THE HERO TWINS IN ROCK ART:

War or Hero twins with sky themes and other

petroglyphs. Galisteo Dike, New Mexico.

Among the Ancestral Puebloan peoples two mythical beings that were of importance in their creation cycle, and early mythology were the Hero Twins. These beings were involved in ridding the earth of the monsters and giants that threatened humans after the emergence. They were not, however, kachinas (katcinas) but instead are semi-divine cultural heroes.

Possible War or Hero Twins portrayal.

Galisteo Dike, New Mexico.

“In Zuni narratives that describe the time of the beginning, the Twin War Gods are culture heroes who bring the ancestors of the contemporary Zuni out of the fourth underworld to the surface of this earth; they contribute to making these people into “finished beings”; they shape the features of the earth’s surface (the Fifth World); they destroy or petrify the monsters that populate this world’ and they create constellations, stars, and other astronomical objects by throwing the body parts of various monsters into the sky.” (Williamson and Farrer 1992:76)

“In addition to depicting them as culture heroes or War Gods, some Zuni narratives also describe these twins as sons of the Sun Father – the Morning and Evening Stars, who serve as heralds for various ceremonial and agricultural activities.” (Williamson and Farrer 1992:76)

Homes of the Hopi Hero or Warrior Twins.

Chimney Rock National Monument, Colorado.

Photograph Peter Faris, 15 September 2002.

On September 23, 2009, I posted the column Chimney Rock and the Twin War Gods  in which I related the story of a delegation of Hopi elders who visited Chimney Rock National Monument after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to awake the heroes - which live in the two rock spires at Chimney Rock - to assist the United States during World War Two.

Possible Hero or War Twins from

McConkey Ranch, Vernal, Utah. Fremont

culture. Photograph Peter Faris.

Many instances of paired figures in rock art as well as other forms of Native American art and craft show are assumed to be representations of the Hero Twins. Examples I present here include a pair of panels from Galisteo Dike in New Mexico and a Fremont panel from McConkey Ranch near Vernal, Utah. The Fremont example appears to me to be an unfinished pair of shield figures from their resemblance to so many other shield figures at that locale. Also both figures were obviously created by the same artist on stylistic and technical reasons so they can be assumed to have been intended to represent warrior twins.

 “Drinking Vessel Depicting Hero Twins,

Mexico, Maya, Central Campeche,

c. A.D. 593-830 (Cat. No. 39)”

(Fields and Zamudio-Taylor, 2001:43)

From farther south I illustrate a depiction of the Mayan version of the Hero Twins on a drinking vessel. (Fields and Zamudio-Taylor 2001:43)

The Hero Twins can thus be seen as a very real (and continuing) influence on Native American culture in the Southwest and Mesoamerica. These, and many other portrayals, provide a fascinating insight into the beliefs and influences of the peoples and cultures and are a very interesting theme in the rock art and other arts of the native peoples of the region.

REFERENCES:

Fields, Virginia M., and Victor Zamudio-Taylor,

2001    Aztlan: Destination and Point of Departure, pages 38 – 77, Fig. 15, p. 43, The Road To Aztlan: Art From A Mythic Homeland, edited by Fields, Virginia M., and Victor Zamudio-Taylor,  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles.

Williamson, Ray A. and Claire R. Farrer

1992    Earth and Sky, Visions of the Cosmos in Native American Folklore, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

CHIMNEY ROCK AND THE TWIN WAR GODS:

Chimney Rock (left) and Companion Rock

(right), Colorado. Photo: 2009, Peter Faris.

Companion Rock (left) and Chimney Rock

(right), Colorado. Photo: 2002, Peter Faris.

High on a ridge above southwestern Colorado are the rock towers of Chimney Rock (on the left) and Companion Rock (on the right) at Chimney Rock Archaeological Area. On July 28, 2009, I published a post about a pecked rock from Chimney Rock which incorporates what have been identified as fossil trackways. Chimney Rock is itself a fascinating location with a fascinating story behind it. Archaeoastronomers have recorded a number of astronomical connections here, including a lunar alignment that takes place on the 18.6-year lunar standstill cycle.

Chacoan great house at Chimney Rock

Archaeological Area, Colorado. Photo:

2002, Peter Faris.

That this was an important location in prehistory is indicated by the presence of a Chacoan great house located a little below the top of the bluff. It has been suggested that this was built to house priests from Chaco Canyon who had moved here because of the astronomical alignments, and who dominated the ancestral pueblo inhabitants of the area through their religious monopoly and perhaps military power as well.

University of Colorado astronomer J. McKim Malville obtained tree-ring dates from the Chimney Rock pueblo that showed that the two major episodes of construction there clustered around two northern lunar standstills that occurred around AD 1076 and AD 1093. Malville has proposed that Chacoans had noticed this effect at Chimney Rock at the earlier lunar standstill in AD 1057. That sighting would have been only three years after the Crab nebula supernova of AD 1054 which according to Malville might have first stimulated Chacoan focus on astronomical phenomena. He believes that they built the Chimney Rock pueblo primarily for astronomical observations and their related ceremonies.

Poqangawhoya, eldest twin war god.

Palongahoya, younger twin war god.

According to mythology these towers serve as the homes of the Hopi Twin War Gods (Poqangwhoya and Palongahoya), and through history (and probably prehistory) they have been ceremonially called forth by their people whenever needed. Park interpretive staff members tell of an occasion in 1941, just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, when a group of Hopi elders and religious leaders showed up at Chimney Rock and performed the rites to call the Twin War Gods forth to assist the United States during World War II. These twin gods are also important to the Navajo people who know them as Monster Slayer and Born-for-Water.

Offering at Chimney Rock, Colorado.

Photo: 2002, Peter Faris.

During the prehistoric Pueblo period this location was near the northern border of their sphere of influence. During the Chacoan period it was also a northeastern colony of Chaco Canyon as can be seen from the construction of Chacoan style masonry. Later, after the coming of the Navajo this was part of the area known as Dinetah, the Navajo homeland.

Both the Ancestral Pueblo peoples and the Navajos had mythology concerning the significance of Twin Heroes who killed monsters and made this world safe for their people. Their continuing relevance is attested to by the offerings that still appear tied to trees in the forest near the ridge that bears the twin pinnacles and the ruin.

NATIVE AMERICAN PALEONTOLOGY - FOSSIL TRACKWAYS INCORPORATED INTO A PETROGLYPH:

One of my areas of interest for some time has been the pursuit of evidence of knowledge and awareness of fossils in the mythology of Native Americans and the art with which they illustrated those myths. Their observations of fossils in the landscape demanded explanations, and they inevitably developed a mythology that explained their existence. In fact, John Feliks* has proposed that the origins of rock art may have originally been inspired by seeeing fossils in the rock.

Block of stone with carved lines at the right end,

fossil trackways are visible on the rest of the surface

of the block. Chimney Rock Archaeological Area,

Colorado. Photo: Steven Main.

At the Colorado Rock Art Association annual symposium on May 7, 2005, Steven Main presented a paper about a rock with pecked lines found at the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area in southwestern Colorado. Markings purposely made on a movable object are referred to by the term mobiliary art.

Side view of the block of stone showing traces
of trackways on other layers. Chimney Rock

Archaeological Area, Colorado. Photo: Steven Main.

The interesting thing about this rock is that the obvious pecked parallel lines at one end of the rock are connected to a number of fainter markings meandering over the rest of that face of the rock. These fainter markings have been identified as fossilized Ophiomorpha trackways, the remaining trace left behind by an extinct crustacean on the sandy ocean bottom, preserved as the sand was consolidated into sandstone. Traces of more trackways can be seen in cross section on the side of the block of stone as well.

This block of stone displays an instance in which the natural markings of the fossilized trackways apparently inspired additional pecked markings to complete a design or pattern imagined by the prehistoric artist (again this would fit in with John Feliks’ theories of the origins of rock art having been inspired by seeing fossils in the rock). Main stated that his original impression of the rock image was its likeness to images of Tlaloc from the greater southwest, but that he had abandoned that possibility because of lack of evidence. My personal reaction to the rock is that the image resembles the foot or footprint of a bear.

Whether or not the fossil traces inspired the original idea of creating petroglyphs in general, it seems certain that these fossil trackways inspired the addition of the pecked parallel lines in this example, proving not only Native American’s awareness of fossil traces but also implying the connection between those fossils and some of their art.

I am grateful to Steven Main for allowing me to use his photos and information.

* John Feliks is an independent scholar researching early human cognition. Along with the science, he offers an inside perspective based on an extensive background in the arts. Feliks’ recent studies involve the language and mathematics capability of Homo erectus and other early people.