureau of Land Management, Colorado.

Keyser, James D, and George Poetschat, 2015, Seeking Bear, The Petroglyphs of Lucerne Valley, Wyoming, Oregon Archaeological Society Press, Portland

Madsen, David B., 1989, Exploring the Fremont, Utah Museum of Natural History, University of Utah Occasional Publication No. 8

Tyler, Hamilton A., 1975, Pueblo Animals and Myths, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

SECONDARY REFERENCES:

Hallowell, Irving A., 1926, Bear Ceremonialism in the Northern Hemisphere, American Anthropologist, 28:1-175

POLYDACTYLISM IN ROCK ART - BEAR PAW PRINTS, PART 1:

12-toed bear paw prints, Sieber Canyon, Mesa County, Colorado. Photograph Peter Faris, 23 August 1981.

As I have written elsewhere on the question of polydactyly (polydactylism) in human hand and foot prints in rock art, we also find instances of polydactylism in bear paw prints. Polydactyly is “the condition of having more than the normal number of fingers or toes.” (Webster) Early on in my studies of rock art I noticed that many bear paw prints showed extra toes and claws. I wondered why this might be and have now pondered it for over four decades.

In approaching this question the first thing I want to know is the possibility of an actual bear showing polydactyly. The answer to this is a definite yes. A simple online search for animal polydactyly found hundreds of references to this; mostly among cats (the so-called Hemingway cat), but also for dogs, bovines, camelids, reptiles, and even a kangaroo. So the question of possible polydactyly for a bear had to be answered yes. 

Six-toed bear foot, Facebook photograph, Wade Lemon Hunting.

Six-toed bear track in snow, in Yosemite, California. Internet photograph, Seth Horstmeyer. (it is just possible that this one is a double print made by a normal five-toed bear stepping in the same spot twice).

Six-toed bear paw print, Okanagan, British Columbia, Photograph, 2012, Adam Konanz, provided by Sean Coogan, University of Alberta.

Then I ran across a photograph online of a bear’s hind foot with six toes on a Facebook page for “Wade Lemon - Hunting Guide”. Additionally, photos of bear tracks showing six toes provide extra proof of the existence of polydactyly among bears. Other proof was found online with pictures of bear paw prints in snow showing six toes. So now we have proof that bears too can be subject to polydactyly.

12-toed bear paw prints, Sieber Canyon, Mesa County, Colorado. Photograph Peter Faris, 23 August 1981.

I have written before about Marie Wormington’s comments to me about a Fremont burial of a man with six toes that she excavated. She related him to Native American beliefs that personal differences can point to spiritual significance. That a person with six digits might have been thought special and so celebrated in rock art. I have long since assumed the same thing for bears. Since one of the most significant things about a bear might be considered to be his claws, the way to portray a significant bear, a legendary or mythological bear, would be to enhance the claws. Thus we find a pair of bear paw petroglyphs in Sieber Canyon, Mesa County, Colorado, by a Fremont artist with twelve claws on each paw. That is a very significant bear. There are many Fremont representations of polydactyl bear tracks.

DeBeque Canyon, Mesa County, Colorado. Uncompaghre style.

Photograph by Paul and Joy Foster.

“The bear possesses a number of qualities that have led most Native Americans to regard it with great reverence. Although recognized as an animal and a supernatural being, it also shares many traits with humans. Perhaps most important is that it sometimes walks upright and flat-footed. Its front paws are much like human hands in the way they rotate and grasp things. The bear is omnivorous, consuming roots, berries, corn, and also many kinds of animal prey; it is thus both a hunter and a gatherer. While many animals are predictable in their behavior patterns, bears seem to have a repertoire of moods similar to people ranging from playful to violent.” (Olsen 1998:111)

“The powerful bear paw, with its formidable claws, serves as a clan or ceremonial symbol for many tribes, and is also used in medical treatments and for magic. In prehistoric times, the strong canine teeth and the claws of bears were worn as amulets and ornaments and bear cubs were sometimes given ceremonial burials.” (Olsen 1998:112)

Six-toed bear paw print, Rock Creek Pictograph Site, Montana. Used with permission of Mavis Greer.

Seven-toed bear paw print, Indian Cave Site, Montana. Used with permission of Mavis Greer.

Mavis Greer (1997) illustrated bear paw prints showing polydactyly, from two different sites in Central Montana. One painted at site 24LC33 (Rock Creek pictograph site) has a pad 42 cm. long and six claws 10 -20 cm. long. The other is at 24CA347 (Indian Cave) is a red forefoot paw print with seven toes. (Greer 1997:91) These are located in the region historically associated with the Blackfeet and Gros Ventre peoples.

Polydactyl bear paw print, Pictograph Cave, Billings, Montana. Photograph Peter Faris

Another polydactyl bear paw print can be found at Pictograph Cave, Billings, Montana.

Keyser and Poetschat, 2015, Seeking Bear, fig.33, p.44.

Uncompaghre style, Keyser and Poetschat, 2015, Seeking Bear, fig.30f, g & h, p.42.

In southwestern Wyoming, Keyser and Poetschat show a bear with very detailed toes and claws and a three-track trackway behind him with the same detailing of toes and claws. "The three-track sequence leading to the largest bear shows tracks exactly like those of the bear's own paws and has a right-left-right sequence." (Keyser and Poetschat 2015:45). One of the right paw prints, however, is given six toes and claws while the others, like the bear's paws, only show five. They assign these images to the Uncompaghre complex (probably the farthest north this style has penetrated). Uncompaghre complex rock art had previously been assumed to be pretty much confined to west-central Colorado and a small portion of adjacent Utah, a region dominated by the Uncompaghre Mesa. Given the great care and detail that went into the creation of these bear tracks I have to assume that the one track shown with six toes is done purposefully, although I do not presume to know what that purpose is.

Uncompaghre style bear petroglyph, Keyser and Fossatti, Fig. 4, p. 17.

An additional six-clawed bear from southwestern Wyoming is pictured in Keyser and Fossati’s 2014 study of the Gateway Site in the Green River Basin. This bear has three normal five-toed paws depicted and with its right front paw bearing six claws.

Uncompahgre style bears, Grand Mesa, Colorado. From Sally Cole, 1987, Fig. 33, p. 109.

An interesting example from the Grand Mesa, Mesa County, Colorado, of a polydactyl bear was shownby Sally Cole (1987). Two headless bears are seen with a single six-toed rear paw print between them. The bears have pecked pits where their claws would be indicated and the lower bear has six small pits on the edge of its left hind foot.

This column will resume next week with a continued look at polydactyl bears and bearpaw prints in part two.

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:

Cole, Sally J., 1987, An Analysis of the Prehistoric and Historic Rock Art of West-Central Colorado, Bureau of Land Management Cultural Resource Series, number 21, Denver.

Coogan, Sean, 2013,  A Six-Toed Paw Print, International Bear News, Summer 2013, Vol. 22, No. 2.

Greer, Mavis, 1997, Bear Imagery in Central Montana Rock Art, in American Indian Rock Art, Volume 23, Steven M. Freers, Editor, American Rock Art Research Association, pp. 85-94.

Keyser, James D., and George Poetschat, 2014, Seeking Bear: The Petroglyphs of Lucerne Valley, Wyoming, Oregon Archaeological Society Press Publication #23, Portland.

Keyser, James D., and Angelo Eugenio Fossati, 2014, Pecked Petroglyphs at the Gateway Site: The Uncompahgre Style in the Green River Basin, The Wyoming Archaeologist, Vol. 58(2), Fall 2014

Lemon, Wade, 2018, Crazy 6-Toed Bear! What’s Your Thoughts?, 7 June 2018, Facebook.com

Olsen, Sandra L., 1998, Animals in American Indian Life: An Overview, pp. 95 - 118, in  Stars Above, Earth Below: American Indians and Nature, Marsha C. Bol, editor, Robert Reinhart Publishers, Niwot, CO.

Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polydactyly

EXTINCT ANIMALS IN ROCK ART - THE NAUGA:

A group of naugas. Dinwoody style petroglyphs, Fremont County, Wyoming. Photograph Peter Faris, September 1992.

Rock Art researchers have long referred to images of animals in rock art to try to picture what extinct animals might have looked like. Perhaps the best known examples of this are the aurochs and paleolithic horses of Europe so beautifully illustrated in the European painted caves.

Nauga. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

One extinct animal that is frequently found pictured in the Dinwoody style rock art of northwestern Wyoming is the nauga. The facts of the extinction of the nauga are quite mysterious and hard to discern. Based upon their large mouth full of sharp teeth I assume that they were carnivorous and may have almost extinct with the demise of the megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene that they depended on for food. It would appear, however, that a relic population must have survived in northwestern Wyoming because of their appearance in the Dinwoody Style rock art of that region. These must have survived on the bison that were so numerous. This rock art was produced by the Shoshonean residents of that area.

Nauga petroglyphs, Dinwoody style, Legend Rock, Hot Springs County, Wyoming. Photographs Peter Faris, September 1992.

It is well known that the US Government attempted to reduce the free Native American population on the Great plains by encouraging the over-hunting of the bison that they depended on to force them onto designated reservations. The over-hunting of the bison also led to the extinction of the naugas who depended upon them for food, as well as forcing the Native Americans onto reservations.

      Nauga petroglyphs, Dinwoody style,    Torrey Lake Canyon, Fremont County,         Wyoming. Photograph Peter Faris,                           September 1998.

The US Government has tried to cover up this shocking genocide by promulgating this phony cover story. “Naugahyde is an American brand of artificial leather. Naugahyde is a composite knit fabric backing and expanded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic coating. It was developed by Byron A. Hunter, senior chemist at the United States Rubber Company, and is now manufactured and sold by the corporate spin-off Uniroyal Engineered Products, LLC. Its name, first used as a trademark in 1936, comes from the name of Naugatuck, Connecticut, where it was first produced. It is now manufactured in Stoughton, Wisconsin.” (Wikipedia)

But who knows what might still be found in the backcountry of Yellowstone. I urge cryptozoologists and other interested parties to conduct a detailed survey of the remaining wildlife in Yellowstone National Park. The much mistreated nauga might just be still there, holding on to life - I would suggest starting as soon after April 1 as possible.

NOTE: An image in this posting was retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of this image is 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 this reports you should read the original report at the site listed below.

REFERENCE:

Wikipedia, Naugahyde, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naugahyde