TURTLES IN ROCK ART – THE HORNED TURTLE:

Horned Turtle petroglyph, Jeffers Petroglyph site, Minnesota. Photograph Peter Faris, 1993.

In Native American mythology the turtle plays many roles. Because of the protection afforded by the shell of the turtle he is often associated with warfare. Turtle was also seen as a source of warrior power since he carries his shield with him everywhere he goes.

Horned Turtle petroglyph, Jeffers Petroglyph site, Minnesota. Internet photograph, public domain.

At the Jeffers Petroglyph Site in Minnesota there is a very interesting image of a turtle with bison-like horns. In prehistoric vertebrate fossils a distinctly horned giant turtle was found in Australia. This creature was named Meiolaniidae and dated from the Pleistocene. Also, a South American horned turtle named Niolamia dates from the Cretaceous and Eocene; and Crossochelys was found in the South American Eocene. Unfortunately I could find no North American examples of horned turtles so the inspiration for this petroglyph is very unlikely to have been fossil remains.  

Horned turtle shield, provenance unknown. Photograph Housatonic Trading Company.

Horned turtle shield, p. 83, Afton, Jean, David Fridtjof, and Andrew E. Masich,1997, Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, Colorado Historical Society, Denver, Colorado.

At this time I have also been unable to locate references in Native American mythology to a horned turtle. I believe, however, that we can assume that if nothing else the addition of bison-like horns indicates a spiritual significance for the recipient. This assumption is backed up by images that I have located of three shields (one Arapaho and two possibly Cheyenne or Lakota) decorated with horned turtle subjects.

Arapaho horned turtle shield cover, 1850, Feder, American Indian Art, 1982, Harry N. Abrans, New York.

As we know that the decoration of a shield is generally spiritually significant, and is intended to lend the power of this spiritually significant subject to the warrior who possesses the shield, these suggest to me that the horned turtle does indeed have spiritual significance. Among Plains tribes the umbilical cord of a boy was often retained in a small turtle shaped amulet decoratively painted or beaded. Thomas Mails (1991) stated “Buffalo headdresses often had turtle designs painted on them or had small beaded turtle effigies appended to them.” (Mails 1991: 292)

Buffalo horned headdress with turtle amulet on top. Mails, Thomas E., 1991, Mystic Warriors of the Plains, copyright Thomas Mails, Barnes and Noble Books, New York.

This turtle effigy was indeed the umbilical cord amulet according to Mails. “When the child began to walk, the amulet was attached to his clothing to serve as a constant reminder of its purpose. Therefore, a child of five or six was known as a ‘carry your navel’. Sometimes the turtle was put away later on and other times it was kept by the mother. A boy often tied it to the left shoulder of his shirt, and then transferred ti to his buffalo-horned headdress if he became a renowned warrior.” (Mails 1991: 512) This suggests a connection between the turtle and buffalo horns for a “renowned warrior”. Given the examples of horned turtles on the Plains shields also providing a warfare context for the theme, I assume that the petroglyph of the horned turtle at the Jeffers Petroglyph Site has a martial implication, possibly the signature (in the form of a name glyph) of some renowned warrior.

 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:

Afton, Jean, David Fridtjof, and Andrew E. Masich,1997, Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, Colorado Historical Society, Denver, Colorado

Mails, Thomas E., 1991, Mystic Warriors of the Plains, copyright Thomas Mails, Barnes and Noble Books, New York.

ORIGINS OF THE OUTLINED CROSS VENUS SYMBOL:

Four-armed outlined cross Venus

symbol. Redrocks, AZ.

Photo Paul and Joy Foster.

The 4-armed symbol representing the planet Venus seems to have been ubiquitous prehistorically among cultures in Mexico and much of Central America. This, to such an extent that when we find it in contiguous areas like the American Southwest we also tend to apply that meaning to it. But how did that symbol, the outlined 4-armed cross or star, get to be associated with the planet Venus. In order to approach that question I had to look into the background of the subject.

In 1996, John B. Carlson wrote a paper titled "Transformations of the Mesoamerican Turtle Carapace War Shield, A Study in Ethnoastronomy", that looked at war shields from Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. He found that a common subject for the decoration of these symbols of conflict was the crucifix representing the planet Venus.

"It is now well understood that, at least from Late Formative times in Mesoamerica (around the beginning of the Common Era and probably much earlier), the planet Venus was viewed as a powerful male god of warfare and sacrifice. The evidence for this cult of Venus-regulated warfare and sacrifice comes from various archaeological sources, including inscriptions and iconography, from Spanish chronicles and ethnohistorical sources, and from Pre-Columbian codices." (Carlson 1996:100) Additionally, Carlson noted a frequent portrayal among Mayan (and Aztec) stela and other carvings, of a turtle carapace used by a god or important person as a shield (below).

One of the attributes of the turtle in Native American belief, and I assume Mesoamerican as well, is protection, because the turtle is protected by his shell. The step from that observation to the use of a large tortoise carapace as a shield is an obvious one. And, if Carlson, and others, are right about the connection between Venus and warfare, then the connection of the turtle to Venus is implied as well. But where did that symbol of the outlined 4-armed cross come from?

Carved shell turtle pendant,

Mayan, Tikal, 700-900 C.E.

John B. Carlson.

Carlson opened his paper with an illustration of a "Late Classic Maya carved shell pendant with the image of the eighth Maya day-sign Lamat, the symbol for the Great Star or Venus, represented on the carapace of a turtle. It was excavated in a Late Classic Period (ca. 700-900 C.E.; Imix ceramic phase) burial PNT-009 in structure 5C-49 in the Mundo Perdido group of Tikal by Juan Pedro Laporte." (Carlson 1996:1) This sign generally consists of an outlined cross with a circle in each quadrant.

Mayan glyph of the day sign

for Lamat, the eighth day.

The symbol for Venus.

This certainly establishes that there is a relationship, but not why a turtle is associated with Venus and warfare. He does go on "In Mesoamerican (and most Native American) iconography, turtles appear in a diversity of ritual and ceremonial contexts." (Carlson 1996: 106)

Mayan merchant warrior "Four Dog",

from Templo Rojo, Cacaxtla.

Turtle shell shield in lower right of picture.

Carlson lists a number of these, among the the following statement: "Turtle shells, usually from large marine turtles but also from those of smaller freshwater species, were used as shields in Mesoamerica, as demonstrated in iconographic and archaeological record and in the codices. . . . A beautiful example of such a sea turtle carapace war shield is the one carried by a historical character, the armed merchant warrior named "Four Dog," shown in a portrait as an impersonator of the Maya Merchant God L in the Templo Rojo of Cacaxtla. It is stowed on the lower back of the "cacaxtli" merchant's packframe which, in turn, is propped up by his lance. This Epiclassic mural likely dates from the 8th or perhaps 9th century C.E., placing it in the same general period as the Tikal shell." (Carlson 1996:107) He goes on to give many more examples of turtle/Venus/shield combinations but I think that this is satisfactory for our purposes.

Ecuadorian snapping turtle plastron.

Internet - Public Domain.

At this point I asked myself which turtle has such a symbol naturally on its upper shell (carapace), in other words what turtle is the actual model for the Venus symbol. That proved a little more difficult and a few hours of searching the internet failed to provide me with an actual model. At this point I realized that there are, in effect, two portions to a turtle's shell, the upper part known as the carapace, and the lower or under part, the plastron. Searching images of turtle plastrons fairly quickly provided the image I was looking for. The plastron of the snapping turtle has the basic shape of the Venus symbol with the four legs representing the circles in the four quadrants. Matching species of snapping turtles to the territory of the Maya the two likely candidates are the Common Snapping Turtle and the Ecuadorian Snapping Turtle, both of which have ranges that include some or all of the Mayan territory. And, it strikes me, if you want to use a turtle as a symbol of war, the turtle who can take off your finger or toe is certainly a good model to go by.

Personified star with eagle attributes,

Petroglyph Park, Albuquerque, NM.

Photo Peter Faris, 1988.

Carlson continues in his paper showing examples of the outlined cross, with or without the dots or circles in the four quadrants, as examples of Mesoamerican cultural influence on the Native peoples of North America. Some of that might indeed be true although I may not take it quite as far as he has. Where I part company with him, however, is his attribution of this Venus image to the personified star image of the Northern Rio Grande pueblo peoples. On August 11, 2012, I posted a column titled HALLEY'S COMET AND THE ORIGIN OF THE STAR KACHINA in which I suggested the possibility of Halley's Comet as the inspiration for that personified star symbol. I see the star with a tail as more probably a comet (a planet with a tail) than as the planet Venus. Ancillary subjects would also include turtle images in rock art. But,all in all the paper by John B. Carlson is an enjoyably impressive piece of scholarship, and I highly recommend it.

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 this report you should read the original report at the site listed below.

REFERENCE:

Carlson, John B.

1996 Transformations of the Mesoamerican Turtle Carapace War Shield, A Study in Ethnoastronomy, p. 99-122, Archaeoastronomy, Volumes XII-XIII, Songs From the Sky: Indigenous Astronomical and Cosmological Traditions of the World, Von Del Chamberlain, John B. Carlson, M. Jane Young, editors, Center for Archaeoastronomy, College Park, MD, USA.

HAWAIIAN ROCK ART IN UTAH:

Sea turtle petroglyph, Iosepa, UT.

Photograph by Benjamin Pykles.

In the last few months I have posted comments of a number of rock art sites I visited on a trip to Hawaii. What I had never expected was the fact that I could have visited Hawaiian rock art considerably closer to my home in Colorado.

Sea turtle petroglyph, Iosepa, UT.

Drawn by Peter Faris, after a

photograph by Benjamin Pykles.

In Skull Valley, Utah, west of Salt Lake City, Benjamin Pykles of the State University of New York at Potsdam has conducted archaeological investigation of the former site of the town of Iosepa. Pykles was assisted by Jonathan Reeves, an archaeology student at SUNY Potsdam. They recorded a remarkable group of petroglyph on the slope of Salt Mountain, overlooking the site of Iosepa and they presented their findings during a Society for American Archeology conference on April 1 in Sacramento, Calif. What makes these petroglyphs remarkable is the fact that they are mostly of tropical marine themes, and were done in a very Hawaiian-looking style.

Fish petroglyph, Iosepa, UT.

Drawn by Peter Faris, after a

photograph by Benjamin Pykles.

Subjects pictured in the 26 petroglyphs are reported to include fish, sea turtles, palm trees, a whale, and even what seems to represent a jellyfish, as well as more expected images such as a jackrabbit. The town of Iosepa had been founded in 1889 by Hawaiian converts to the Mormon Church who had moved to Utah with returning Mormon missionaries and settled in the Salt Lake City area.

Richard Poulsen, the President of the Iosepa Historical Society described the founding of the town in http://www.kued.org/productions/polynesian/history/.

“In the late 1800's the Mormon Church was expanding rapidly around the world due to the dedicated efforts of many diligent missionaries. Church membership grew especially fast in the Hawaiian Islands, where the native Polynesian people were quick to embrace the teachings of the gospel. Many of these Hawaiian converts felt a strong desire to come to Zion, where they could do temple work for themselves and for their ancestors. Soon arrangements were being made to undertake the journey, and these members began trickling into Utah as they accompanied missionaries returning to Utah from the Sandwich Islands. These pioneers settled into the Salt Lake Valley and its surrounding areas.


In 1889 a group of three Hawaiian converts and three return missionaries chose a section of land on Skull Valley's Rich Ranch for the purpose of forming a colony of Polynesian Saints. This colony was called Iosepa, the Hawaiian equivalent of Joseph, in honor of Joseph F. Smith, who had served a mission in the Hawaiian Islands.


On August 28, 1889, these Polynesian Saints moved to Iosepa, where lots were drawn for plots of land that had room for a home, garden, barn and corral. A sawmill was purchased and the Polynesians built homes, a chapel/assembly hall, a school, and a store in their community.”


The town developed steadily, and, with irrigation, became a thriving oasis in the Utah desert. The population grew to 228 souls and it was considered to be one of the great success stories in the colonization efforts of the church. Plantings thrived and included 300 walnut trees, 300 fruit trees, over 100 ornamental trees, grass, grape vines berries and flowers, especially noted were its yellow roses (Poulsen).

Poulsen continued “In 1915, Joseph F. Smith, then president of the Mormon Church, announced plans to build a temple at Laie, on the North Shore of Oahu. Some of the Hawaiians decided to return to the Islands, where they would now have more opportunities to perform sacred ordinances than they did in Utah, since the temple in Salt Lake City was 75 miles away. Church officials did not advise the colonists as a group to return, but did offer financial assistance to those who needed it. All of this had a snowballing effect, with more and more families deciding to return to Hawaii. Soon, even those who wished to remain in Iosepa were uncertain of the town's future. By January 1917, the town was virtually abandoned.”

Although these have to be considered historic (not prehistoric) images there is apparently no record of their purpose or any possible meaning. They may have been an appeal to remembered ancestral spirits to watch over the settlement, or perhaps just a vestige of homesickness on the part of one of the colonists. In any case, the petroglyphs of Iosepa are a record of a fascinating historical episode.

Reference:
http://www.kued.org/productions/polynesian/history/



TURTLE ISLAND - AND TURTLES IN ROCK ART:

Paleontologist George R. Wieland and 11-foot-tall
Archelon ischyros, 1895, from South Dakota,
Peabody Museum of Nat. Hist.

In Native American mythology the world is known as Turtle Island. They see the world as existing on the back of a great turtle swimming in an endless ocean. This could seem to be quite a stretch of the imagination, where could the idea of such a gigantic turtle come from? One could well suppose that very large turtles such as snapping turtles could have influenced this belief. Another possibility however, is that it was suggested by a Native American finding the exposed fossils of one of the prehistoric giant turtles like the eleven foot skeleton illustrated. Once you have proof of a turtle of that scale, turtles of almost any size seem possible.

Turtle Island, Seri Indian, p.134, People
of the Desert, Time-Life, 1993.

This picture was painted by a Mexican Seri Indian portraying his homeland on the back of Turtle Island and illustrating the concept clearly.

Turtle petroglyph, Purgatoire Canyon, CO.
Photo: 1999, Peter Faris.

Legend Rock, WY.
Photo: 1998, Peter Faris.

The presence of turtle imagery in rock art is well documented with examples found all over North America. The examples I have included come from Legend Rock in northwestern Wyoming, and from the Purgatoire River canyon in southeast Colorado.

Fossilized mud cracks, Painted Canyon, TX.
Photo: 2002, Peter Faris.

Once while on a field trip in western Texas visiting rock art sites I came across a horizontal outcropping of stone which was patterned with fossilized mud cracks. At the time I immediately thought of the pattern of plates or scutes on a turtle’s shell, and I realized that I was seeing the real surface of Turtle Island. Here in the eroded Texas landscape the earth had washed and/or blown away , down to the surface of the rocky shell of Turtle Island. No wonder the turtle became such a symbol of strength and endurance.