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

A PAINTED DINOSAUR TRACK IN UTAH:

Pictograph showing painted dinosaur

footprint at Flag Point east of Kanab, Utah. Photograph By John Foster and Alden

Hamblin, Survey Notes, January, 2001,

Utah Geological Survey.

A pictograph (painted rather than pecked) on a rock art panel at the Flag Point track site near Kanab, Utah, appears to represent a tridactyl dinosaur footprint (Eubrontes); these are the most obvious prints at the site, though there are also Grallator tracks. The footprints are in the Kayenta Formation of the Lower Jurassic in the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument. The pictograph dates to the Formation Period of the Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) culture, between AD 1000 and 1200 (Mayor and Serjeant. 2001:151).

Dinosaur track at Flag Point, East of Kanab

Utah. Photograph By John Foster and

Alden Hamblin, Survey Notes, January,

2001, Utah Geological Survey.

These pictographs are found at a location known as Flag Point in the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. There are a number of dinosaur footprints in the rock there and nearby in a rock shelter is a red-painted pictograph panel. It clearly includes a tridactyl form that very closely imitates one of the dinosaur footprints found nearby. A number of other images in the pictograph panel represent bird-man figures with outspread arms. Most viewers assume that the bird-man figures were suggested by the presumed resemblance of a dinosaur footprint to the footprint of a very large bird. This may in fact be the case but it must be remembered that there are also fundamental differences between the track of a bird’s foot and that of a theropod dinosaur other than size.

Most tracks left by a bird’s foot, whether new or fossilized, show the fourth or posterior toe that the bird uses to grasp with extending backwards from the foot. The tridactyl track of a theropod dinosaur does not show that fourth toe extending backwards. The painting of the large track at Flag Point in Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument lacks that projecting fourth toe of a bird’s footprint which suggests that it does in fact represent the nearby dinosaur footprints instead of a bird track. Also, the angle of spread on the toes is quite different for bird and dinosaur tracks. The angle of spread between the outer toes of a bird is about ninety degrees, and the same angle on a therapod dinosaur's track will be nearer forty-five degrees. Although the Flag Point pictograph does not exhibit the fourth toe on the back like many bird tracks, the angle of spread between the outer toes definitely indicates that it is a bird track. But perhaps we are over-thinking this.

A bird track above, a theropod

dinosaur track below.

Having drawn that distinction, I then have to ask myself if the Native Americans who painted the Flag Point panel knew of the difference between bird and dinosaur tracks. Since I am assuming that they had no knowledge of dinosaurs as our modern science has revealed them, the question must be rephrased to "did they know the difference between bird tracks and the tracks of something else?" These people certainly knew their tracks so they would have recognized them as such, but tracks of what? These large tracks in solid stone would undoubtedly have been attributed to mythological monsters, indeed these tracks may well have prompted the origins of such beliefs.

NOTE: This is really only the beginning. We have yet to look at the question of lizard tracks.

REFERENCE:

Mayor, Adrienne and William A. S. Serjeant

2001    The Folklore of Footprints in Stone: From Classical Antiquity to the Present, Ichnos, Vol. 8, No. 2, 143-163.

LA 12609 - A PAINTED CAVATE KIVA, MORTANDAD RUIN, LOS ALAMOS COUNTY, NM:

Cavates at the Mortandad ruin, Los Alamos,

NM. Photograph Peter Faris, Aug. 30, 2003.

In 2003 we visited the Mortandad Ruin with our friends Bill and Jeanne Gibson. This is on the Pajarito Plateau at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and features rock art as well as cavates and other features. One of the most exciting features there is a painted cavate kiva, in pristine condition and virtually as good as new.

Mortandad ruin, cavates and viga holes

in the cliff. Johnson and Hoagland,

2010, Fig. 3, p. 3.

"The Pajarito Plateau was formed by a series of large volcanic ash flows erupting from the Jemez Mountains about one million years ago. The ash consolidated into a soft rock resulting into what is referred to as Bandelier tuff, which through erosion, gradually dissected into the thirteen canyons upon which LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory) and the Los Alamos townsite reside. The south-facing sides of the canyons frequently erode and fracture into vertical cliff faces. Between the twelfth through sixteenth centuries, people living on the Pajarito Plateau carved chambers into the tuff face, these referred to by archaeologists as cavates. By definition, a cavate or rock cut feature exhibits evidence of human modification (Figure 3). This evidence includes excavation marks, a shaped or modified entryway, floor or wall plaster, internal features including grooves, niches, sooting, or external features (e.g.,viga holes, hand/footholds, or staircases). Cavates, rock cut features, and other associated architectural features are carved into the soft tuff and are subject to degradation, resulting primarily from erosion. The Mortandad cavates, compared with others on the Pajarito Plateau, are relatively stable, as the tuff in this area is less friable than other tuff outcrops. Although the floors, walls, and roofs remain relatively stable, some of the Mortandad Canyon cavates are eroded and plaster and sooting that may have been present is now gone. The existing cavate deterioration indicates that the outer layer of tuff can crumble and/or spall off when touched or walked on." (Johnson and Hoagland 2010:2-3)

                                                     

Cave kiva at the Mortandad ruin,

Los Alamos, NM. Photograph

Peter Faris, Aug. 30, 2003.

                                                                

 Of particular interest at Mortandad, is a decorated cave kiva. It is extremely well preserved and the walls inside are covered with images.

"The interior of the cave is elaborately decorated with a series of bold, well-executed petroglyphs carved into the soot-blackened ceiling and walls. A dado of tan plaster extends from the floor to a height of approximately 30 in. above the floor. Figures represented by the petroglyphs include the hunchbacked flute player, the plumed serpent, masked dancing figures, birds and other animals. Apparently either there were few fires in the kiva after the figures were carved, or they were periodically cleaned, as the incised areas have little or no soot remaining in them." (Steen 1977:62)

"Arrow swallower" and club swinger at the

Mortandad ruin, Los Alamos, NM.

Photograph Peter Faris, Aug. 30, 2003.

"Mortandad Style. The almost perfectly preserved room at LA 12609 is the type site for the Mortandad Style of kiva art. To create figures in this style, the artist first blackened the cave with a dense, black coat of sooty smoke (see Fig. 18). Then, with a hard point of some sort, quite possibly a sharpened stick, he cut through the soot to the light gray tuff beneath. The resultant figures are large, rather stiff and roughly done. The Kokopellis and the club swinger - are the only figures in which any action is portrayed. This style was found from Ancho canyon to Pueblo Canyon." (Steen 1977:22)

"In an unusual, perhaps unique, representation of magic, Kokopelli is shown swallowing and arrow. It is not known whether the club swinger is aiming at the hunchback, but these are rare portrayals of action. "'Sword" swallowing is a practice of a curing society at Zuni (Stevenson 1904).'" (Steen 1977, Fig. 19, p. 25)

I am uncomfortable with the identification of this particular figure as a "Sword-swallower" or arrow-swallower. If that is actually the case, the arrow is being inserted into the throat nock end first. This means that the fletching of the arrow is going against the grain. It may be, in fact, that this was a real practice observed by Stevenson (1904) and my problem with the concept is only personal squeamishness, but I would like to know that a thorough search of Ancestral Pueblo references and pueblo mythology has been conducted to eliminate a concept such as a mythological  hero coughing up a sacred arrow. Another possibility is that the fletching of the arrow is purposely being inserted in the throat to induce vomiting. In the American southwest certain cleansing ceremonies included drinking a tea or infusion of certain herbs to induce vomiting that cleaned out the interior. Ethnographic mention of this sometimes also include the detail of using a chicken feather to tickle the throat if the onset of the purging was too slow. This might, in fact, be a portrayal of such a ceremony.

"Fig. 21. Masked figures and, at

the right, two quadrupeds kissing.

Kissing quadrupeds and birds

occur frequently in this style of kiva

art. (Meter stick shown.)"

(Steen 1977:27)

"Few geometric figures were seen in any of the kivas; the style seems to run almost exclusively to life forms. Anthropomorphic figures, either masked men or gods, are common (see de Peso's letter below), but Kokopellis are seldom seen. The most common single figure is probably the Awanyu. Birds and quadrupeds are the other figures carved on the walls, and frequently they are shown in pairs in kissing position (Figs. 20 and 21)." (Steen 1977: 22-3)

"Some of the figures seem to have a Mexican accent, so a set of photographs (Figs. 19-22) of the art work at the kiva at LA 12609 was sent to Charles di Peso of the Amerind Foundation, Dragoon, Arizona. His reply was:

"Fig. 22. On the left is a possible

representation of a Mesoamerican

Sun god and, on the right a

Kokopelli." (Steen 1977:28)

"What a lot of wonderful decoration - exciting as hell and twice as much fun! Starting at the 'sunburst' kid, who occupies the area between the two entries - isn't he something! His sun body with the center cross is an iconographic form used by the Mesoamericans to represent Tonatiuh (Beyer 1965, pp. 147 and 169). In his left hand is a perfectly good 'horned serpent' and in his right, a T-shaped club. By the 14th century, when the kiva was in use, it is believed that Tonatiuh was submerged by the Huitzilopochtli complex (Nicholson in Wauchope's Handbook of Middle American Indians, 10, pp. 424-426) in Mexico. If so, the Anasazi snake-in-hand portrait would resemble that of Huitzilopochtli, as depicted in the Codex Borbonicus 34 (Fig. 39).

Horned serpents and spotted animals

at the Mortandad ruin, Los Alamos, NM.

Photograph Peter Faris, Aug. 30, 2003.

The Kokopellis - hunched, ithyphallic flute player, and sundry sword swallowers, etc. - the 'rainbow' Plumed Serpent, which was laid out as a design over the wall niche, suggests some affinity with Quetzalcoatl. Below it are the two long-tailed, spotted, kissing characters. They are a far cry from 'tigers', but they are spotted and have long tails. Whether or not the one with the ears or 'horns' is a male and the other a female is open to one's imagination. Further, there is a relationship between this pair and the Plumed Serpent with the bifurcated tail - it remains and interesting supposition. - - Not much I can say about the kissing animals noted over the last niche and over the first niche where the horned helmet stands." (Steen 1977:23-4)

Elsewhere I have speculated that the two spotted quadrupeds may be canines, given the straight tails, lack of claws, and also the lack of feline pointed ears. Canines or jaguars ("tigers"), I really do not know.

One must not get the impression that ll the cave kivas from Ancho to Pueblo Canyon werre decorated in this manner. From more than half the hundreds of cavate ceremonial rooms, the inner surface has exfoliated so that all trace of any former designs has disappeared. At other sites, the rooms were blackened but not decorated. Where the Mortandad style figures were cut into the walls, normally only one or two figures were made. We are fortunate that the best preserved kiva also contains the most figures." (Steen 1977:24)

All in all, this is a fascinating site with an amazing array of extremely well preserved art, including a number of unique themes and images. 

REFERENCES:

Johnson, Alexander F. and Stephen R. Hoagland

2010    Mortandad Cavate Complex Baseline Study, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM.

Steen, Charlie R.

1977    Pajarito Plateau Archaeological Survey and Excavations, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory of the University of California, Los Alamos.

A DEER TRAP IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO:

Caption:  "Fig. 23. LA 12612. The deer

trap at the rim of the mesa. Note the

easy access to the pit from Mortandad

Canyon at the right." (Steen 1977:29)

The subject of this posting is not technically rock art, but it is a piece of stone work, impressive in its own way. This hole, carved into the bedrock, is believed to have been used as a pitfall trap for deer. In his 1977 report on " Pajarito Plateau Archaeological Survey and Excavations", Charlie Steen described it as follows:

Deer trap on trail to Mortandad ruin,

Los Alamos County, NM. Photograph

Aug. 2003, Peter Faris.

"Deer pits were dug on low saddles between canyons. They were probably hidden with a covering of light brush and given wing walls of juniper and pińon branches, so that a deer could be driven from a canyon up a slope to the saddle and forced to the pit where, hopefully, it would step on the cover, fall through, and break a leg or its neck.

Sometime during the late 1940s, I visited the game pit near Navawi ruin, and at that time there were vestiges of heavy brush wing walls on either side of the pit.

The only game pit in the survey area which can safely be called a deer trap is that at LA 12612. It is located on a low saddle between two mesas, at the head of a rather gently slope out of Mortandad Canyon. It could easily have made the apex of two brush wing walls and have been used to trap game driven from the canyon." (Steen 1977: 29-30)

Cavates,  Mortendad ruin, Los

Alamos County, NM. Photograph

Aug. 2003, Peter Faris.

This feature is relatively near the large prehistoric pueblo in Mortandad Canyon at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Judging from what remains at the Mortandad ruins is was a fairly large pueblo built against the cliff face. As at Long House in Bandeliere, cavate rooms were then excavated into the soft volcanic tuff to add additional space behind the constructed rooms. About all that remains to be seen now is a number of cavates illustrating various degrees of erosion. A few seem to be complete, while many provide evidence of how far the cliff face has eroded in intervening centuries. We were led to this site in 2003 by our friends Bill and Jeanne Gibson from nearby Los Alamos.

Deer trap on trail to Mortandad ruin,

Los Alamos County, NM. Photograph

Aug. 2003, Peter Faris.

Although the excavation of the hole would have been fairly easy for these Ancestral Pueblo people, it is after all not as large as the cavate rooms they excavated into the canyon walls, it is still an impressive feature. What I find interesting is that the easiest access, and the assumed drive lines, come out of Mortandad Canyon which was, as mentioned above, well occupied by people. How many wild deer would have felt comfortable enough around that many people to be in place to be driven. Perhaps the situation then was the same as the situation in many suburbs today, where suburban deer have gotten comfortable enough around people to be seen virtually daily. But then, would not the easy hunting have led to a heavy predation on the deer by hunters eliminating any of the animals that were not fully wild? I will have to leave this question to those who know deer behavior better than I do.

REFERENCE:

Steen, Charlie R.

1977    Pajarito Plateau Archaeological Survey and Excavations, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory of the University of California, Los Alamos.

A COSMIC HOAX:

Station #16, Nine-Mile Canyon, UT.

Photograph Peter Faris, 1993.

Close-up of panel at Station

#16, Nine-Mile Canyon, UT.

Photograph Peter Faris, 1993.

In this column I am presenting another egregious mistake from the book Odyssey of the Pueblo Indians by William Eaton. On page 145 he presents a petroglyph panel that he calls a "Pueblo (Fremont) Star Chart". That is his identification of the well-known petroglyph panel from Station 16, in Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah.

Bighorn sheep from Station #16,

Nine-Mile Canyon, UT.

Photograph Peter Faris, 1993.

One identification that I take exception to is what he calls the two-headed mountain sheep. Upon careful examination of the petroglyph Eaton's second head at the back of the animal is actually a conglomeration composed of its tail and a couple of curved lines descending from an unknown mark that has been destroyed by the impact of a large caliber bullet. The remains of this mark can be seen circling around to the upper right of the bullet crater.

Anthropomorph on left of panel,

Station #16, Nine-Mile Canyon, UT.

Photograph Peter Faris, 1993.

On the left of this panel is a figure that Eaton calls an "anthropomorph with a six-ball bola weapon." Now this is a very interesting figure and does, in fact, remind one of a figure holding a bola. This figure along with numbers of carefully rounded stone balls found at Fremont sites have prompted this same identification by many other rock art researchers. It is an interesting speculation, but one that has not been proven. For some reason, and absolutely without any evidence at all Eaton has claimed that "the three balls may possibly refer to the three stars now called Orion's Belt." Which three balls Mr. Eaton? As you pointed out there are six.

Eaton's analysis of panel (p. 39), 

Station #16, Nine-Mile Canyon, UT.

Then Eaton went on to identify the constellations Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, and Serpens, as well as a few other stars including Polaris in additional marks on the cliff face. Unfortunately, the majority of the stars that Eaton identifies in this panel are, in reality, bullet holes put there by Anglos much later than the petroglyphs. In many places, we find that petroglyphs and pictographs provided seemingly irresistible targets to gun-toting vandals. These unfortunate marks have never had anything to do with Fremont or Pueblo Native American groups. Additionally, to make the constellation Serpens out of those bullet holes Eaton had to flip the constellation entirely as can be seen in the star chart below.

Star chart of the summer sky showing

Serpens to the left of center. From

Howard, The Telescope Handbook

and Star Atlas, 1967, p. 39.

This so-called "Pueblo (Fremont) Star Chart" is just another mistaken example of someone who feels compelled to try to force the facts to fit a theory that they bear no relation to in the real world. While I applaud Mr. Eaton's enthusiasm, I do have to deplore his methods and results.

REFERENCES:

Eaton, William M.

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

Howard, Neale E.

1967    The Telescope Handbook and Star Atlas, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York. 

GLOBAL ROCK ART DATA BASE:

Global Rock Art Data Base home page.

http://www.rockartdatabase.com/v2/.

An interesting new development in rock art recording has come out of Australia with Robert Haubt's Global Rock Art Database (GRADB). Unlike most rock art Internet sites which focus on "see my pretty pictures," or using rock art to prove Creationism, or any of the other many personal goals of the creators of the websites, Haubt has built a framework for projects and data from all over the world. I believe his aim is to, in effect, build the central library for everyone's rock art studies. Even at its early stages the GRADB provides a wealth of interesting information and provides links to many projects and destinations. This project forms part of his "PhD thesis which is looking at digital data management in rock-art heritage." (Haubt 2015)

The Rock Art Data base currently has "over 200 sites, projects, and other resources currently listed on a world map. The Rock Art Database brings together hundreds of rock-art projects from around the world in one centralized hub. Find some of the most amazing rock-art places from around the world through our interactive map and explore stunning media galleries showcasing photographs, videos, 3D models and virtual tours." (Haubt 2015)

"Mission:

The Rock Art Database is a non-for profit online project at PERAHU, Griffith University in Australia. It seeks to improve theory and practice in the digital curation of rock art data through building a centralized global heritage community network. Through the use of new technologies the database offers new ways to look at heritage data and explores the potential in digital curation." (Haubt 2015)

This is a very ambitious project which I believe will prove to be of great value. It will eventually include "Interactive Media Presentations: hundreds of photographs, maps, 3D models, Virtual Tours." (Haubt 2015)

His stated goal is to provide a resource will contribute to developing a rock art community where people can "upload, manage, share, and discuss, to assist conservation, preservation and education in theory and practice by making rock-art related issues more accessible and more visible. " (Haubt 2015)

Check this out for yourself. Go to http://www.rockartdatabase.com/v2/, see the exciting possibilities, and get on board with Robert Haubt and the Global Rock Art Data Base.

                              

REFERENCES:

http://www.rockartdatabase.com/v2/

Robert Haubt (personal communication).

PALEOLITHIC HORSE DOMESTICATION?

Paleolithic Horse paintings from Chauvet cave.

Photo from www.bradshawfoundation.com.

There is an interesting school of thought today that maintains that cave paintings of horses, as well as horse effigies carved in bone or antler, contain clues that point to domestication of the horse by Magdalenian people. One of the major proponents of this interpretation is Paul Bahn. I have elsewhere expressed my great admiration for Paul Bahn for his imaginative approach to interpreting cave art, and his willingness to confront and argue against dogma. I am afraid, however, that in this instance I find myself in the position of arguing against Bahn. 

"15. Carving of a horse head from Saint-Michel d'Arudy, France, showing facial lines that indicate the line demarcating the mealy muzzle and the natural contours of the face. These lines have been interpreted by Bahn to represent a bridle. (Drawing courtesy of Randall White)" (Olsen 2003:5)

            "The strongest evidence presented for the control of horses at this early date consists of depictions of what Bahn (Paul) interprets as bridles on the heads of horses in wall engravings and effigies carved in stone or antler. These artistic renderings display lines encircling the nose and running from the nose back toward the ear (figure 15). At first glance these lines could be interpreted as part of a bridle, including the nose band, chin strap, and cheekpieces. On closer inspection, however, it is clear that these lines represent natural features on the heads of the Pleistocene horses. The wild Asiatic (Przewalski) horse, which is colored like many of the prehistoric depictions of the European Ice Age horses, has what is known as a mealy muzzle, or pale cream-colored ring around the end of the snout (figure 16). This is one of the characteristics of what is today called a Pangare' coat pattern on horses. Although there are no clear examples of a mealy muzzle in cave paintings, it is possible that some of the engravings with lines around the nose are meant to portray this change in coloration around the tip of the muzzle. The horizontal lines running from the nose back toward the neck probably represent natural contours or the horse's head. Curved lines are often incised to represent the contours of the large masseter muscle at the back of the lower jaw, and some lines indicate changes in fur patterns. Similar lines are seen on engravings of bison and other animals, although their positions are slightly different, but no one has suggested that bison were domesticated. (Olsen 2003:54)

Paleolithic baton de commandment. Public

domain photograph from the internet.

            "Bahn also believed that the Paleolithic batons de commandment were cheekpieces for a bridle. Although they bear a vague similarity to much-later Bronze Age antler cheekpieces, the batons are generally larger and heavier with only one very large perforation near one end. Bronze Age cheekpieces typically have two or three holes for the leather straps." (Olsen 2003:55)

            "Further, Bahn presented examples of damage on incisors (the anterior teeth) of Paleolithic horses that he hypothesized was caused by the nervous habit of crib-biting. This practice has been observed in horses that get bored with being penned and begin to chew on their stalls. If this behavior occurs only in situations where the animal is enclosed by a human-made structure, then surely horses were being controlled in the Paleolithic. R. A. Rogers and L. A. Rogers have shown, however, that similar damage appears on horse incisors dating to the early and middle Pleistocene of North America, long before the arrival of humans, Littauer pointed out that such wear could have just as easily been formed when the animals browse on the bark of trees." (Olsen 2003:55)

"16. A Przewalski horse showing the contours of the face and sharp color demarcation around the muzzle depicted in figure 15. (Photo by Sandra Olsen)" (Olsen 2003:5)

            "Some scholars, notably Paul Bahn, have suggested that horses were at least managed an perhaps domesticated 20,000 years ago by Ice Age hunter-gatherers who created the cave paintings, ornaments, and mobile art of the Upper Paleolithic (see chapter 3). This idea has been widely popularized by Jean Auel in her best-selling fiction books beginning with Clan of the Cave Bear. 

            Stocky, thick-legged, large-headed horses living throughout Europe during the Pleistocene Ice Ages were depicted magnificently in cave paintings and sculpted bone objects by Upper Palaeolithic artists, particularly in southwest France and northern Spain. Some of these depictions seem to show rope halters around horse heads (see chapter 3, figure 1). This interpretation is convincing at first. However, the shaggy winter coat of the modern Przewalski horse often sports a line of tufted hair running down the cheek and around the nose in exactly the positions marked by the "halter" lines in Paleolithic art. The "winter coat" interpretation of these lines is simpler and more likely than an interpretation based on bridling.

            Some Upper Paleolithic horse teeth exhibit odd wear that Bahn has suggested resembles the wear caused by crib-biting, a vice associated with stalled or penned horses. However, similar wear has been found on the teeth of Early Pleistocene equid fossils from America, animals that could not possibly have been domesticated because they predate the evolution of both modern humans and horses (see chapter 3). There has never been a controlled study that reliably identifies the diagnostic traits of cribbing wear on equid teeth so that it can be positively distinguished from natural wear or incidental damage to the incisors. The crib-biting suggestion remains untested and inherently unlikely. It would require not only domestication but long-term stalling of horses by Paleolithic hunters.

            On the whole there is little archaeological evidence even for herd management and no convincing support for domestication associated with the Ice Age horses of the European Upper Paleolithic." (Anthony 2003:69)

Wood chewing, or crib-biting, is behavior in which the horse gnaws on wood rails or boards as if they were food. This behavior eventually gives a distinctive wear pattern on the horse's teeth that a good veterinarian can identify in making his diagnosis. Wear patterns resembling this have been found on some teeth on Paleolithic (Ice Age) horse skeletons which has led some investigators to rash statements that this is proof of horse domestication that early. In other words, Cro-Magnon supposedly had built corrals and confined their domesticated horses there, where they performed crib biting. I think that nothing could be further from the truth.

Horses, both wild and domesticated, will chew wood on occasions. Where I live in the American West, if a horse corral contains a cottonwood tree it is almost invariable dead, the horses having girdled it by chewing the bark off. Inner bark is a nutritious food that they purposely seek out, especially when grazing conditions are poor. If drought has prevented normal grass growth for grazing, or if deep snow has covered the grass, horses will naturally turn to chewing the bark on trees. Indeed, ethnographic reports of Plains Indian tribes tell us that they sometimes kept their favorite horse tethered by their tipi in winter encampments which were usually in a heavily wooded area to provide some protection from cold winds. The owners of these horsed would gather branches of surrounding cottonwood trees to feed these horses which readily chewed off the bark and ate small twigs and branches. This bark was supposedly nutritious enough that the horses reportedly could put on weight on such a diet, even during harsh winter conditions. 

With reasonable explanations for the marks on the carvings and paintings that might resemble harnessing, and with a reasonable explanation for wood chewing by horses, I believe that the preponderance of evidence is against the proposed domestication of horses in the paleolithic period. Additionally, I can think of no way that evidence of crib-biting could be deduced from the paintings or carvings of the Paleolithic period. Therefore, with this analysis, I think that we can make an informed judgement on the question of domestication and, to me, all the evidence argues against it. 

REFERENCES:

Anthony, David W.,

2003    Bridling Horse Power, chapter 4, p. 58-82, in Horses Through Time, edited by Sandra L. Olsen, Roberts Rinehart Publishers, Boulder, for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Olsen, Sandra L.,

2003    Horse Hunters of the Ice Age, chapter 3, p. 35-56, in Horses Through Time, edited by Sandra L. Olsen, Roberts Rinehart Publishers, Boulder, for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.