One iconic motif in the American Southwest is the
Stepped-fret design. “The simplest and
also the commonest form of stepped fret comprises a design that has a
horizontal base, a vertical, straight back, and a stepped side.” (Van Hoek 2004:75)
Van Hoek labels this pattern “the single
unit.’ In fact, all other stepped patterns may be regarded as manipulations of
the single unit. A double unit for instance, originates when two single units
are joined, back-to-back.” (Van Hoek 2004:75)
Sikyatki Polychrome, 1375-1625 CE. Alex Patterson, Hopi Pottery Symbols, 1994, p.90.
Sometimes, otherwise referred to as cloud symbol or a
mountain, it is commonly seen on Pueblo ceramics, rock art, and elsewhere. Patterson
(1992:198) defined the stepped-fret motif as representing a tablita, the
ceremonial headdress worn by female dancers in some ceremonial dancers, and
this is undoubtedly sometimes the case, but clouds and mountains are
alternative meanings in many instances as well.
“In
the rock art of the Southwest of the USA, the double unit seems to predominate;
single units, very common on ceramics, are less common in rock art (although
they occur rather frequently in Jornada Style rock art), and the quadruple unit
is even very rare or absent. Especially the double unit has been interpreted
almost universally in the Southwest as a cloud motif involving rain symbolism
and is often referred to as ‘cloud terrace’ or ‘rain altar’ (Slifer 2000:120) or
as ‘cloud altar’ (Malotki and Weaver 2002:159). It is said to represent the
towering thunderheads that bring life-giving rain(Slifer 2000:120). This
general reading of the double unit is underpinned by several ethnographical
accounts (Schaafsma 2003:personal communication) that also seem to embrace the
single unit.” (Van Hoek 2004:77)
“Major
changes in the Anasazi world during the Pueblo IV Phase (A.D. 1300 to 1500)
produced a quite different rock-art tradition known as the Rio Grand Style
(Schaafsma 1980:252), and it seems that only the Pueblo IV Phase abundantly
features the stepped fret pattern. A fine example is the imagery on a volcanic
dike near Galisteo, which bears several stepped fret patterns of different
types, including the Mogollon and the related Mimbres Culture is epitomized by
stepped fret designs, the stepped fret pattern only seems to be a feature of
the rock-art of the later Desert – or Jornada – Mogollon cultures that date
from A.D. 1000 to 1400 (Schaafsma 1980:191, 196). Schaafsma argues that the
symmetrical (double unit) cloud terraces that begin to be incorporated into
Anasazi pottery designs around A.D. 1300 seemingly have their origins in the
Mimbres. It is on Mimbres black-on-white pottery (A.D. 1100 to 1350) that this
element first appears as a freestanding design. It looks like ideas from
southern New Mexico and northern Mexico were being spread northward into the
Pueblo world after A.D. 1200. In the 14th century this begins to
happen dramatically (2003:personal communication). The single unit is also
found on Mimbres red-on-white pottery (dating from around A.D. 900 to 1100) and
on ceramics of the related Casas Grandes Culture in the Chihuahua Desert of
northern Mexico (Slifer 2000:Fig. 177). A fine example is the imagery on a volcanic dike near Galisteo, which
bears several stepped fret patterns of different types, including examples
featuring extensions shaped like the ‘crook-necked staff’ to which I shall
return later. Yet it is highly doubtful whether the stepped fret pattern was
indigenous to the Rio Grande Style. The reason for this is the general belief
that by A.D. 1300 the Pueblos accepted a new ideology and associated art
complex from the Jornada Mogollon further south (Schaafsma 1980:187, 232, 244).
Although the art of the Mogollon and the related Mimbres Culture is epitomized
by stepped fret designs, the stepped fret pattern only seems to be a feature of
the rock-art of the later Desert – or Jornada – Mogollon cultures that date
from A.D. 1000 to 1400 (Schaafsma 1980:191,196).” (Van Hoek 2004:83)
A number of ethnographic photographs of Hopi altars
include crook-necked sticks or staffs so the addition of them on this
stepped-fret petroglyph suggests that the image represents an altar.
Additionally, the presence of lines descending from the bottom of the double
motifs represent rain, suggesting that these examples must represent clouds, a
definition amplified by the presence of a bird on the top of one example. So we
seem to have a picture of some kind of altar representing a plea for rain,
certainly an understandable motive in the desert Southwest.
This assumption is reinforced by a Tewa prayer stick
reported by Fewkes (1899). “Back of the
altar, leaning against the wall of the kiva, was set upright a wooden slat,
notched on both edges and called a tawa saka, ‘sun-ladder.’ Miniature
imitations (plateXX) of this are made in this kiva on the last day of the
Tuntai and deposited in a shrine neat Sikyaowatcomo, the site of the early
settlement of the Tewa. The ponya-saka or tawa-saka mentioned has not before
been seen in any Hopi ceremony, and it my be characteristic of Tewa altars. A
notched prayer-stick, called the rain-cloud ladder, is placed in the same
shrine at this time. This is characteristic of the Tewa of Tusayan, but it is
not found in the Hopi pahos, with which I am familiar.” (Fewkes 1899:272)
So, the stepped-fret design can confidently be said to
represent clouds and rain in many instances, but perhaps not all.
“In
many American cultures water, clouds, and mountains are closely associated.
Especially Rain Gods dwelled at sacred mountains, and their homes were often
imitated by enormous stepped pyramids in or near the cities of Andean and
Mesoamerican cultures. This, the stepped fret also may depict a habitation
place. Consequently, I would like to suggest that stepped fret patterns in the
rock art of the Southwest of North America originally represented mountains in
the sense of ‘residences for deities.’ This might explain the association of
stepped fret patterns and the so-called Tlaloc figures in Jornada Style
iconography. Later, during the journey of the stepped fret pattern in space and
time, the metaphorical emphasis might have shifted from mountain-symbolism to
rain and fertility.” (Van Hoek 2004:88)
It would seem that across the American southwest the
implications of the stepped-fret motif involved clouds, rain, and mountains,
but that for various groups, at various times, the focus of that implication
may have favored one or the other of these definitions. It should be
considered, however, that they are all fairly closely related as these people
apparently thought of clouds and rain as associated with the mountains where
clouds formed, rain fell, and thence water coming to the people.
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.
PRIMARY
REFERENCES:
Fewkes,
J. W., 1899, The Winter Solstice Altars at Hano Pueblo, American Anthropologist, pp. 251-276.
Patterson,
Alex,
1992, A Field Guide to Rock Art Symbols
of the Greater Southwest, Johnson Books, Boulder, CO.
Van
Hoek, M., 2004, The
stepped-fret motif in American rock art: an attempt at tracing origin and
meaning, The Artifact, Volume 42, pp. 75-91, El Paso Archeological Society,
El Paso, Texas, accessed 6 January 2019 on www.academia.edu.
SECONDARY
REFERENCES:
Malotki
and Weaver, 2002, Stone
Chisel and Yucca Brush: Colorado Plateau Rock Art, Kiva Publishing, Walnut,
California.
Schaafsma,
Polly, 1992, Rock Art
in New Mexico, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe.
Schaafsma, Polly, 1980, Indian Rock Art of the Southwest, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Slifer,
Dennis, 2000, The
Serpent and the Fire: Fertility Images in Southwest Rock Art, Museum of New
Mexico Press, Santa Fe.
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