THE MILKY WAY IN ROCK ART:

 

The Milky Way. Vera Rubin Observatory photograph.

It is almost universally accepted that ancient cultures were very interested in the heavens, and we can assume that the prehistoric creators of petroglyphs and pictographs were also fascinated by questions of the universe. It could not have been possible to not be fascinated by the Milky Way.

Nut, Egyptian sky goddess. Internet image, public domain.

Among the most prominent features of the night sky is the side view of our galaxy that we call the Milky Way. Ancient cultures had to have an explanation for it that satisfied their world view and mythology. “The Egyptians, for examples, may not have been the only culture to link the Milky Way to a sky goddess who gives birth to other gods and, especially, other celestial objects.” (Graur 2024:37)

Citlalicue, sky-goddess. Internet image, public domain.

Peoples of the Americas had their own beliefs concerning the Milky Way. “Several of the pages in the Codex Borgia, a pre-Colombian pictorial manuscript composed by the Tlaxa-caltec people of the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley in Mexico, include images of elongated beings covered with stars. These beings have been identified as the Milky Way as well as the goddess Citlalicue (Star Skirt), the “… goddess of the stars …”, and the mother of several gods, including the Venus god Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl is shown cutting his way out of the belly of Citlalicue; this and other, similar scenes in Co-dex Borgia 29-46 are interpreted as Venus crossing the Milky Way.” (Graur 2024:37)

Similar views of the Milky Way are found across Mesoamerica (Milbrath, 1999: 41). The dead of the Yucatec Maya travel along the Milky Way at night (Sosa, 1985: 432). The Quiché Maya see the Galaxy as two of four cosmic roads. Of these, the Black Road (Q’eqa b’e) or Road of Xibalba (Ri b’e xib’alb’a), which is identified with the dark band of the Milky Way’s Great Rift, leads to the underworld (Tedlock, 1985: 36, 337, 354). Similarly, the Lacandón call the Milky Way the “… white way of our true lord …”, Hachäkyum, the ruler of heaven populated by the dead.” (Graur 2024:39)

Mayan two-headed sky monster, from Clopan, altar 4,  Late Classic Period. Image from Mary Miller and Karl Taube,The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, Thames and Hudson, London, 1993.

The ancient Maya saw the Milky Way as a serpentine monster with a head at each end. “Specifically, the two-headed monster known as the Celestial Monster or Cosmic Monster. This particular supernatural creature usually has either a crocodilian or sky band body, but in at least one example, cloud scrolls form the body. - - Most commonly, the Bicephalic Monster frames scenes of accession or rulership for the Maya, but its intrinsic meaning may be to represent the arc of the heavens, the front head being identified with Venus, pulling behind it the fleshless head of the Sun in the Underworld .” (Miller and Taube 1993:45) This is considerably more picturesque than many other beliefs, but then the Maya did have amazing imaginations and left us many images of them.

First Nations people in North America had a range of beliefs concerning the Milky Way. “Many Native American peoples across North America view the Milky Way as a road along which the spirits of the dead travel to the afterlife. The souls (tasoom) of the Cheyenne are said to travel toward the home of Hemmawihio (The Wise One Above), an all-knowing high god re-presented by the Sun, via the Milky Way, which is known as ekutsihimmiyo (Adamson Hoebel, 1960: 86–87). The Lakota name for the Milky Way is Wanáǧi Thacháŋku, the Spirits’ Road, which the Lakota follow to heaven when they die (Hollabaugh, 2017: 70–72). The Pawnee come to this life as the children of stars and, when they die, become stars once more. The stars of the Milky Way are the ancestors of the Pawnee moving from this world to the next (Pawnee Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Office, pers. comm., 2022)..” (Graur 2024:39) The idea that the Milky Way is a road or a path is a very common belief all around the world.

Chaco Canyon petroglyph panel. Photograph by Suzan Bradford.

Suzan Bradford's photograph overlaid against the Milky Way. Image by Robert Juhl.

Back in 2014 Robert A. Juhl sent me a PowerPoint presentation that he had created based upon a rock art photograph from Chaco Canyon that had been taken by Susan Bradford. In this presentation he likened the petroglyphs panel in the photograph to details of the Milky Way in the region of Scorpius in the night sky. When he superimposed the petroglyphs panel over this section of the Milky Way a crack across the panel seems to conform with the ‘Great Rift’ in the Milky Way, and he could match up a number of other details in the panel and the Milky Way. Additionally, although Juhl does not make this claim in his PowerPoint, the other features on the panel could represent constellations in that section of sky.

In the area of the American southwest tribes, the Milky Way is known as Ashes placed across the sky, or the Great Snowdrift in the sky by the Zuni people. (Miller 1997:183) In the design for a Navajo sand painting in the Shooting Chant Father Sky on the left side shows the Milky Way across his chest as a row of connected diamonds. (Miller 1997:187) But, most tribes in North and Central America connect the Milky Way with a path arcing across the night sky.

 

Rochester Creek petroglyph panel. Photograph Peter Faris, August 1993. Reminiscent of Nut arched across the sky, with a push me-pull you in the upper left corner to represent the Mayan two-headed monster?

With that definition in mind I will present as a possible representation of the Milky Way the great panel at Rochester Creek, near the junction with Muddy Creek near Emery, Utah. The arc in the panel might be seen as representing the Milky Way, and the creatures scattered around it might represent the constellations as identified by the people. As I said above, this is only a possibility, the arc in the panel is often presented as a rainbow as well, but the Milky Way and surrounding constellations might be a better explanation of the other figures on the panel. In any case, it is an interesting question and kind of fun to speculate on.

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:

Graur, Or, 2024, The Ancient Egyptian Personification of the Milky Way as the Sky-Goddess Nut: An Astronomical and Cross-Cultural Analysis, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 27(1), 28-45.

Juhl, Robert A., 2013, The Milky Way in Chaco Rock Art, Version 18. PowerPoint presentation.

Miller, Dorcas S., 1997, Stars of the First People, Pruett Publishing Co., Boulder, Colorado.

Miller, Mary, and Karl Taube, 1993, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, Thames and Hudson, London.

SECONDARY REFERENCES:

Adamson Hoebel, E., 1960. The Cheyennes: Indians of the Great Plains. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Milbrath, S., 1988. Birth images in Mixteca-Puebla art. In Miller, V.E. (ed.), The Role of Gender in Pre-Colombian Art and Architecture. Lanham, University Press of America. Pp. 153–178.

Milbrath, S., 1999. Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars. Austin, University of Texas Press.

 

Tedlock, D., 1985. Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life, Revised Edition. New York, Simon & Schuster.

ARCHEOASTRONOMY – POSSIBLE STELLAR ASTERISMS CARVED ON A STONE DISK:

Presumed star chart carved into a stone disc. Molaro and Bernardini, 2023.

The whole field of archeoastronomy is interesting, but a little like analyzing Rorsach Blots. What people see is influenced by what they expect (or want) to find when they are looking at possible examples. One good example is outlined in the citation below: 

“Two couples of stone disks found at the entrances and cemeteries of protohistoric hill forts in the north-eastern Adriatic area were suggested to have a symbolic meaning representing the Sun and the Night Sky. In one pair the night sky is symbolically represented by a number of natural holes made by marine bivalves but in the other stone studied here the marks are made by a human hand and show a pattern. We performed a statistical comparison of the chisel marks with the most common asterisms to try to establish if they were randomly made or they had some intentionality.” (Molaro and Bernardini 2023:11) Notice that Molaro and Bernardini said “the night sky is symbolically represented by a number of natural holes made by marine bivalves.”  In other words, clams or barnacles have bored into the surface of a piece of stone in the pattern of asterisms in the night sky. The authors used statistical analysis to identify the patterns. Any time statistics enters the picture I get skeptical. A good mathematician can use statistics to make the answers come out any way they wish. I wonder if the marine bivalves also used statistics to plot where they should bore their holes.

Front face of the stone disk from an adaptation of Bernardini et al. (2022). Curvature map of the disk with the position of the chiselmarks indicated by black circles and numbered.

“The whole pattern is composed by 29 chisel marks, 24 in the front face of the stone and 5 on the back. 28 chisel marks are consistent with the asterisms of Scorpius, Orion, Pleiades and, perhaps, of Cassiopeia on the back side of the stone. The correlation between the chisel marks and the stellar position is very high with r(28) = 0.994. The p-value is formally 0.001 and provides a very low probability that the chisel marks were produced accidentally.” (Molaro and Bernardini 2023:11) The authors suggest the age of these stones as Bronze Age. They also state that there are no written records from the local cultures during that time period. I, then, need to ask how they can know what stellar asterisms the inhabitants of the hill fort would recognize and wish to record?

“One chisel mark remains without an obvious identification. This is the most problematic chisel mark to explain.The mark is close to the stellar system of 𝜇 Ori, formed by two physical binary systems with an integrated magnitude of V = 4.1. Alternatively, if it belongs to the portion of sky of Scorpius it  could be associated to 𝜖 Sgr. However, all these identifications are quite unsatisfactory. One intriguing possibility is that a bright star was present in that position that produced a supernova or more likely a failed supernova leaving a black hole as a remnant. Interestingly, this prediction could be tested through detailed observations and, therefore, specific studies are solicited.” (Molaro and Bernardini 2023:11) One mark does not fit their theory, therefore, it may have disappeared in the interim in a supernova? This strikes me as really stretching to make your point.

The stone next to the diagram of the chisel marks.

“The asterisms are quite complete showing all the bright stars. Notable missing are 𝛾 and 𝜅 Ori. However, the location is in the most exposed part of the stone and the mark could have been possibly deleted by stone erosion.” (Molaro and Bernardini 2023:11) Even more convenient, not only has a supernova since made one star disappear that was carved onto the stone, but erosion has removed a couple of important stars that should be there.

“The deviations from real positions are of about one degree which are comparable with the size of the marks in the stone. For comparison, in the catalogue of Ptolemaios the error distributions is of 27 and 23 arcmin in longitude and latitude respectively, which is only about a factor 2–3 better than those on the stone. This requires a careful preparation and patient persistence in the execution. As such, the reproduction is not symbolic but faithful, showing an effort in providing the true stellar positions in the sky.” (Molaro and Bernardini 2023:11-12)

 "The hill fort of Rupinpiccolo was in use from about 1800/1650 BCE. Several data suggest to link the stones to the early building phase of the hill fort during the Bronze Age, even if we cannot completely rule out a Roman origin based on the similarity of the disks with roughed-out blocks of tomb stones. Even for the latest photohistoric chronology (400BCE), the disk stone would represent one of the oldest cartography of the sky." (Molaro and Bernardini 2023:12) If it really was a chart of stellar positions in the  sky.

Now, all of this may, in fact, be true, but I am not convinced. These stone disks may be ancient star charts with all of this archeoastronomical data recorded on them. The authors pointed out a likeness of these stone disks to covers for Roman Era shaft tombs, and we know the Romans recognized many of the same asterism as we do. “However, after the work of Bernardini et al. (2022), round stone artefacts of similar shape and dimensions were identified in the collection of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Aquileia. Probably they are roughed-out blocks for lids for circular tombstones. Since the exact archaeological context of the stones from Rupinpiccolo cannot be determined with precision, the possibility of Roman origin cannot be ruled out.” (Molaro and Bernardini 2023:2) I truly do not know any of this with any real certainty, and I submit, the Molaro and Bernardini may be a little too eager in their interpretations. At least they admit to a certain amount of speculation. After their paper was released popular press stories popped up which address this whole question as the proven truth. Which takes me back to the Rorsach Blots – we see what we want to see.

NOTE 1: I have ommitted some of the secondary citations from the quotations. The one listed is cited in the caption of the second illustration, but I did not consult it directly.

NOTE 2: Images used are from the Primary Reference paper.  by Molaro and Bernardini.

PRIMARY REFERENCE:

Molaro, Paolo, and Frederico Bernardini, 2023, Possible stellar asterisms carved on a protohistoric stone, 6 November 2023, Astronomical Notes (Astron Nachr), DOI:10.1002/asna.20220108. Accessed online 25 December 2023.

SECONDARY REFERENCE:

Bernardini, F., Vinci, G., Macovaz, V., Baucon, A., De Min, A., Furlani, S., and Smolic, S., 2022, Doc Praehist, XLIX, 2.

ROCK ART STUDIES - AROUND THE EDGES (WARNING: THIS CONTAINS ACTUAL IDEAS, AND A FEW PICTURES):

Anubis Cave, NW Oklahoma,

On spring equinox,

March 20, 2015.

From the beginning, the study of North American rock art has attracted interest from unorthodox places. Indeed, when I started studying rock art in the late '70s the idea of studying rock art was itself unorthodox. Most archaeologists approached it as if it were somehow dangerous or unclean. One was not supposed to draw any conclusions from imagery because it could not be scientifically tested. As my background was Art History I had a different attitude - thank goodness. This interest (passion really) has afforded me some of the most wonderful opportunities and experiences in my life.

Phil Leonard in Crack Cave,

southeast Colorado,

March 20,2004.

Early on the fields of archaeology and astronomy were conflated into the study of archeoastronomy. These studies were magically granted legitimacy because there were things that could be measured, predicted, and tested. Also, early in the process of legitimizing rock art studies the field of epigraphy appropriated a certain bandwidth in the spectrum of rock art studies. Insinuating itself between pictorial rock art and historic inscriptions, epigraphy dealt with inscriptions that some people believed were written in historic scripts and languages, usually from Europe, Asia, or the Middle East. 

The Denver Post, Sunday, 

September 18, 2005.

As I live in Colorado, the epigraphic controversy mostly revolved around inscriptions supposedly written in ancient Celtic ogam (oggam, ogham - do not write me to correct my spelling, all have been used) although Phoenician and others have been identified as well. Many of these inscriptions were found to involve archaeoastronomy sites, and the site and the inscription were often presented as proof of each other's authenticity. I happen to know that some of the archaeoastronomy sites actually work as advertised, I have seen them do it. On the other hand I do not personally buy into the epigraphy theories of visitors from the Old World leaving inscriptions in the American West. I have, however, known many of the people on both sides of these arguments and consider them to be friends. I also have friends that I do not agree with on religious or political matters so that has not been a major problem for me. Indeed, I sometimes feel that these arguments bring a new perspective and passion to discussions that can get a little dry.

What I am leading up to with this is the work of Scott Monahan. Monahan is a videographer and documentarian who has been recording archaeoastronomic sites for over 30 years, and attempting to confirm some of the claims of epigraphers. To many of my friends that latter automatically disqualifies him from any serious consideration. But, think about this -  thirty some years ago a rock with runes on it from North America woulds have been laughed out of the building, now that we know of three possible Pre-Columbian viking settlements in North America what should the reaction be?  
In Scott's own words, "http://sacredequinox.com is my project's home page for promotion to the general public.  It features a widescreen slideshow of static shots from my documentary, captioned in lieu of narration, at the top of the page. Beneath the slideshow are links to 3 featured videos: a trailer, a teaser and a prequel. The prequel rebuts a widely-held misconception in the academic community that Ogham written horizontally on flat surfaces is illegitimate.  I filmed plenty of examples in Ireland matching the style found in our area in a 1980s video survey of the Emerald Isle.  Also, a video of University of Calgary's David H. Kelley's introduction to the Ogham alphabet and its genesis is linked, prominently, from my home page." (Scott Monahan)

Further, he continued with, "http://sacredequinox.com/library.html frames the controversy we, as members of the Western Epigraphic Society in the late 80s and early 90s, encountered in trying to interest archaeological and anthropological authorities.  This webpage provides specific context and supporting detail my documentary cannot due to the limitations of the medium and the need to keep a general audience's attention.  Therefore, your rockartblog audience is encouraged to examine, as well, a collection of 9 published and unpublished works I've assembled to provide "drill-down" context to the videos I've created." (Monahan)

Take a look, give him a fair evaluation, Scott is a serious researcher, with a different approach and belief set than mine, but that does not mean he doesn't have some good ideas. You might enjoy it. I always do.

Monahan, Scott

http://sacredequinox.com 

http://sacredequinox.com/library.html 

NATIVE AMERICAN ASTRONOMY: THE PLEIADES - OR NOT!

While I will be the first to argue the validity of some aspects of the field known as archeoastronomy, I am also a critic of the empty assumptions made by some people who claim to be archeoastronomy researchers. The most egregious examples are in the multiple alignments some people find between rock art or archaeological features and the heavens. I actually once heard a presentation by a so-called serious researcher who was looking for alignments in a group of pits he found on a horizontal rock surface. He explained that in order to properly analyze this he had to purchase a new computer and software package, and in the end he came up with literally hundreds of alignments to different stars, constellations, planets, and phenomena throughout the year. The worst of all was that he did not see the irony in this proposal, even when he was asked what computer and software the ancient Native Americans had used to originally plot all of these alignments.

 

 

 

Fremont Indian petroglyph panel, Sego Canyon,

 Utah. Photograph: Peter Faris, June 1981.

 

One stellar sight that is apparently easy to misinterpret is the Pleiades. We know that they do have a place in the mythology of most of the ancient peoples of North America, and in some cultures they have ritual meaning as well. For some peoples their appearance marks the time to perform certain rites and ceremonies. To the Navajo the Pleiades or Seven Sisters are known as the Planter (Miller 1997:187). During nine months of visibility the Planter is seen after sunset in the Fall on the Eastern horizon, by mid-winter it is overhead after sunset, and in the Spring it slowly disappears over the Western horizon. The time of planting is reportedly indicated by Planter in the late Spring, early Summer (Cajete 2000:224). 

 

 

In this photo from Blanco Canyon (Chamberlain:207)

Dilyehe is the pattern in the center. Chamberlain has

identified a number of other Navajo panels which contain

dot patterns that he believes represent Dilyehe.

 

 

The same photo from Chamberlain

(2004:207) with an arrow marking

the Pleiades.

Dilyehe, the Planter, is thought of as feminine and as the mate to Atseetsozi, First Slim One (Orion’s belt and sword), because they accompany each other across the sky (Chamberlain 2004:211-213). I suspect that Von Del Chamberlain is correct in this interpretation. He is a serious scientific researcher, not given to wild statements based upon his imaginings instead of upon data.

 

Diagram of Sego Canyon panel

from Eaton (1999:128).

 

An example of the opposite can be seen in the illustrations from William M. Eaton. First off, he announced that examples of Native American portrayals of the Pleiades only show four dots. I cannot imagine where he got this as most legends refer to them as the "seven sisters". As an example of this he produced the Fremont panel from Sego Canyon, Utah where he found proof of this claiming an astonishing eight portrayals of the Pleiades in this one panel (a through h), although he actually seems to have missed the four dot pattern on the top of the symbol he has designated as "v". The problem is, as anyone who has actually visited Sego Canyon knows, that the dots on this panel are from gunshots, and have absolutely nothing to do with any Native Americans, prehistoric or otherwise. They were produced by cowboy vandalism.

Now I am not saying that Mr. Eaton is wrong in everything he claimed in his 1999 book, The Odyssey of the Pueblo Indians (although I had serious trouble with most of it). I even want him to be right on some of it because it would be so interesting. The trouble is like with all people who speak up without knowing what they are actually talking about. He just doesn't have a clue about rock art.

Don't quit looking, and don't quit trying to figure it out, just please use your common sense before you go way out on that limb like Eaton. Someone might shoot it off.

REFERENCES:

Cajete, Gregory

2000    Native Science, Natural Laws of Interdependence, Clear Light Publishers, Santa Fe.

Chamberlain, Von Del

2004    Father Sky on Mother Earth: Navaho Celestial Symbolism in Rock Art, pages 195-226, in New Dimensions in Rock Art Studies, edited by Ray T. Matheny, Museum of Peoples and Cultures Occasional Papers No. 9, Brigham Young University, Provo.

Eaton, William M.

1999    Odyssey of the Pueblo Indians, Turner Publishing Co., Paducah, KY.

Miller, Dorcas S.

1997    Stars of the First People, Pruett Publishing Co., Boulder, CO.