ROCK ART RECORDING - LARRY LOENDORF:

5LA5598, Boulder Site, Pinyon

Canyon, Photo US Army, Fort Carson.

Petroglyphs on boulders at 5LA5598,

         Boulder Site, Pinyon Canyon, Photo
                from Larry Loendorf.

Back in the 1980s, Dr. Lawrence Loendorf organized and directed a ground-breaking rock art recording project on the Fort Carson Colorado training grounds known as the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in Las Animas County, Colorado. This is a detached training ground in southeastern Colorado belonging to Fort Carson. Larry organized interdisciplinary teams to comprehensively record, not only the rock art and the surface it is on, but the surroundings, thus capturing a detailed picture of it in its actual environs. This picture would include the geography, geology, botany, and data on climate and resources, anything that could help understand the culture that produced the art.

Quadruped Petroglyphs on

boulders at 5LA5598, Boulder Site,

Pinyon Canyon, Photo from

Larry Loendorf.

I found this to be, at that time, eye-opening and revolutionary, and I am still impressed by his concentration and the depth of his detail. I recently contacted Loendorf to ask for a statement on his approach to recording rock art for RockArtBlog, and this is his reply.

"The rock art recording completed by Sacred Sites Research, Inc. (SSR) follows a process that developed over the past 50 years. The initial decision in rock art recording is whether the intent is to record the rock art site or the rock art at a site. Although this sounds like the same thing, the recording of a rock art site is quite different than simply recording the rock art.

The SSR approach is to record the whole site with emphasis on its setting as well as the rock art." (Loendorf 2018)

"Time and again by recording the whole site SSR makes discoveries that are important to understanding the rock art. The vegetation at a site, especially what is growing along the cliff wall or in the rockshelter, can include medicinal plants like Datura or tobacco. There are frequently small rock shrines or fasting beds near rock art sites. We find the tools used to make the petroglyphs or pictographs, often at the base of the panel. The most common find is a portion of a painting or petroglyph that has fallen out of its original place. These can serve as samples for dating or additional studies." (Loendorf 2018)

"Of course, SSR also records the rock art. The methods used for this work have changed through the years with new technology that significantly improves the process. DStretch software and DStretch enabled cameras (now cell phones) is the most important new technology although the use of drones to map large sites with multiple panels, is a close second. Other new techniques like the use of portable x-ray fluorescence instruments to study pigments, or small digital microscopes to examine areas of superimposition are important advances and there are others that artists use in completing their scale drawings. However, SSR rock art teams learn the most by recording the whole site." (Loendorf 2018)

He is describing an in-depth, detailed study of the rock art as well as its surroundings. He illustrated this point by describing a discovery on a recent recording project at a site near Carlsbad, New Mexico, Kee's Site.

Kee's Site, near Carlsbad,

New Mexico. Photo from

Larry Loendorf.

"Recently on a project near Carlsbad, New Mexico, we recorded Kee's Painted Shelter, a site that has long been known but never fully recorded. The Kee's stie has mainly abstract figures with a few representational ones covering its wells and ceiling. The site is a long oval-shaped rockshelter in the canyon wall. Across from Kee's, slightly upstream, in the opposite canyon wall is the Honest site. The Honest site was excavated by Susan Applegarth in the 1970s and found to contain a fairly thick layer of Archaic-age deposits circa. 3000 years of age. Applegarth mentioned the Kee's site but did not incorporate it into her research.

During our project, I was near the Honest site while the crew was completing drawings of the paintings at the Kee's site. Even though the two sites are some distance apart, I could clearly hear every word they were saying. Since sounds carry better at night when temperatures are cooler, it is apparent the Kee's site has an auditory component that we would have overlooked. It also serves as a link between the two sites in a way that would not have been discovered without recording the whole site and not just the rock art." (Loendorf 2018)

Although I opened this column with a description of my positive and enthusiastic response to Loendorf's work back in the 1980s, it applies doubly now because of the technological improvements (such as DStretch, and X-ray fluorescence) that have been made since then, and which he makes use of on his rock art recording projects. Larry produces arguably some of the most complete reports available today on his rock art recording projects, and his work should stand as an example for quite some time.

His business: Sacred Sites Research is a 501(c)3 non-profit, and is located at 6220 Mojave Street NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87120.

Illustrations and quotes from Larry Loendorf, and also from:

Loendorf, Lawrence L.

2008 Thunder and Herds, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA.

METEOROLOGY IN ROCK ART – LIGHTNING:

For people who live in the environment the weather is a major determinant of the exigencies of life. Especially in the availability of food, both plant, and animal, the amount of sun, rain, and storm, provide the conditions that allow the society to survive and hopefully prosper. The facets of weather that lead to this survival and prosperity are usually focal points of religious rites in those communities in the attempt to favorably affect the conditions upon which their survival depends. Thus clouds, rain, rainbows, and lightning become elements in the imagery of the people, and can often be found in their rock art as well.

The Hogback, Pinyon Canyon Maneuver Site,
southeast Colorado. Photo: Peter Faris, 1997.

Elemental lightning is a force that can be dangerous, and as such is possesses great spiritual power. Places where lightning strikes tend to be seen as spiritually powerful, and items that have been struck by lightning contain strong medicine. A piece of lightning struck wood would contain tremendous spiritual power and, as such, would be prized for a medicine bundle or for use in fabricating weapons. A locale that lightning is seen to strike frequently would tend to attract other manifestations of spiritual importance such as rock art.

For large expanses of open countryside in the arid West in a lightning storm the features at greatest risk of lightning strike are the geological features that stick up the highest. These are often features such as volcanic dikes. I know of two volcanic dikes that have attracted considerable rock art and also show evidence of attracting lightning strikes.

Lightning Strike at The Hogback, Pinyon
Canyon Maneuver Site, southeastern
Colorado. Photo: Peter Faris, 1997.

One is the prominent dike known as “the Hogback” on the Pinyon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado, so excellently recorded by Dr. Larry Loendorf. This broken basalt prominence not only shows rock art, and discolored patches caused by the heat and blast effects of lightning strikes, but, as a location of such power, it also possesses the remains of spirit quest enclosures.

Lightning and sky theme petroglyphs,
Galisteo Dike, New Mexico.
Photo: Peter Faris, 1997.

Lightning portrayals in rock art may also be expected to be found on such high positions as these. The third illustration provided came from Galisteo Dike, south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The rock art at Galisteo Dike is also found on the surfaces of a high, prominent volcanic dike, and includes a very large amount of sky symbolism including eagles, stars, sun signs, clouds, and lightning. This illustration includes an eagle (the Pueblo beast deity for the sky above), a star, and a lightning blast, combining multiple aspects of spiritual power.

Sun Symbols with possible lightning strike,
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, New Mexico.
Photo: J & E Faris, 1988.

Another volcanic dike which possesses considerable rock art is the dike at 3-Rivers, New Mexico, where thousands of symbols and images cover the eroded surfaces of blocks of basalt. There are also instances of remaining evidence of possible lightning strikes at 3-Rivers. The illustration here shows a basalt boulder with an apparent lightning strike on the top and a pair of concentric circle sun signs on the side. The question here is did the rock apparently blasted by lightning attract the petroglyphs, or did the spiritual power of the petroglyphs attract the lightning strike?