COLOMBIAN ROCK ART CLAIMED TO DEPICT EXTINCT MEGAFAUNA:

     Serranía La Lindosa pictographs, online                     image, Public Domain.

In Colombia, the discovery of a huge concentration of rock art has been announced.

Serranía La Lindosa pictographs, online image, Public Domain.

“A research team published the description of tens of thousands of ice age paintings, many apparently depicting extinct megafauna, discovered in a remote region of the Amazon forest. The paintings cover almost 8 miles (12 km) of a cliff face making it one of the largest rock-art sites on the planet. The site of the discovery, the Serranía La Lindosa, sits deep in the rebels-controlled Columbian rainforest. The discovery by a British-Colombian team of archaeologists was made last year - - ." (Bressan 2020) Serranía La Lindosa translating roughly as beautiful mountains.

     Serranía La Lindosa pictographs, online                     image, Public Domain.

According to a preliminary survey,"there are several tens of thousands of images covering the rocks smoothed by fluvial erosion. The images include animals like fish, turtles, lizards and birds, as well as people dancing and holding hands, among other scenes and abstract symbols.” (Bressan 2020)

The team that carried out the research was bi-national and consisted of Jose Iriarte and Mark Robinson from the University of Exeter, Gaspar Morcote-Rios and Jeison L. Chaparro-Cardenas from the Universidad Nacional de Columbia, and Francisco Javier Aceituno from the Universidad de Antioquia. (University of Exeter) The team worked in a region that had been closed until recently because of fighting between Colombia governmental troops and FARC guerillas.

“This is one of the largest collections of rock art found in South America. The recorded drawings, likely first made around 12,600 and 11,800 years ago, are on three rock shelters on hills in the Colombian Amazon. The paintings, identified during landscape surveys, also depict geometric shapes, human figures, and handprints, as well as hunting scenes and people interacting with plants, trees, and savannah animals. The vibrant red pictures were produced over a period of hundreds, or possibly thousands, of years. Some are so high, and inaccessible, special ladders crafted from forest resources would have been needed and they would have been obscured from view for anyone visiting the rock shelter.” (University of Exeter 2020)

The images include geometric shapes, anthropomorphs, and zoomorphs, among others, but what most interests me here are the pictures of animals that appear to illustrate extinct megafauna from the Paleolithic period.

Megatherium and baby, Marcote-Rios et al, 2020.

Megatherium reconstruction, online image, Public Domain.

“There are drawings of deer, tapirs, alligators, bats, monkeys, turtles, serpents, and porcupines, as well as what appears to be Ice Age megafauna. These now extinct animals are depicted in rock art in Central Brazil, but experts believe these drawings are more realistic. There are depictions of creatures resembling a giant sloth, mastodon, camelids, horses, and tree-toed ungulates with trunks. These native animals all became extinct, probably because of a combination of climate change, the loss of their habitat and by hunting by humans.” (University of Exeter 2020)

Extinct horse (Hippidion), Marcote-Rios et al, 2020.

       Hippidion reconstruction, online image,                      Public Domain.

By all accounts a spectacular find, and a rock art site of major importance. The problems, however, begin when we look at the supposed images of the Ice Age megafauna supposedly depicted. "Potential ice-age megafauna species displayed in the pictographs include a giant ground sloth with its young, a mastodon, a prehistoric relative of the elephant, an early horse (Hippidion?) walking alongside an unidentified camelid, maybe of the genus Paleolama, and a long necked, three toes ungulate with a trunk, maybe Zenorhinotherium or Macrauchenia." (Bressan 2020)

Proposed paleolama pictograph, Marcote-Rios et al, 2020.

        Paleolamareconstruction, online image,                    Public Domain.

“We started seeing animals that are now extinct. The pictures are so natural and so well made that we have few doubts that you’re looking at a horse, for example. The ice-age horse had a wild, heavy face. It’s so detailed, we can even see the horse hair. It’s fascinating.” (Alberge 2020)

Proposed mastodon pictograph, Marcote-Rios et al, 2020.

        Mastodon reconstruction, online image,                      Public Domain.

The sloth is actually fairly convincing as well as the extinct horse. The pictographs look very much like the actual creatures. The other animals identified may or may not actually be accurate. The "mammoth," the "Paleolama" and the "Zenorhinotherium or Macrauchenia" strike me as much more of a guess than a distinct identification.

Proposed Zenorhinotherium or Macrauchenia pictograph, Marcote-Rios et al, 2020.

       Macrauchenia reconstructions (hairy and shorthaired), online image, Public Domain.

It is always exciting to find a record that illustrates extinct animals, and this discovery, because of its large scale, provides a wealth of new possibilities for research. While some of the illustrations of extinct creatures are easy to identify, others take a little more imagination. All in all though, this is a world class, major discovery.

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:

Alberge, Dalya, 2020, “Sistine Chapel of the Ancients” rock art discovered in remote Amazon Forest, 29 November 2020, The Guardian.

Bressan, David, 2020, A Treasure Trove of Rock Art Depicting Extinct South American Megafauna Discovered in Amazon Forest, https://www.forbes.com

University of Exeter, 2020, Newly Discovered Amazon Rock Art Shows the Rainforest’s Earliest Inhabitants Living With Giant Ice Age Animals, December 1, 2020, https://phys.org/news/2020-12-newly-amazon-art-rainforest-earliest.html

EXTINCT ANIMALS IN ROCK ART - MADAGASCAR’S SLOTH LEMUR:

Photo of Madagascar cave wall with pictographs, upper right. Internet photo - Public Domain.

One of the most exciting things about rock art is that it can serve as a window on the past, a way to see things that no longer exist, whether it be the lifeways of ancient peoples, or ancient creatures that those people portrayed that are now extinct.

Photo of panel, and field drawing. Internet photo - sci-news.com.

“An international team of scientists has discovered stylistically unique ancient drawings, including the only known prehistoric depiction of a now-extinct giant sloth lemur, on the walls of a rock shelter in western Madagascar. The drawings were discovered by Dr. David Burney from Hawaii’s National Tropical Botanical Garden and his colleagues from the United Kingdom, Madagascar and the United States in Andriamamelo Cave near the small village of Anahidrano.” (Prostak 2020)

Close-up photo of Sloth Lemur. Internet photo - sci-news.com.

“The diversity of lemurs was greater in the past - much greater. Where Africa has its gorillas and Borneo and Sumatra their orang-utans, Madagascar had its giant sloth lemurs (Archaeoindris fontoynonti), which weighed up to 244 kg and were the size of male gorillas.” (Van der Geer 2017)

Sloth Lemur skull (Archaeoindris fontoynontii), Internet photo wikipedia.com - Public Domain.

“The sloth lemurs (family Palaeopropithecidae) are a group of extinct giant lemurs that includes four genera. The common name can be misleading, as these creatures were not closely related to South American sloths. As the name implies, sloth lemurs were designed for treetop living, with long arms and legs, limber joints and hook-like hands and feet. These adaptations allowed them to be adept at both leaping and climbing.” (Prostak 2020)

Artist's conception of the Madagascar Sloth Lemur. Illustration by Roman Uchytel, prehistoricfauna.com.

“Limited scansoriality has been postulated for the gorilla-sized Archaeoindris which has been likened to a ground sloth. However, its very high femoral neck-shaft angle and other highly derived postcranial features which are shared only with Palaeopropithecus, suggest more committed arboreality.” (Godfrey and Jungers 2003:256) (NOTE: Scansorial is defined as capable of, or adapted for, climbing.}

As to the presumed ancient creation of these images we must remember that Madagascar is one of the last places on earth that humanity accomplished the extinction of the native megafauna. “A few may have succumbed only very recently. A specimen of Palaeopropithecus ingens from Ankilitelo in southwest Madagascar was recently radiocarbon-dated at 510-80 PB. Confidence limits on this date include the historical period.” (Godfrey and Jungers 2003:257) So, although the Madagascar Sloth Lemur is indeed extinct, that does not mean the rock art is ancient because the extinction of this animal apparently happened during the early historic period.

While it would be truly exciting to have this turn out to represent the extinct animal that has been designated, I do have a couple of problems with stating that this definitely is a representation of Madagascar’s extinct sloth lemur. First, not one of the authors of the paper has rock art experience or publications in their past that I could determine. Second, although the image in question does look very like a sloth hanging upside down, that pose is almost universally accepted by students of rock art to indicate that the pictured animal is deceased, not a sloth hanging from a tree limb. And if it is not a sloth lemur, but instead a dead quadruped, a great age for this petroglyph is not as likely.  I therefore feel that positively identifying this image as Madagascar’s extinct sloth lemur is really going out on a limb.

NOTE: 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:

Godfrey, Laura, and William Jungers,

2003 The Extinct Sloth Lemurs of Madagascar, Evolutionary Anthropology 12:252–263 (2003)

Prostak, Sergio,

2020 Researchers Find Unique Ancient Rock Drawings of Extinct Sloth Lemur, Sept. 7, 2020, http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/sloth-lemur-drawing-08820.html

Van der Geer, Alexandra

2017 The Late Survival of Madagascar’s Megafauna, Sept. 22, 2017, https://beta.capeia.com/paleobiology/2017/09/22/the-late-survival-of-madagascars-megafauna

SECONDARY REFERENCE:

Burney, David A. et al.

2020 Rock art from Andriamamelo Cave in the Beanka Protected Area of western Madagascar, Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, published online May 26, 2020; doi:10.1080/15564894.2020.1749735

FERTILITY, WEALTH, OR ANIMAL TRACKS?

Vulvar representation, La Ferrasie,

France. Photo: Public Domain.

On October 14, 2017, I posted a column titled Fertility or Wealth? in which I pointed out that some variations of the symbols traditionally interpreted as vulvas and used worldwide, might also be portrayals of shells, also used worldwide by cultures as symbols of wealth or adornment.

Abri Blanchard, Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography, Derek Hodgson, fig. 1B.

Laussel, France,

Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography,

Derek Hodgson, fig. 3B.

Abri Castanet, France, 

Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography,

Derek Hodgson, fig. 4A.

There is also another possibility, that some of these images might have been intended to represent animal tracks. While many of these images seem to be obvious vulvar representations, there are also many that actually look more like the tracks of large game animals than symbols of fertility.

Bison tracks,

www.naturetraking.com,

Photo: Johah Evans.

Track of bison in snow,

Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography,

Derek Hodgson, fig. 1A.

New discoveries on carved blocks of stone from Abri Cellier in France have led to the identification of a number of symbols as vulvas (White 2017:8-14). Also Abri Blanchard, Laussel, and Abri Castanet have these images (Hodgson 2018). Hodgson pointed out that "the notion that the "Q" shaped motifs in Upper Palaeolithic art represent vulvas has become accepted dogma. This assumption is critically examined by showing that such motifs more closely resemble hoof prints. A number of hoof prints made by large herbivores are illustrated highlighting this correspondence, which suggests that such motifs should be reclassified as representing tracks made by certain animals. The idea that such motifs represent vulvas is deemed to result from prior assumptions regarding the pre-eminence of the male gaze." (Hodgson 2018:1)

                  

Wild horse tracks,

animalia-life.club, Internet,

Photo: J. Paul Mashburn,

2010.

Unshod horse in snow,

Tracing Upper Paleolithic Iconography,

Derek Hodgson, fig. 1D, 2018.

These ancient cultures hunted Paleolithic megafauna: horses, aurochs, bison, and cervids (deer, reindeer, elk) and images of the tracks of these animals would make considerable sense in the repertoire of rock art themes. Whether these images would be pertinent to rites of increase for the game animals, or function as flash cards in the education of hunters, or have another purpose altogether, we might not be able to know, but we should acknowledge the possibility. Hodgson pointed out this possibility in connection with his ""Q" shaped motifs" (2018:1) but there are, in fact, a number of related shapes that also might represent animal tracks instead of vulvas.

Just imagine, if the pictures on the cave walls had been originally discovered by American buffalo hunters some of these images might have been designated animal tracks all along.

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:

Hodgson, Derek,

2018 Tracing Upper Palaeolithic Iconography: The Strange Case of Animal Tracks, University of York, UK, Global Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology, Vol. 3, Issue 4, April 2018.

EXTINCT ANIMALS IN ROCK ART - THE TIAHUANACO TOXODON?

Quadruped from Viracocha

statue, Semi-subterranean

Temple, (head to upper

right, tail to lower left),

Tiahuanaco, Bolivia.

Magicians of the Gods,

Gaham Hancock, p. 389.

In the past I have presented a number of columns on RockArtBlog about extinct animals portrayed in rock art, both real and imagined, even including one on April 1, 2015 about extinct giraffes pictured in Utah that was meant as an April Fool's Day joke (it did, however, succeed in detecting a few April Fools).

Viracocha statue,

Semi-subterranean Temple,

Tiahuanaco, Bolivia.

ancient-origins.net,

Public Domain.

There are many real examples of animals that are no longer extant that are pictured on caves walls and cliffs. The most famous examples that come to mind are the mammoths and aurochs of European Paleolithic cave art. Examples that are not accurate include all of the so-called dinosaurs found by fringies in rock art. Another example of an extinct animal that I consider to be unwarranted is represented by nebbish-looking quadrupeds at Tiahuanaco that the fringies have declared to be pictures of Toxodons.

Toxodon platensis,

Wikipedia,

Public Domain.

"Toxodontidae, is an extinct family of notoungulate mammals known from the Oligocene to the Holocene (5,000 BP) of South America, with one genus, Mixotoxodon, also known from the Pleistocene of Central America and southwestern North America (Texas). They somewhat resembles rhinoceroses, and had teeth with high crowns and open roots, suggesting that they most often fed on tough pampas grass. However, isotopic analyses have led to the conclusion that the most recent forms were grazing and browsing generalists." (Wikipedia)

                                                                  

Close-up of Viracocha statue

head, the quadrupeds can be faintly

seen on the right side of the head.

Photograph Graham Hancock. 

Well, if the Toxodon survived until 5,000 BP isn't it possible that someone in early Tiahuanaco saw one to picture on stone? No, it is not. The earliest date estimates for Tiahuanaco were Posnansky's 11,000 - 17,000 years BP were based upon geological estimates and archaeoastronomy. "Beginning in the 1970s Carlos Ponce Sangines proposed the site was first occupied around 1580 BC, the sites oldest radiocarbon date. This date is still seen in some publications and museums in Bolivia. Since the 1980s, researchers have recognized this as unreliable, leading to the consensus that the site is no older than 200 or 300 BC." (Wikipedia) Perhaps some of these cryptozoology enthusiasts are genuinely fooled by the original improbably early dating of the ruins. I suspect, however, that most of them are just cynically publishing these stories for financial gain or career notoriety.

Quadrupeds on right side of

head. Drawing of Viracocha

statue. davidpratt.info

Indeed, in reading various reports of the Tiahuanaco Toxodon, it is difficult to even determine where he is supposedly pictured. Some reports imply that the image(s) are carved on the gateway of the sun. In his book Magicians of the Gods, Graham Hancock (p. 389) correctly states that the figures are carved on the sides of the head of a humanoid statue. This figure was found in a structure known as the Semi-subterranean Temple and is assumed to represent the deity Viracocha. Many sculptures of the figure of Viracocha have been found but this is the only one with these particular quadrupeds carved on the sides of the head, and what these represent is a mystery, but I am confident that they do not represent the poor Toxodon, long dead and gone.

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 originals at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

ancient-origins.net

Hancock, Graham

2015 Magicians of the Gods, St. Martin's Press, New York.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiwanaku

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxodontidae

www.davidpratt.info

MODERN ATTEMPTS TO REPRODUCE THE CATTLE PICTURED IN CAVE PAINTINGS - THE PALEOLITHIC AUROCHS:

Cave painting of an aurochs.

Public Domain.

On January 7, 2017, I posted a column titled Cave Art Provides A Confirmation Of A Hybrid Bison Species In Paleolithic Europe, which presented the use of cave art to confirm a theory about the evolutionary development of the European bison which had been based upon genetic analysis of ancient remains. Previously, on December 4, 2011, I had posted a column titled Lascaux's Paintings, the Aurochs, and Heck's Cattle, about attempts in the middle of the last century to breed cattle back to their Paleolithic form, the Aurochs. These Heck's Cattle were produced using traditional methods of selecting for traits and crossbreeding. Each generation being selectively bred for appearance and behavior that was assumed to be similar to the Aurochs. These attempts were begun in Germany in the 1920s by two brothers with the name of Heck. They were later supported by the Nazi party in Germany. A lineage of cattle was bred by each brother, one in Berlin and one in Munich. The Berlin animals did not survive the war so modern Heck cattle are descended from the Munich line.

Gaur, the largest living cattle

breed. Public domain.

"The aurochs was one of the largest herbivores in postglacial Europe, comparable to the wisent (European bison). The size of an aurochs appears to have varied by region; in Europe, northern populations were bigger on average than those from the south. For example, during the Holocene, aurochs from Denmark and Germany had an average height at the shoulders of 155–180 cm (61–71 in) in bulls and 135–155 cm (53–61 in) in cows, while aurochs populations in Hungary had bulls reaching 155–160 cm (61–63 in). The body mass of aurochs appears to have shown some variability. Some individuals were comparable in weight to the wisent and the banteng, reaching around 700 kg (1,500 lb), whereas those from the late-middle Pleistocene are estimated to have weighed up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb), as much as the largest gaur (the largest extant bovid). The sexual dimorphism between bulls and cows was expressed with the cows being significantly shorter than bulls on average." (Wikipedia)

Cave painting of an aurochs,

Lascaux. Public domain.

A number of programs in Europe are now undertaking to breed a new aurochs, not through traditional breeding practices exemplified by the Heck's Cattle, but by using genetic analysis to locate genes similar to the aurochs in modern breeds and recombine them, in a sense to breed back to future of the aurochs.

A photoshopped image representing an

aurochs with two men. Public domain.

"The Dutch-based Tauros Programme (initially TaurOs Project) is trying to DNA-sequence breeds of primitive cattle to find gene sequences that match those found in "ancient DNA" from aurochs samples. The modern cattle would be selectively bred to try to produce the aurochs-type genes in a single animal. Starting around 2007, Tauros Programme selected a number of primitive breeds mainly from Iberia and Italy, such as Sayaguesa Cattle, Maremmana primitivo, Pajuna Cattle, Limia Cattle, Maronesa, Tudanca Cattle, and others, which already bear considerable resemblance to the aurochs in certain features. Tauros Programme started collaborations with Rewilding Europe and European Wildlife, two European organizations for ecological restoration and rewilding, and now has breeding herds not only in the Netherlands, but also in Portugal, Croatia, Romania, and the Czech Republic. Numerous crossbred calves of the first, second, and third offspring generations have been born already." (Wikipedia)

Cro-Magnon graffito of aurochs (Bos

primigenius) in Grotta del Romito,

Papasidero, Italy. Wikipedia,

public domain.

Arden Dier, writing for www.newser.com, on January 10, 2017, wrote: "Standing nearly as tall as an elephant, the aurochs grazed for 250,000  years until its extinction in 1627. But its story may not end there: Scientists say they are close to resurrecting the "supercow," once the largest land mammal in Europe, reports CNN. In search of herbivores to maintain land areas at risk of becoming barren, geneticists began breeding aurochs descendant with similar cattle breeds in 2008 and found they could "produce animals far closer to the aurochs than we would have expected," says Ronald Goderie of the Tauros Project. Fourth-generation beasts have now been introduced in Croatia, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Romania with promising results.

"We see progress not only in looks and behavior but also in de-domestication of the animals," says Goderie, noting one herd has learned to defend itself against wolves. The hope is that they will become part of the ecosystem to maintain land for other enimals. But a rep for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature says it's unclear "whether primarily wetland forests like the aurochs used to inhabit still exist, whether it could negatively impact wild or domestic plants or animals, and if it might endanger people." Indeed, a British farmer had to kill some of his aurochs-descended cattle in 2015 because they tried to kill him, per the Independent. That species, however, came from a Nazi breeding program that used Spanish fighting cattle." (www.newser.com)

Once again we look at the possibility of being able to see the mighty creatures that our ancient ancestors lived among and that they recorded in the beautiful heritage of Paleolithic cave art. Definitely an exciting possibility (you can read the original story at www.newser.com, check the full address in References below.)

NOTE: Some of the illustrations above were procured as the result of an Internet search for "aurochs - public domain." If any of these images were not actually meant for public domain usage I apologize for misusing them.

NOTE-2: A few days after posting this article I received my March 2017 issue of Discover magazine which includes a longer article on this subject, "Return of the Aurochs," written by Jonathon Keats. Check this out.

REFERENCES:

Dier, Arden

2017 Cows Once As Big As Elephants May Soon Roam Europe, http://www.newser.com/story/23661/cows-as-big-as-elephants-may-soon-roam-europe.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=foxnews&utm_campaign=rss_science_syn, January 10, 2017.

Faris, Peter

2011 Lascaux's Paintings, the Aurochs, and Heck's Cattle, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com, December 4, 2011.

Wikipedia

EXTINCT ANIMALS IN ROCK ART - BISON ANTIQUUS:

Bison in South Park, Colorado.

Photograph Peter Faris, 1990.

In the paper cited below the authors (Agenbroad and Hesse 2004) argue that the belief that Paleo-hunters did not live on the Colorado Plateau because the megafauna that they depended upon were absent is just a myth. They point to fossil remains located throughout the area in question, as well as rock art that they identify as representations of the megafauna in question, as proof that both the animals and the hunters occupied the Colorado Plateau from 12,000 to 6,000 BP. (Agenbroad and Hesse 2004:189-195)

Fig. 16.8 - Bison illustrations from

the Colorado Plateau. Agenbroad

and Hesse, 2004, p. 194.

If this is indeed the case, then the rock art that they show as evidence toward their claims must be illustrations of the extinct megafauna species (mammoth and bison) that existed during that period. We thus have numerous examples of rock art portraying the extinct species Bison antiquus. The actual existence of rock art illustrating mammoths is somewhat more problematical although opinions in the field are not as closed against it as before.

"Twenty-seven radiocarbon dates are available for bison localities. These dates range from more than 40,000 to 355 B.P. (the former date is the approximate upper limit of radiocarbon technology). Six dates are from the protohistoric period, three are from the Archaic period, and 18 are from the late Pleistocene. This information suggests that bison were more abundant on the Colorado Plateau during the late Pleistocene than during most of the Holocene." (Agenbroad and Hesse 2004:195)

"Maps of paleontological locales and artifacts show that megafauna and Paleoindians were present on the Colorado Plateau. When combined with rock art and a radiocarbon chronology, they provide convincing evidence to dispel the myth that human hunters and their major prey species did not live on the plateau from 13,000 to 6,000 B.P. Because of the dearth of preceramic studies in this region, at least 9,000 years of plateau prehistory is not being adequately researched." (Agenbroad and Hesse 2004:195)

Fig. 16.6 - Map of locations of bison

and mammoth rock art on the

Colorado Plateau. Agenbroad

and Hesse, 2004, p. 192.

"Bison remains, Folsom and Plano artifacts, and bison rock art are also found on the plateau, and some areas contain all of these. Although some Folsom and Plano artifacts are found in areas of the plateau with no recorded paleontological Pleistocene than in the Holocene. The number of bison remains from Folsom and Plano (Paleoindian) sites nearly equals the number from late Archaic and protohistoric sites.

Prehistoric rock art, especially petroglyphs, also lends credence to the presence of Paleoindian hunters on the plateau from 12,000 to 6,000 B.P. These people were the "Pleistocene pioneers." It is unfortunate that their presence has been denied, overlooked, and unresearched for so long."  (Agenbroad and Hesse 2004:195)

Large bison petroglyph overlapping

a mammoth petroglyph,  San Juan

river, near Bluff, Utah. Malotki

and Wallace, 2011, p.147

Drawing of the large bison petroglyph

overlapping the mammoth petroglyph, 

San Juan river, near Bluff, Utah.

Malotki and Wallace, 2011, p.147.

The illustration (Fig. 16.8) as well as the map of locations of bison and mammoth rock art (Fig. 16.6) both include an example from the San Juan river near Bluff, Utah. Malotki and Wallace have identified this as the figure of a Columbian mammoth with the overlapping image of a large bison.(Malotki and Wallace 2011:147)  This would pretty much have to represent Bison antiquus, or one of his cousins. 

The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoindian culture, named after distinct stone tools found at Clovis, New Mexico, in the 1920s and 1930s. The Clovis culture appeared around 13,200 - 12,900 years before present, at the end of the last glacial period. Clovis is characterized by the manufacture of Clovis points and distinctive bone and ivory tools. Clovis peoples are considered to be the ancestors of most of the indigenous cultures of the Americas. (Wikipedia)

In the Great Plains of the United States the following peoples ranging from 10,000 to 7,000 B.P. are designated as Plano, distinguished by long, lanceolate, projectile points; Agate Basin complex, named for the Agate Basin site; Cody Complex, named for the Horner site near Cody, Wyoming, and including the Olsen-Chubbuck Bison Kill site and the Jurgens site; Hell Gap complex named for the Hell Gap, Wyoming site and the Jones-Miller Bison Kill site; and the Foothills/Mountain complex. (Wikipedia)

The Folsom Complex dates to between 9000 B.C., and 8000 B.C., and is thought to have derived from the earlier Clovis culture. (Wikipedia)

Fremont (ca. AD 100 to 1300)

bison from 9-Mile Canyon,

Utah. Photograph by P. Heiple.

Until we can adequately date the bison images in question we will not be 100% certain, but logic suggests that some of the images portrayed do, in fact, represent the extinct species Bison antiquus, and, assuming that Agenbroad and Hesse are correct in their claims, then we also have examples of rock art from the Clovis, Plano, and Folsom peoples. The only real problem would seemingly be to discriminate it from the later examples.

REFERENCES:

Agenbroad, Larry D., and India S. Hesse,

2004    Megafauna, Paleoindians, Petroglyphs, and Pictographs of the Colorado Plateau, pages 189-195, in The Settlement of the American Continent: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Human Biogeography, edited by C. Michael Barton, Geoffrey A. Clark, David R. Yesner, and Georges A. Pearson, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Malotki, Ekkehart, and Henry D. Wallace

2011    Columbian Mammoth Petroglyphs From The San Juan River Near Bluff, Utah, United States, pp. 143-152, in Rock Art Research 2011 - Volume 28, Number 2. 

Wikipedia