HAWAIIAN PETROGLYPHS RE-EXPOSED ON OAHU BEACH:

 

Wainae Beach petroglyphs, Oahu, Hawaii. Internet image, public domain.

On September 10, 2016, I wrote about a group of ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs discovered on Wainae Beach, Hawaii. They had been first noticed by tourists from Texas. Now, a new report of the petroglyphs on Wainae Beach has come out, apparently the same group that had been reported previously. As weather shifts the beach sand it appears that they are periodically exposed and then covered again.

Wainae Beach petroglyphs, Oahu, Hawaii. Internet image, public domain.

An Associated Press report, written by Jennifer Kalleher stated that “Hawaiian petroglyphs dating back at least a half-millennium are visible on Oahu for the first time in years, thanks to seasonal ocean swells that peel away sand covering a panel of more than two dozen images of mostly human-looking stick figures.The petroglyphs are easy to spot during low tide when gentle waves ebb and flow over slippery, neon-green algae growing on a stretch of sandstone. This is the first time the entire panel of petroglyphs are visible since they were first spotted nine years ago by two guests staying at a bayside U.S. Army recreation center in Waianae, about an hour’s drive from Honolulu.” (Kalleher 2025)

Wainae Beach petroglyphs, Oahu, Hawaii. Internet image, public domain.

“This reemergence is connected to patterns of seasonal weather. From May to November, Pacific storms churn the waters, scouring sand from beaches and occasionally bringing archaeological features that were obscured by sediment into view. Over time, the sand will eventually return, burying the carvings until they reappear during a shift in coastal dynamics once again. Specialists monitor the petroglyphs site, which lies within the grounds of a U.S. Army recreation area. The shoreline itself is open to the public, but complete access to the adjacent property requires military identification. This has created an ongoing controversy about how to preserve this part of Hawaii’s cultural heritage and make it more widely available.” (Radley 2025) From the reports it appears to me that nature and the U.S. Army are already doing a pretty good job of preserving the petroglyphs, and I really don’t go along with the part about “make it more widely available.”

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:

Kalleher, Jennifer Sinco, 2025, Early Hawaiian petroglyphs on a beach are visible again with changing tides, 24 July 2025, AP News. Accessed online 26 July 2025.

Radley, Dario, 2025, Ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs reemerge on Oahu’s shores after years of being hidden, https://archaeologymag.com (online). Accessed online 26 July 2025.

 

 

DUCK-HEADED FIGURES REVISITED:

Bird-headed figure, Kiva Point, Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, Colorado. Photograph Peter Faris, 1981.

RockArtBlog has previously visited the subject of bird-headed figures in 2011 and 2016 (see references below) but it has come back up in an article by Eric A. Powell in Archaeology magazine.

Tracing of figure with a duck on his head. Procession panel, Combs Ridge, near Butler Wash, Utah.

Just to reset the stage, there are essentially two kinds of bird-headed figures. On kind is an anthropomorph with a bird sitting on top of his head. The second kind has the head replaced by a bird. In this column I am going to limit my comments to bird-headed figures surmounted by what seem to be ducks.

Bird-headed figure from Muley Point, John's Canyon, Utah. Illustration from Castleton, Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Utah, Vol. 2, 1984, Fig. 7.78, p. 239.

In the July/August issue of Archaeology magazine, an excellent article by Eric Powell (2025) credits the creation of figures of anthropomorphs with ducks resting on their head to the Basketmaker culture. “Around AD 550, Basketmaker artists began to focus on depicting groups of simplified human figures rather than emphasizing individuals. In the canyonlands surrounding the San Juan River, crane, quail, and the occasional turkey are shown alongside humans but ducks resting on the heads of human figures dominate the bestiary of this later Basketmaker rock art.” (Powell 2025:48) Basketmaker is the name given to archaic cultures represented in the American southwest running from as early as possibly 7,000 BCE to 750 CE. (Wikipedia)

Flock of ducks and duck-headed figures. Photograph by Jim Larkey, image 45170426.

In his article Powell mentions various potential meanings for the figure of an anthropomorph with a duck on its head to the Basketmaker people. One possibility mentioned is that it is the symbol for a “duck clan.” Another possibility discussed is some sort of deity. “Some archaeologists have speculated that ducks represented a single Basketmaker clan, much as animals symbolize modern-day Pueblo kin groups, including the Hopi Bear and Spider Clans. In this scenario, the duck-head figures would have served as a kind of logo for a clan whose descendants eventually spread throughout the region. Other scholars have proposed that the duck-head figures might all have been meant to depict a single deity. Schaafsma believes clues to the importance of ducks might lie in present-day Pueblo oral traditions that give these birds a special role. According to traditions of the Zuni people in western New Mexico, a duck guides the blind god Kiaklo as he wanders the Earth.” (Powell 2025:50)

Duck-headed figure, Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, Train Rock -2, Colorado. Photograph John and Daphne Rudolph, 1991.

Ducks are unique creatures in the animal world because of their abilities to travel under the water and on it, on the land and through the sky. Later Pueblo people’s beliefs that the duck was a messenger to the katsinas may have been handed down from the Basketmaker cultural pantheon. “Ancestral Zuni spirits are also believed to transform into ducks to travel between Zuni Pueblo and a lake known as Kolhuwalaaw'a, the  underwater home of the spirits. These beliefs were recorded some 1,500 years after Basketmaker people created images of duck-head figures. Nevertheless, Schaafsma says these oral traditions suggest that people in the Four Comers region revered the duck's ability to travel through many realms with ease. "The duck is at home in the sky, walks on the land, swims on the water, and dives under the water for minutes at a time," she says. "Of all the birds, ducks seem to most explicitly traverse a layered cosmos." For the Basketmaker people, combining themselves with an animal that possessed the adaptive abilities of the duck would have been especially meaningful, says art historian Anna Blume of the Fashion Institute of Technology. "These are real powerful hybrids," she says. "In the imagination of the people who made them, these murals would have given them access to that special connection." (Powell 2025:50)

Closeup of Bird-headed figure, Kiva Point, Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, Colorado. Photograph Peter Faris, 1981.

On March 5, 2011, I posted a column that was titled BIRD-HEADED FIGURES. In this I presented a petroglyph panel from Kiva Point on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation in southeastern Colorado that includes a portrayal of an Ancestral Puebloan figure with a duck-like bird perched on its head, and I pointed out the fact that Lovelock Cave in Nevada held 3,000-year-old duck decoys. I cited Sandra Olsen's description of their creation and use: "Remarkable preservation at Lovelock Cave, Nevada, has led to the recovery of 3,000-year-old duck decoys - - - that were made by stretching a bird skin over a tule reed form. Many ethnographic reports describe hunters putting duck skins - on their heads as they swam right up to live ducks. They captured the ducks by grabbing their feet and pulling them underwater, so as not to disturb other nearby fowl." (Olsen 1998:104) I suggest that the Basketmaker fascination with duck-headed figures may be a tradition passed down from this early duck hunting technique.

Tule reed duck decoys, Lovelock Cave, Nevada.

In 1985 Rob Buchanan wrote about the findings in a cache in Lovelock Cave. This discovery was made by M. R. Harrington of New York City’s Museum of the American Indian in 1924. “This contained eleven remarkable decoys made of rushes, most of them feathered and painted to represent ducks. The decoys, which resemble  canvas-back drakes, were about 11 inches long, their bodies formed by 25 or 30 large bulrush stems bound in a tight hairpin and trimmed at the ends to simulate a duck’s tail. A billed head, smoothly tied with split reeds, was sewed fast to each body. White feathers were attached lengthwise to the body with twing. ‘Some waterfowl hunter had hid his decoys here against another season,’ concluded Harrington.” (Buchanan 1985) The finding of such a group of duck decoys provides strong evidence to back up Olsen’s testimony.

This becomes more likely when we see climatic data suggesting that the climate in the American southwest was wetter during the Basketmaker period. V.J. Polyak et al., studied past climates in the record preserved in a stalagmite. “Here, we report data from stalagmite HC-1, from Hidden Cave, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, covering the past 3400 years, showing an interval of increased frequency of droughts from 1260 to 370 yr B2K that is coeval with the entire pre-Hispanic Pueblo period. Our record suggests that this Puebloan Late Holocene climatic interval was the most arid and highly variable climatic period of the last 3400 years. Climatic conditions favoring the introduction of cultivation existed prior to the Pueblo period during more pluvial-like conditions from at least 3400 to 1260 yr B2K.” (Polyak et al. 2022) This suggests that wetter climatic conditions of early Basketmaker may have favored duck hunting as part of their subsistence scheme.

Duck-headed figure with flute player, Southwestern Utah. Photograph from Carol Patterson

Referring back to Olsen (1998) I can see Basketmaker duck hunters tying a tule reed duck decoy covered with the skin of a real duck on top of his head, or just pulling the preserved duck skin down over his own head and slipping gently into lake Lahontan to collect dinner. Powell (2025) did not include that interpretation as a possibility, but given the wetter climate of the American southwest during the Basketmaker era I believe it should be considered a strong possibility. As a final thought, if these figures do not represent duck hunters then I suggest that they may represent dance costumes. Indeed, in some places the duck headed figures are accompanied by flute-players, suggesting some kind of ritual situation. This would mean that the Lovelock Cave findings, interpreted as duck decoys, would be dance headdresses instead, but given Olsen’s (1998) testimony I personally favor the duck hunting interpretation.

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:

Buchanan, Rob, 1985, When it came to duck decoys the Paiute Indians made them to last, 25 February 1985, Sports Illustrated Vault online. https://vault.si.com. Accessed online 22 June 2025.

Faris, Peter, 2016, Bird-Headed Figures Revisited, 5 March 2016, https://www.rockartblog.blogspot.com.

Faris, Peter, 2011, Bird-Headed Figures, 5 March 2011, https://www.rockartblog.blogspot.com.

Olsen, Sandra L., 1998,   Animals in American Indian Life: An Overview, pages 95-118, in Stars Above, Earth Below: American Indians and Nature, Marsha C. Bol, editor,  Roberts Rinehart Publishers, Niwot, CO.

Polyak, V.J., Asmerom, Y. and Lachniet, M.S., 2022, Climatic backdrop for Pueblo Cultural development in the southwestern United States. Scientific Relports 12, 8723. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022012220-6.

Powell, Eric A., 2025, Birds of a Feather, Archaeology, July/August 2024, Vol. 78, No. 4. pp. 46-51.

Wikipedia, Basketmaker Culture, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketmaker_culture. Accessed online 5 July 2025.

 

AMAZON DROUGHT REVEALS NEW BRAZILIAN ROCK ART:

Praia das Lajes, Brazil. Image from wikimedia.org.

Online image, public domain.

Rock art that had been submerged in Brazil’s Rio Negro river has now been exposed because of a serious drought in that region that has lowered the water level.

Faces carved in high relief. Online images, public domain.

“Drought in Brazil’s Amazon has drastically reduced river levels in recent weeks, affecting a region that depends on a maze of waterways for transportation and supplies. The Brazilian government has sent emergency aid to the area, where normally bustling riverbanks are dry, littered with stranded boats. According to experts, the dry season has worsened this year due to El Niño, an irregular climate pattern over the Pacific Ocean that disrupts normal weather, adding to the effect of climate change.” (Phys Org 2023)

Low relief faces. Image credit AFP.

Low relief face carving. Online image, public domain.

“An extreme drought in parts of the Amazon has dramatically dropped river water levels, exposing dozens of ancient carvings depicting humans. According to archaeologists, the rock carvings are about 2,000 years old, and the engravings feature anthropomorphic representations of civilizations that inhabited the region. The first documentation of the ancient engravings was made in 2010 during another drought not as severe as the current one. At the time (the) river’s dark waters dropped to 13.63 meters, and now, 13 years later, the Rio Negro continues to break drought records and reveal surprises.” (Bartek 2023) With the petroglyphs exposed by a 13.63 meter drop in water levels we must assume that they were created at a time that the water levels were also down at least this far. If science could produce a climate record for the region that would allow more accurate estimates of the time periods that must have been involved.

Incised square face. Image credit AFP.

“The engravings comprise an archaeological site of ‘great relevance,’ said Jaime Oliveira of the Brazilian Institute of Historical Heritage (Iphan). They are at a site known as Praia das Lajes and were first seen in 2010, during another period of drought not as severe as the current one. The rock carvings appear against a backdrop of dense jungle, with the low brownish waters of the Negro River flowing nearby. Most of the engravings are of human faces, some of them rectangular and others oval, with smiles of grim expressions.” (Phys Org 2023) The question would seem to be are the different forms of faces the result of being produced by different carvers, different time periods, or different cultures?

“For Beatriz Carneiro, historian and member of Iphan, Praia das Lajes has an ‘inestimable’ value in understanding the first people who inhabited the region, a field still little explored. Unhappily it is now reappearing with the worsening of the drought, Carneiro said. Having our rivers back (flooded) and keeping the engravings submerged will help preserve them, even more than our work.’” (Voice of America 2023)

It would seem contrary to logic that flooding the images would protect them but that would depend on the type of rock that they are carved into. It cannot be the relatively soft sandstones and limestone that so much of the North American rock art is produced on. It must be a much harder stone, perhaps volcanic.

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.

SOURCES:

Bartek, Jan, 2023, Drought Reveals 2,000-Year-Old Rock Carvings In Brazil’s Amazon, 23 October 2023, https://www.ancientpages.com. Accessed online 23 October 2023.

Editors, Phys.org, 2023, Drought in Brazil’s Amazon reveals ancient engravings, 22 October 2023, https://phys.org/news/. Accessed online 22 October 2023.

Voice of America, 2023, Drought in Brazil’s Amazon Reveals Ancient Engravings, 22 October 2023, https://www.voanews.com. Accessed online 23 October 2023.

BOAT PETROGLYPHS IN THE DESERT OF SUDAN:

Map of the study area. Cooper and Vanhulle, 2023, Fig. 1.

Recent rock art surveys in the eastern desert of Sudan in the Sahara desert have found quite a lot of rock art indicating that back during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods the region was wetter and supported populations of pastoralist. Interestingly, along with the expected range of zoomorphs and cattle one would expect to find in pastoralist rock art, there are also representations of a new type of boat.

Boat petroglyph. Cooper and Vanhulle, 2023, fig. 4.

“The Eastern Desert of Sudan, commonly referred to as the ‘Atbai’, is a vast desert expanse known for its goldmines and as the homeland of nomadic groups. Within this desert, the topography, ecology, and local archaeological material differs appreciably. On the main range of the Red Sea Hills, nearing the coast, many large cemeteries and nomadic habitation sites occur, owing in part to the regularity of orographic rainfall and water sources in the base of wadis. Contrasting this ecology are the interior deserts closer to the Nile River and west of the Red Sea Hills, sometimes called the Awliib or Atmur in Beha, which exhibit much flatter topography punctuated with inselbergs, sand-dunes, and numerous rocky plateaus and a much sparser record of habitation in historical periods.” (Cooper and Vanhulle 2023)  This lack of signs of habitation during the historic period is not doubt the result of the drying up of the Sahara during the early Neolithic Period.

Petroglyph locations and variations. Cooper and Vanhulle, 2023, fig. 11.

“In the nineteenth century, this region became well-known as the area of the ‘Korosko Road’, and established caravan path providing a shortcut through the Nile bend linking the settlements of Korosko and Abu Hamed. As part of the broad aims of the Atbai Survey Project, two seasons (2018-2019) of rock art surveys were conducted in the region of the flat deserts between Gevel Rafit and Wadi Halfa, especially around the massif of Gebel Nahoganet and Nasb Enat. Owing to the extreme aridity of this region, habitation sites post third millenium BCE are extremely ephemeral in nature and can be generally attributed to the expeditions of gold miners and foreign expeditions. Multi-period nomadic occupations are attested at the few specific sites where surface water is available. The exception to this pattern is the great proliferation of sites of Mesolithic and Neolithic date which are comparatively common in the Atbai’s flat Atmur wastes. Many inselbergs and rock shelters reveal scatterings of pottery from these periods, and it is likely that much of the rock art repertoire, the majority being faunal in nature, belongs to this phase of habitation. As with other ‘Saharan’ rock art zones, the types of fauna indicate an altogether wetter environment than the hyper-arid present, with conditions suitable for a variety of African savannah fauna like the giraffe and even elephant. The ubiquity of cattle in the rock art record suggests that the region was occupied by cattle pastoralists until an as yet unknown date, possibly as late as the third or second millennium BCE. After this point, decreasing rainfall rendered cattle pastoralism impossible. The specific desert region east of Wadi Halfa is in fact so arid and devoid of watering opportunities that it is rarely used by pastoralists today. Only seldom are camel and goat herders to be found in this Atmur desert, usually around the wells at Murrat.” (Cooper and Vanhulle 2023) As the authors said above, the climate of the Sahara having been so wet and fertile for life came as a huge surprise when we learned about it. Apparently much of what is now the Sahara desert once had vegetation, water and fauna, as well as human habitation.

The authors discussed a number of the examples of fauna as the subject at some of these sites, but at this time I will focus on the uniquely-shaped watercraft they found in surprising quantity.

The tunnel petroglyph panel (dotted outline). Cooper and Vanhulle, 2023, fig. 2A.

The tunnel petroglyph panel. Cooper and Vanhulle, 2023, fig. 3.

“On a series of small inselbergs (rock-island outcrops) south of Gebel Nahoganet, approximately 150 km from the nearest section of Nile, the survey identified four new rock art sites, mainly exhibiting faunal depictions. However, one of these sites, AS19.26, exhibited a notable feature in depicting a large group of at least six boats, reproduced along a horizontal axis of over two meters on the western wall of a small natural rock-tunnel that leads to the center of the inselberg. A single boat depiction was also produced on the other side of the tunnel on the eastern wall, almost as far back in the tunnel as is feasibly traversable by an ancient artist. In all, there are nine discernible features on the main ‘western’ wall. Six of these features can be identified as boats and the remainder are somewhat enigmatic in composition. These boats were arranged in an exceptionally unique manner on the rock surface in that they were depicted along the walls of the tunnel. The tunnel is a little over a meter in height and opens out into a natural rock shelter protected by a series of large boulders on the south side of the inselberg, making the sit in all probability suitable for habitation and refuge, shielded from the prevailing north wind. The curved nature of the rock as well as the cramped conditions made epigraphic recording exceedingly difficult, requiring instead digital epigraphic methods. Access to the tunnel requires climbing, a process that presumably was also true for the ancient rock art maker(s), although it is impossible to ascertain the height of the ancient shelter floor from our reconnoiter.” (Cooper and Vanhulle 2023)  One would not normally expect pictures of a fleet of boats to be found 150 kilometers (approx. 93 miles) from the nearest major body of water. Doesn’t this confirm that during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods there may have been lakes in the area that were suitable for boating?

Boat petroglyphs. Cooper and Vanhulle, 2023, fig. 6.

Boat petroglyphs. Cooper and Vanhulle, 2023, fig. 8.

The authors attempt to ascertain who might have created these images. “It is not easy to ascribe these specific boat depictions to any individual cultural grouping, although a ‘Nile connection’ seems likely based on the importance of the boat.” (Cooper and Vanhulle 2023) Given this assumption, they find it unlikely that the images were created by an early Egyptian society. “Perhaps a more plausible explanation then is to connect or attribute these images to local Nubian groups centered in the Nubian Nile Valley and/or the Atbai desert.” (Cooper and Vanhulle 2023) In effect they are saying that, while boat portrayals are common in rock art along the Egyptian stretch of the Nile River, these boat are unique in shape and have no analog in that area, thus, they conclude that this shape of watercraft is likely an early Nubian development rather than Egyptian. Indeed, given the relatively thick and stubby appearance of these boats they may have been reed boats made from papyrus by Nubians.

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.

REFERENCE:

Cooper, Julien, and Dorian Vanhulle, 2023, Rock Art Surveys in the Sudanese Eastern Desert: Results of the 2018-2019 Atbai Survey Project, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Volume 109 (1-2), 189-208. DOI:10.1177/03075133231211917.  Accessed online 12 June 2024.

PETROGLYPH BOUNDARY MARKERS?

One question frequently heard in rock art studies is “are these border markers?” Rock art is often proposed to have been placed in a certain location as a sign post to other people than the area’s inhabitants.

Serpent petroglyph at Raudal Palomazón, illustration from Riris et al., 2024, fig. 4.

I remember that back in the 1980s many of my co-enthusiasts placed a great deal of significance in the location of rock art, and they were probably correct in doing so. If rock art was near signs of habitation it was supposedly placed there like a public sign, perhaps for educational purposes. If it was sort of hidden away in an alcove or something it was thought to have been placed there for secret rites and ceremonies. But, if it was in a location that is easy to see, and without any nearby signs of occupation, it was thought to possibly be some sort of boundary marker. 

Study area, illustration from Riris et al., 2024.

This theory has again come up along the Orinoco River in Columbia and Venezuela, images of gigantic snakes assumed to represent border markers, or warnings – sort of a NO TRESSPASSING sign. “Our results demonstrate the profound influence of artistic practices on pre-Columbian cultural landscapes. Even considering the exceptional diversity and size of many northern South American rock art sites. Middle Orinoco monumental engravings represent a unique tradition of large-scale artistic production. Ethnohistorical and archaeological data illustrate the multi-ethnic character of Indigenous societies in the region with recent work showing how symbolic material culture was key to negotiating identities in an environment of sustained cultural interaction. The potential associations of these sites with Indigenous myths today underscore the central role of rock art in the appropriation of contested landscapes. With reference to the perilous connotations of gigantic snakes emphasized in, for example, Piaroa and Warekena (Arawak) myths alike, we suggest that pre-Columbian people perceived the gigantic snakes as an ever-present reminder of ancient conflicts and negotiations between supernatural beings and humans. As cultural agents, these motifs would need to be related to accordingly. - Our analysis of monumental rock art suggests that panels likely acted as markers on the edges of group boundaries, and as a protective agent within domestic spaces. The visibility and prominence of gigantic snake outcrops from the river and riverbanks emphasizes this notion.” (Riris et al. 2024) It has been suggested that some of these snakes are the largest petroglyphs ever recorded. I couldn’t speak to that except to remind readers that there are some pretty big examples of rock art all over the world. These, however, were apparently placed where they were purposely to be seen, and great size enhances that emphasis.

Serpent petroglyph from Orinoco River, illustration from Riris et al., 2024.

“During the 18th century C.E. voyagers roving (?) the Orinoco River—a vast watery highway stretching across the northeastern corner of South America—reported dozens of mysterious rock engravings of snakes crowning the rocky hilltops. The engravings have remained mysterious over the centuries, their whereabouts in today’s Colombia and Venezuela largely passed down by local word of mouth. Now, in the first systematic study by modern archaeologists, researchers have mapped 13 sites bearing gigantic pre-Hispanic artwork—mostly of serpents—confirming both local stories and explorers’ accounts.” (Rubiano A. 2024) Sparsely occupied and remote areas will obviously be explored later, and science gets to them last.

Serpent petroglyph from Orinoco River, illustration from Riris et al., 2024. Note human figures in lower right for scale.

Serpent petroglyph from Orinoco River, illustration from Riris et al., 2024. Detail of coiled tail at right side.

“Depictions of anacondas, centipedes, human figures and giant rodents are among the engravings which may hark back to myths told for more than 2,000 years. Now the first scientific documentation of this art finds that some of these engravings are among the largest in the world. Their size makes them visible from a distance, suggesting they were used as ancient signposts that told travelers along the prehistoric trade route whose territory they were entering and leaving.” (Pappas 2024) Remember, the serpent as a theme is common in rock art throughout North and Central America, so this extends that theme farther south into South America. They do not all mean the same thing, but whatever their local meaning they are common.

Serpent petroglyph from Cerro Dagua, Orinoco River, illustration from Riris et al., 2024, fig. 6. For scale, the span of the bat-like creature in lower right is approx. 4 meters.

“Separately, we have carried out excavations, material culture analyses and chronometric dating on pre-Columbian settlement sites in and around the Atures Rapids. This work has documented a succession of cultural complexes that span two main periods: an early occupation period ranging from 100 BC–AD 620 (Saladoid-Barrancoid and Cedeñoid ceramics, Early Picure complex) and a late occupation period from AD 1030–1480 (Arauquinoid, Valloid and Nericagua ceramics; Late Picure/Late Rabo de Cochino complexes). Following ephemeral initial occupations, settlements grew over time, culminating in the establishment of several multi-ethnic communities before the Conquest (AD 1500). Although not directly dated, a small number of petroglyph motifs are paralleled in archaeological ceramic decoration.” (Riris et al. 2024) Which may help in the dating, common themes may have common meaning and indicate a common time frame. The idea being that as a culture evolves and its beliefs are altered by time, the symbols and visual icons to represent them will also evolve.

Serpent petroglyph from Casuarito Norte, Orinoco River, illustration from Riris et al., 2024, fig. 5. 

“Starting at least 9200 years ago, several Indigenous groups inhabited the Orinoco region. Distinct styles of quartz tools, clay pots, and other objects suggest these groups used the river as a highway to trade objects, techniques, and materials. By the time the first Spanish missionaries arrived in the 14th century, at least seven different groups were trading, marrying, allying, and fighting with one another in a complex political network. Some contemporary Indigenous groups, including the Arawaks and Piaroa, descend from these ancient societies. When the researchers behind the new study first arrived in the region in 2015, they were stunned by the engravings made by the ancient Indigenous people. “The first time I saw one of them, it was from the window of a moving vehicle, [seeing a] hill like any other hill, but all of a sudden, [the snake] appeared,” recalls Philip Riris, an archaeologist at Bournemouth University and lead author of the study.” (Rubiano 2024)

“Though area residents have long been aware of the rock art, the archeology of the Middle to Upper Orinoco had been little studied by outsiders, says paper co-author Jose R. Oliver, a reader in Latin American archeology at University College London. He and his co-authors, Philip Riris of Bournemouth University in England and Natalia Lozada Mendieta of the University of the Andes in Columbia, wanted to document these sites both for scientific and conservation reasons. They surveyed a region centered around the Atures Rapids in the Middle Orinoco, a place where the river becomes impassible by canoe and travelers have to portage over land. ‘Everything we knew about the archeology of the region suggested that it was this meeting point where different cultures came together and actively traded and, in some cases, probably intermarried,’ Riris says.” (Pappas 2024) Another example perhaps of the local people always knowing about it but when a visitor from outside first sees it, it is “discovered.”

So to reiterate - if rock art was near habitation sites it was supposedly placed there like a public sign for our own people, perhaps for educational purposes. If it was sort of hidden away in an alcove or something it was thought to have been placed there for secret rites and ceremonies. But, if it was in a location that is easy to see, and without any nearby signs of occupation, it was thought to possibly be some sort of boundary marker, a signboard or announcement to others. The idea was that the location of a petroglyph or pictograph will help deduce its possible meaning. Nowadays that idea goes under the more picturesque designation of ‘Rock Art’s Placement in the Landscape’ but the basic theories have changed very little.

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:

Pappas, Stephanie, 2024, Ancient Snake and Centipede Carvings Are Among World’s Largest Rock Engravings, 3 June 2024, https://www.scientificamerican.com. Accessed online 4 June 2024.

Riris, Philip, Jose Ramon Oliver, Natalia Lozada Mendieta, 2024, Monumental Snake Engravings of the Orinoco River, 4 June 2024, Published online by Cambridge University Press, 4 June 2024, pp. 724-742, Accessed online 4 June 2024.

Rubiano A., Maria Paula, 2024, Gigantic snake carvings may have been ancient ‘road signs,’ 3 June 2024, https://www.science.org. Accessed online 4 June 2024

 

ROCK ART FROM THE LOWER SAND CANYON IN THE MESA VERDE REGION, SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO, USA – IT TURNS OUT THERE IS ROCK ART THERE AFTER ALL – SURPRISE!

Sand Canyon petroglyph panel. Photograph from the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.

On September 19. 2018, I received an e-mail communication from one Mariette Eaton of the BLM who informed me that there wasn’t really much rock art in Canyon’s of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado. Her exact statement was “unfortunately there is not a great deal of rock art that is easily accessible.” This struck me as very strange because any canyon you enter in that part of Colorado (Montezuma County) is loaded with rock art and ancient ruins. I was also informed that Canyon of the Ancients was closed to visitation. On 1 October 2018 I posted a column titled “Public Access/Public Servants/Responsiveness/and Responsibility” in which I expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment at being turned away like that, let alone with Mariette Eaton’s lie. Incidentally, while we were at the Monument Headquarters one very nice park ranger confirmed that there was a huge amount of rock art there, and had no idea why I would have been denied visitation rights.

Now, I have found out that literally at the same time that I was being turned away with this brush off, a team of researchers from Poland was in there doing archaeological work, and recording Rock Art. Now, I have no objections to foreign visitors in our National Monuments, indeed I welcome them up to a point, that point being when Americans are being lied to and turned away. This Polish team was led by Radoslaw Polonka who has published a number of papers and chapters on the rock art of Canyon of the Ancients.

Palonka’s comments about Winter Solstice observation in December 2018 and Spring Equinox observation in March 2019 (page 251) would seem to prove that he was there at the same time that I was told that there is really not much rock art in Canyon of the Ancients. Additionally, Palonka’s three pages of References includes; David Breternitz, Kenneth Castleton, Sally Cole, Scott Ortman, Polly Schaafsma, Dennis Slifer, and Mark Varien as well as many others who seem to have thought that there was rock art in the area. But enough of my whining about Mariette Eaton’s lies, let’s look at some of the things that Palonka found in Sand Canyon of Canyon of the Ancients National Monument.

Sand Canyon petroglyph panel. Photograph from the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.

Palonka and team apparently did some very good work during their time in Canyons of the Ancients. They report on a number of sites we did not have records of up to now.

“Since 2011, archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow have been taking part in the Sand Canyon-Castle Rock Community Archaeological Project in the central Mesa Verde region. This research focuses on the reconstruction of settlement structure and documentation of rock art at dozens of sites that may have functioned as one Puebloan community. In particular, the project explores the inter-relationships between particular settlements, and the role of the towers and shrines as a means of visual communication in the functioning of this system.” (Palonka et al. 2020:492) This Krakow university must have one heck of an archeology program, references to it keep popping up in papers from all over the world.

“The team has also obtained dates from dendrochronological samples and pottery analysis that are more accurate than previously achieved. This evidence has allowed us to speculate that, contrary to some earlier research (or at least questioning if some or most), small sites may have functioned contemporaneously with the community centre. The community centre was the largest site in the community that also comprised public buildings, such as plazas or large kivas (ritual buildings). Together, these sites may have formed a community that was connected by strong religious and social ties.

Additionally, we have collaborated with the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office to gather more comprehensive information concerning past landscape use, based, in part, on the Pueblo oral tradition. Taken together, these findings illuminate the

Operation and final days of one of the largest communities of Ancient Pueblo culture in the Mesa Verde region in the thirteenth century AD.” (Palonka et al. 2020:492)

Three warriors, Castle Rock Pueblo community, Sand Canyon, Montezuma County, Colorado. Photograph from Radoslaw Polonka, 2019, Jagiellonian  University, Krakow, Poland.

They work focused on Castle Rock community in Sand Canyon of the Canyons of the Ancients.

”We documented ancient Pueblo rock art at 15 Castle Rock Community sites, represented by both petroglyphs and paintings, including warriors fighting with bows and arrows (a well known panel from Castle Rock Pueblo), concentric circles, spirals, zig-zag lines, bird tracks and foot- and handprints. Other motifs could be interpreted as being connected with astronomical observations. The rock art can be roughly dated to the Pueblo III period (AD 1150–1300), and was probably created sometime in the thirteenth century AD, based on stylistic comparison to other well-dated rock art panels. There are, however, a few cases where we can observe much older rock art within these Late Pueblo III settlements, including anthropomorphic figures with triangular or trapezoidal bodies that are either pecked (at site 5MT127: Vision House) or painted with red and white (at site 5MT264: The Gallery). They are often included in the so-called San Juan Basketmaker Anthropomorphic Style, examples of which are also present in nearby Mancos Canyon, and as far as Durango to the north-east. At least two sites in the Community, The Gallery and Two Story House, have surviving plaster murals on the building walls. These were placed in the buildings’ second storey, while the first storey could have served as storage rooms, based on its masonry, which is roughly shaped with no plaster or paintings on the wall, while the second storey has been done with more care and often contains plaster and murals. The example at Two Story House comprises brown/reddish and white murals, including what appear to be three roughly preserved triangles. Similar triangles are found in Cliff Palace and other sites from the Mesa Verde National Park. They may represent the mountains (perhaps different peaks of the Ute Mountains) and might have been important religious symbols for the local Pueblo society. As with most of the cliff-dwelling sites in the area, Two Story House faces south, with a clear view of Sleeping Ute Mountain range.” (Palonka et al. 2020:504) I have previously published about the three triangle depiction of mountains on RockArtBlog (see the cloud index at the bottom) and while Palonka suggests they may represent Sleeping Ute Mountain, my vote is for Huerfano Butte in northern New Mexico or San Francisco Peaks. But it might even be the case that all three are correct. Perhaps the ancestral pueblo peoples who found significance in the Three Mountain theme applied it to nearby features that they were familiar with, so at Mesa Verde the Huerfano Butte had this significance to them, and at Chevelon pueblo it might well have been the San Francisco Peaks while in the Canyons of the Ancients the Sleeping Ute range may have been their inspiration.

Sand Canyon mural painting. Photograph from the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.

Also recent articles in popular sources have been trumpeting some of their discoveries as newly recorded archeoastronomical sites.

“Some Pueblo period rock art iconography documented by our project may be connected with astronomical observations and could have served as a kind of calendar or solar/lunar markers, such as the petroglyphs at the sites 5MT129, 5MT261, 5MT1803, 5MT1823, and 5MT1843 and maybe the mural at the site 5MT264. These representations, with a fairly large potential for research, can shed new light on, for example, knowledge of celestial bodies and astronomical phenomena by the Ancient Pueblo communities once inhabiting these canyons. The observations conducted during the Winter Solstice in December 2018 and Spring Equinox in March 2019 at the Site 5MT129 in Sand Canyon brought very interesting results of light-shadow interactions with the particular sections of rock art panel, suggesting that it was some kind of solar marker or calendar, although further observation in the field and additional ethnographic analogies as well as consultations with different Pueblo groups elders are needed. It seems that, in addition to accurate documentation, visualization using new technologies like laser scanning and the photogrammetry may provide invaluable help. Conducting this documentation and later analysis in different graphic programs and a virtual environment (for example, using the RTI- Reflectance Transformation Imaging) allowed us to reveal many details and entire depictions that are not visible using only traditional documentation. Using these techniques we were able to document colored plaster and murals found on the walls of buildings at two sites of the surveyed area, The Gallery in the East Fork of Rock Creek Canyon, and Two Story House in Graveyard Canyon. They were done in reddish brown, white and yellow, and placed on two opposite walls of the second floor of Room B at The Gallery site, where even several layers of multicolored plaster have been preserved. The paintings on this mural include geometric images that have been preserved, such as dots, zig-zag lines or depictions of a snake and three birds, probably turkeys. At the Two Story House, along with the white/reddish brown plaster, there are geometric motifs, probably in the form of several triangles that might symbolize mountains. The rock shelter where the Two Story House site is located faces directly south to the highest summit in the area (Sleeping Ute Mountain), which rises to a height of around 3000 m above sea level, and is 3–4 km away from the site. It is a sacred mountain for the contemporary Ute Indians, who have a reservation there today, and it almost certainly had special significance for the ancient Pueblo Indians (modern Pueblo groups, like the Hopi, claim that this mountain certainly had a sacred meaning for their ancestors, who built stone settlements in rock niches). This may be just one example of the relationship of architecture, settlement location and rock art iconography to the surrounding landscape and probably religious practices associated with it – an aspect that is still being studied by our project.” (Palonka 2019:251) I think that the archeoastronomical conclusions have to wait for considerably more research.

Sand Canyon petroglyph panel. Photograph from the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.

“The chronological and cultural associations of the Ancestral Pueblo petroglyphs are well established, based on style, content and associated archaeological data by previous research in the region. The oldest Ancestral Pueblo petroglyphs (c. 1000–1300 AD) include pecked and/or incised human figures with upraised arms and a few abstract motifs. They are located on the lowest section of the wall and have endured rough treatment by wind, soil deposits, sheep and cattle. Older Ancestral Pueblo petroglyphs may well be buried underground: our geophysics and test-pit excavations revealed the possibility that some structures are located approximately 1.6–2.0m deep (such accumulation of soil is probably due to catastrophic floods that occurred in the past).” (Palonka 2023:6)

Sand Canyon, Montezuma County, Colorado. Photograph by Radoslaw Polonka, 2019. - Listed as two "serpentine forms" these are probably rabbit sticks or fending sticks for fending off atlatl darts.

All in all this work provides considerable new data on an area that still has a great deal to tell us. Good work Radislaw Palonka. I’ll bet you can tell that I am jealous.

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.

REFERENCE:

Faris, Peter, 2018, Public Access/Public Servants/Responsiveness/and Responsibility, 1 October 2018, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com.

Milligan, Mark, 2023, Archaeologists have discovered Pueblo astronomical carvings and paintings in Colorado, 13 December 2023, https://www.heritagedaily.com. Accessed 16 December 2023.

Palonka, Radoslaw, et al., 2023, Digital documentation and analysis of Native American rock art and Euro-American historical inscriptions from the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado, Antiquity, Vol. 97 (393), 1-9. Accessed online 16 December 2023.

Palonka, Radoslaw, 2019, Rock Art from the Lower Sand Canyon in the Mesa Verde Region, Southwestern Colorado, USA, KIVA, 85:3, 232-256, DOI:10.1080/00231940.2019.1643071

Palonka, Radoslaw, et al., 2020, Ancestral Pueblo settlement structure and sacred landscape at Castle Rock Community, Colorado, Antiquity, Vol. 94 (374), 491-511. Accessed online 16 December 2023.