Canyonlands National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Canyonlands National Park

The Archeology
of Horseshoe Canyon
 Permissions
The articles in this collection are made available for personal use only. With the exception of
Barrier Canyon Rock Art Dating by Betsy L. Tipps, which is in the public domain, no part of
this publication may be commercially published or exploited without prior written permis-
sion of the copyright holder(s). Copyright information is included at the end of each article.
 Contents
5 The Power and the Glory, by Alan Schroedl
Changes in the lifeway of the Desert Archaic culture over time and with climate change. Dis-
cussion of split twig figurines. Possible dates for BCS rock art.

9 Excerpts from Indian Rock Art of the Southwest, by Polly Schaafsma

A primer on rock art studies, including sections on style, function, interpretation, and tech-
nique. Comparion of BCS and Pecos styles.

19 Trance and Transformation in the Canyons: Shamanism and Early Rock Art on the
Colorado Plateau, by Polly Shaafsma
BCS and Basketmaker rock art is examined for shamanistic themes. Schaafsma makes the
case that shamanistic practices were behind the creation of this rock art, and that shamanism
was very important in these societies.

31 Early Archaic Clay Figurines from Cowboy and Walters Caves in Southeastern Utah,
by Nancy J. Coulam and Alan R. Schroedl
An extensive analysis and discussion of the clay artifacts found in the Horseshoe Canyon
area, some of which resemble the ghost figures at the Great Gallery.

35 Barrier Canyon Rock Art Dating, by Betsy L. Tipps

A discussion of methods used to date BCS rock art, including the current chemical methods
which have provided seven clustered dates between 1900 BC and AD 300.

47 Excerpts from Archaic Occupancy of the Glen Canyon Region, by Phil R. Geib
An extensive summary of chronometric data for characterizing the Archaic period of the
Glen Canyon region and examination of different models of Archaic occupancy of the area.

61 The Curve-Tailed Canine, by Jim Blazik

A look at the representation of dogs in Barrier Canyon Style rock art.

69 Suggested Readings
reprinted by permission from The Power and the Glory, by Alan Schroedl

The Power and The GloryShamanistic Arts of the Archaic Period

By Alan R. Schroedl

For over a hundred years, Ameri- Ancient environmental evidence

cans have been intrigued by their an- from about 6000 to 8000 years ago shows
cient prehistoric predecessors in the that when the Archaic people were living
Greater Southwest. By the turn of in these canyons, the rainfall in the sum-
the century archaeologists knew that mer was much more frequent and run-off
the haunting cliff dwellings were left from winter snow was much greater. In
by the Anasazi farmers who lived in several of the narrow canyons, small lakes,
the region 700 to 900 years ago. But ponds or marshes were formed. These
it was only in the 1930’s and 1940’s well-watered areas provided a rich environ-
that archaeologists discovered evidence ment in the canyon for both the wild plants
of the first people in the southwest, the and animals that Archaic people collected and hunted.
Big Game Hunters. These Big Game Hunters manufac- But over the years, the environment changed: rain-
tured the unique fluted Clovis and Folsom points and fall decreased, temperatures rose slightly, and these people
hunted mammoth and now-extinct bison from about had to adapt to new ways. Archaeologists found evidence
8000 to 11000 years ago. Still, as recently as twenty years that Archaic people started manufacturing new varieties
ago almost nothing was known about the people who of stone tools and probably hunted smaller game such
occupied the canyon country after the Big Game Hunt- as rabbits more intensively, and when the game became
ers, but before the Anasazi cliff dwellers. As they became harder to hunt, they started eating more wild plants and
known, they would emerge as some of the most artisti- grasses.
cally creative people of ancient times. Recent research has shown that about 3000 to 4000
Through several archaeology projects in the mid- years ago there was a significant change in the climatic
1970’s, our knowledge of the time period from about regime of the area. This environmental shift may have af-
2000 years to 8000 years ago blossomed. These excava- fected the populations of large game animals, forcing pre-
tions opened a view to a lifeway during this period that historic Archaic people to face the problem of dwindling
archaeologists call the “Archaic.” The Archaic people were food resources. Perhaps it was during such times of stress
nomads, hunting large and small game animals, and col- that Archaic peoples turned to religion and shamanistic
lecting and processing wild plants. It appears they did not activities to try to magically increase the number of plants
build permanent habitation structures, but lived in caves and animals. Shamanism is a form of religion in which
and in small brush shelters built in the open. They occu- certain individuals thought to be endowed with supernat-
pied the Colorado Plateau until the introduction of corn ural powers perform rituals revealed in a trance or dream.
agriculture about 2000 years ago. While archaeologists find it very difficult to identify
In the late 1970’s, archaeologists generally believed religious or ritual activities of people who are long gone,
that Archaic peoples lived in the upland forested areas split-twig figurines and Barrier Canyon rock art may be
and large open parklands. The resources in the narrow prime artistic expressions of this kind of magico-religious
canyons of the region were thought to be too sparse and activity.
limited to attract the Archaic peoples. Recent research in In dry caves, primarily in the Grand Canyon area
Canyonlands National Park and Glen Canyon National and along tributaries to the Green and Colorado rivers
Recreation Area has shown that this is not the case. Ar- in southern Utah, many small animal effigies have been
chaeologists have found camps belonging to the Archaic recovered. These figurines are usually constructed from
people in many of the canyons. Some date back almost a single thin branch, such as willow, that has been split,
8000 years. bent, folded and wrapped into the shape of an animal.
5
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

Generally these forms are suggestive of deer and moun- that the Archaic people were hunting. In fact, at least one
tain sheep, but dogs too, might also be represented. Ra- of the split-twig figurines was found with a “miniature
diocarbon dating on figurines and associated twigs has spear” piercing the chest of the animal.
produced seven dates, five of which range between 3500 This evidence suggests that local Archaic people
and 4000 years ago. would journey to these caves for a kind of ritual activity
In caves in the Grand Canyon region, split-twig fig- called imitative magic by anthropologists. The figurines
ures are found in a context that clearly implies their ritual were constructed as representations of the big game ani-
function. They are recovered in very high, almost inac- mals. Perhaps after some chants or other rituals, the figu-
cessible caves, caves that are not suitable for everyday liv- rines were speared in an effort to increase the chance of
ing. It is a rugged climb into the caves. There is no water hunting success. At the end of the ceremony, the figurines
nearby, nor is there a wide were buried or left on the
variety of plants or animals surface of the cave. While
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE / NEAL HERBERT

available in the immediate much of this scenario is

area. speculation, it is consistent
The placement of with the careful observa-
the figurines within these tions made about these
caves is a clear indication of figurines and their context
magical use of these items. by archaeologists.
At least three cave sites in Understanding and
the Grand Canyon area, interpreting the elusive na-
Tse’an Kaetan Cave, Tse’an ture of religious activities of
Sha Cave and Shrine Cave, Archaic and other ancient
have split-twig figurines peoples is difficult at best.
associated with rock cairns. Hell Roaring Canyon. Figures painted with deep red-brown But due to its uniqueness,
At other sites, such as Stan- pigment. In contrast, the “comet” on the left is yellow ochre. rock art has also been tradi-
ton’s Cave in the same area, tionally interpreted as part
the figurines are found in small caches under boulders. of the religion or ideology of prehistoric peoples.
At none of these sites is there trash and debris of everyday Some of the most spectacular examples of rock art
Archaic life. These caves were not used for habitation, but in the Greater Southwest and canyon country are attrib-
for rituals. uted to Archaic people. This rock art, the Barrier Canyon
The utilization of Shrine Cave for religious activity Style, usually consists of larger-than-life-size anthropo-
by Archaic people is very intriguing. On the northwest morphic (manlike) forms, as well as stylized animals such
side of the first alcove, a large limestone block was identi- as birds and dogs and other objects. The identifying char-
fied as a shrine. This block had a small cairn of limestone acteristics of these figures are vacant looking or missing
rocks placed on top. Surrounding this shrine were a series eyes, the frequent absence of arms and legs, and the pres-
of 13 other small rock cairns. A single split-twig figurine ence of vertical body markings. The “ghost-like” appear-
was found under one of the cairns. ance led Polly Schaafsma, a rock art specialist, to suggest
On a ledge behind the shrine was a series of six oth- that this colorful style represents shamanistic art associ-
er cairns, each with 2 to 5 limestone rocks. Squawbush ated with ritual activities of the Archaic people. Gener-
twigs that had not been shaped or formed were found un- ally, these powerful figures occur in a series of humanlike
der four of the piles. One room, located off a passageway forms on rock faces protected from the elements in deep,
from the main alcove, lies in the dark zone of the cave. narrow canyons in the Canyonlands region of Utah.
Seven rock cairns and one partial figurine were found in Studying rock art is a slow, discouraging process; its
this room. meaning is subject to interpretation, it often cannot be
The use of these figurines in some form of magico- assigned to a particular prehistoric group, and it cannot
religious activity is further demonstrated by the fact that be dated directly. At one time much of the Barrier Can-
several of these figurines from Luka Cave, Stanton’s Cave yon rock art was attributed to the Anasazi farmers of the
and Tse’an Kaetan Cave were found with fecal pellets region and their horticultural cousins to the north west,
of artiodactyls (the family that includes deer, mountain the Fremont. However, extensive study in the past several
sheep and mountain goats) inserted within the body cav- decades has allowed researchers to better estimate dates
ity. Perhaps these were meant to represent the animals for this and other rock art styles in the Southwest.

6
reprinted by permission from The Power and the Glory, by Alan Schroedl

Polly Schaafsma was the first to suggest that the dated to about 3000 years ago. However, there is no way
style did not originate with agriculturalists who lived in of knowing whether the panel was manufactured before
Utah between A.D. 700 and 1200, but rather was painted the hearth was used, whether the hearth was used before
by people who predated them. There were a number of the panel had been painted, or whether they were con-
lines of evidence that suggested that these were older pic- temporaneous. This radiocarbon date suggests that the
tographs. For example, none of the Barrier Canyon Style Barrier Canyon Style might be as much as 500 years ear-
rock art showed human forms using a bow and arrow. lier than hypothesized by Schaafsma. And, in fact, there is
The bow and arrow was introduced into the Canyonlands other evidence to suggest that the style is even older than
area around A.D. 400, and numerous rock art panels after 3000 years.
this date depict people using A growing mass of
a bow and arrow. However, data indicates that there was
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE / NEAL HERBERT

these are absent from Bar- extensive Archaic occupa-

rier Canyon rock art, while tion in the Canyonlands
some panels show people region between 5000 and
using the spear thrower, the 8000 years ago. At one site,
principal weapon before the Cowboy Cave, clay figurines
bow and arrow. of human form were found
Additionally, at some with tapering torsos lacking
rock art panels, Fremont arms, identical in shape to
and Anasazi art has been the body forms of Barrier
painted or pecked over Bar- Canyon pictographs. In
rier Canyon forms. This, of fact, one of the figurines
course, indicates that the Seven Mile Canyon. These 2-4 foot figures have blue eyes, had a series of parallel lines
Barrier Canyon forms had and the large figure has a blue snake in its mouth. down the torso similar to
to have been painted before those found on many of the
the other images. Finally, several of the Barrier Canyon Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs. These figurines were
panels are on benches or shelves that are inaccessible found in a layer dated to about 6000 years old. They were
today. This suggests that sufficient time has passed since also found associated with a series of incised and painted
they were painted for the ledges and the handholds to sandstone slabs. These small slabs had unusual etch marks
have weathered or fallen away from these panels. on them and red and black pigment in various geometric
Based an these various lines of evidence, Polly forms.
Schaafsma believes that Late Archaic people painted the Clearly, these items were not used to hunt animals,
Barrier Canyon Style between 2500 and 1500 years ago. process plants or manufacture tools. They probably repre-
Archaeologists today question that date range for this sented some kind of non-utilitarian object, possibly even
rock art style. However, in the early 1970’s when Schaaf- a religious symbol. The date of the analogous clay figu-
sma first suggested that this rock art was created by hunt- rines and the painted rocks, as well as the rather intense
ers and gatherers who preceded the Fremont and Anasazi Archaic occupation in the Canyonlands region about
people in southeastern Utah, almost nothing was known 6000 years ago, suggests that Barrier Canyon rock art
about the Archaic occupation in this area of Utah. Some could be much older than Polly Schaafsma hypothesized.
archaeologists even believed that the area was unoccupied Perhaps it could be the oldest rock art in the Southwest,
until Basketmaker people entered the region about 2000 dating to as early as 6000 to 8000 years ago.
years ago. If Barrier Canyon rock art is actually that old, how
Over the past several years, as researchers recognized do we explain the radiocarbon date from the hearth
the distinctive nature of this style, many more of these in Canyonlands that is only 3000 years old? One can
panels have been recorded in the general Canyonlands certainly speculate that, if Barrier Canyon rock art was
region of central and southeastern Utah. To date, there painted 6000 years ago, by 3000 years later the origins of
is no evidence at any of these recently recorded panels to the rock art would have been long lost in the past. By that
suggest that they were made by anyone other than Ar- time the panels would have been ancient, and perhaps
chaic people. a sacred site for the worship of ancestors. Such specula-
Recently, in Canyonlands National Park, a prehis- tions are interesting but only future research and work by
toric hearth below one of these panels was radiocarbon professional archaeologists will answer these questions,

7
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

providing these rock art sites are maintained and not Indian Rock Art of the Southwest. Santa Fe: School of
damaged by vandalism or illicit activity. American Research, 1980
Whether Barrier Canyon Style rock art was made
6000 years ago or 3000 years ago or only 1500 years ago, Schroedl, Alan R.
it is clear that during Archaic times people living in the “The Grand Canyon Figurine Complex.” American An-
Canyonlands area had sufficient time to pursue nonsub- tiquity 42(2):255-65, 1977.
sistence activities. These resulted in examples of mobile
and mural art that even today have the power to awe us.
Whatever the motivation and regardless of their age, Bar- Dr. Alan R. Schroedl is principal investigator for P-III As-
rier Canyon rock art, especially, is a glorious part of the sociates, an archaeological consulting firm in Salt Lake
prehistoric heritage of Canyonlands. City. He has an extensive background as a field and research
Additionally, the split-twig figurine finds suggest archaeologist and as a professor of Anthropology and Ar-
that Archaic people were interested in manipulating their chaeology. Schroedl has been published in Utah Archaeology,
environment through imitative magic. Exact interpreta- American Antiquity, Southwestern Lore, and others.
tion of the Barrier Canyon rock art is uncertain, although
Schaafsma suggested that it represents shamanistic art as- Alan R. Schroedl, “The Power and the Glory,” Canyon
sociated with ritual activities of the Archaic people. Legacy, Spring 1989.
Although these people lived for over 6000 years
in the Canyonlands section of the Colorado Plateau es- Reprinted by permission.
sentially unchanged, we now recognize that they did not
simply live in caves, hunt animals and collect wild plants.
They also participated in a full cultural lifestyle, social
events with friends and neighbors, and possibly, when
times got bad and resources were scarce, they tried to im-
prove their lot by shamanistic activities or imitative magic
to help them cope with the changing environment. The
results have left us forever in their debt.

Suggested Reading
Castleton, Kenneth B.
Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Utah. Volume 2: The South,
Central, West and Northwest. Salt Lake City: Utah Mu-
seum of Natural History, 1979.

Emslie, Steven D.
“A Desert Culture Shrine in Grand Canyon, Arizona, and
the Role of Split-Twig Figurines.” National Geographic
Research 3(4):511-516, 1987

Euler, Robert C. (editor)

The Archaeology, Geology, and Paleobiology of Stanton ‘s
Cave, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Monograph
6. Grand Canyon Natural History Association, Grand
Canyon National Park, 1984.

Schaafsma, Polly
The Rock Art of Utah from the Donald Scott Collection. Pa-
pers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnol-
ogy 65. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1971.

8
reprinted by permission from Indian Rock Art of the Southwest, by Polly Schaafsma

Excerpts from

Indian Rock Art

of the Southwest By Polly Schaafsma

A History of Rock Art Studies ing these problems is the rather diffuse bias on the part
of many archaeologists that rock art, unlike other cultural
The American Southwest is only one of many places remains, lacks order, a definite structure or patterning
where rock art occurs. Throughout the world, rock draw- that can be used as a guideline for analysis. A certain
ings are both monuments to man’s achievements as an amount of this prejudice may have arisen from the earli-
artist and documents of various aspects of his social and est rock art studies, in which investigators were primarily
religious life, reflecting his myths, beliefs, and magical concerned with trait or element tracking. This approach
practices. Probably the oldest rock art known is that of was not fruitful and served to fracture and obscure the
the Ice Age hunters of western Europe. Much research has stylistic complexes that later scholars have found to be the
been conducted and many books written on the spectacu- primary tool for ordering the immense and varied body
lar paintings from the European caves, and thus these an- of raw data of rock drawings. As a result, the subject was
cient masterpieces immediately come to mind when the conveniently tabled, and an integrated body of informa-
subject of rock art is broached (Breuil 1952; Ucko and tion on rock art comparable to that available on other
Rosenfeld 1967). types of archaeological remains has been lacking.
Rock art in the United States is only now emerg- Fortunately, recent rock art research has served to
ing as a subject of general concern to archaeologists and dispel this prejudice. The fact that rock art is structured,
Indian art historians. In many geographic regions, such in the same way that all archaeological data conform to
as the Southwest, however, rock drawings are by far the discernible patterns, has been well established.
most readily accessible and prolifically occurring products
of prehistoric artistic endeavor, and the literature that has
accumulated on the subject over the years is considerable.
The Study of Rock Art:
In the Southwest, the area of our concern, salvage A Theoretical Framework
projects in the early 1960s initiated a continuing study of
Basic to a meaningful approach to the study of rock
rock art. Rock art research was conducted in Glen Can-
art is an understanding of how rock art is structured.
yon in southern Utah and northern Arizona and on the
Variation in the patterns within the art can then be de-
Pine and San Juan rivers in northern New Mexico and
scribed and used to inform the archaeologist of meaning-
southern Colorado before the Glen Canyon and Navajo
ful variation within the broader cultural context. Second,
dams flooded these drainages (Turner 1963; P. Schaafsma
how the art relates to the total cultural complex needs to
1963). A subsequent rock art project was carried out
be considered. Finally, interpretation of the content of the
along the upper Rio Grande before the construction of
art may be attempted, particularly if ethnographic infor-
Cochiti Dam above the pueblo of Cochiti (P. Schaafsma
mation is available.
1975).
Nevertheless, in the Southwest as elsewhere in
North America, rock art studies have lagged behind other The Concept of Style
archaeological research. There are several reasons for this. The recognition of rock art styles is basic to the
Archaeologists, preferring to deal with excavations and ordering of data concerning rock art. That “human be-
the data thus obtained, have chosen to ignore rock art havior is not capricious but is patterned” (Martin and
rather than add this seemingly enigmatic body of material Plog 1973:24) is a fundamental premise, of course, that
to their burden of analysis. In some instances, the lack of has always underlain systematic investigations of human
associated cultural remains has made it difficult to date activity, and it has been well demonstrated that the art
or assign rock art to a specific cultural period. Underly- of any cultural group conforms to the confines of a style
9
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

or a limited range of styles. The recognition of styles in often by the archaeologist as a diagnostic means than
rock art and the use of these styles to correlate rock art for its own sake as an important constituent of culture.
with particular prehistoric cultures is not new to rock Further, he points out that the characteristics of styles
art studies. Perhaps one of the earliest instances of docu- vary continuously and resist systematic classification into
mented recognition of the correlation between art styles perfectly distinct groups, but that precise limits are some-
and prehistoric cultures is to be found in a comment by times fixed by convention for simplicity in dealing with
Crimmins: historical problems. Common to the approach of the art
“In January, 1925, we wrote to Dr. Fewkes that the historian or anthropologist is the assumption that every
study of the petroglyphs on Senator A. B. Fall’s ranch at style is peculiar to a period of culture and that in a given
Three Rivers, New Mexico, led us to believe that many culture or epoch of culture there is only one style or at
of them were made by the pre-Pueblo Indians, as they least a limited range of styles. Therefore, style can be used
were similar in design to the pictures on the pottery of with confidence as an independent clue to the time and
the Mimbres Indians. Dr. Fewkes wrote us as follows: “So place of origin of a work of art. Thus its use as an archae-
far as known to me, this is the first time in the history of ological tool is justified.
archaeological research in the Southwest, that pictographs The style concept is not a static one, however. Once
have served as guides to locate native cultures in the a style has been described and its range of distribution
Pueblo region.” (1929:38) determined, it is necessary to understand the significance
Following this, a number of rock art studies recog- of this information in a wider archaeological context. Re-
nized the concept of style (Steward 1929; Morss 1931; gional variation also may be present within the bounds of
Cressman 1937; Haury 1945b). These investigations have the style, and it is the aim of the archaeologist to explain
been followed by recent works that take for granted the this variation, or even the lack of it, rather than merely
utility of this concept and that relate rock art styles to describing it. In order to do this, one must have some
specific prehistoric or historic cultural groups (Baumhoff, idea of how rock art is articulated with the prehistoric
Heizer, and Elsasser 1958; Heizer and Baumhoff 1962; cultural system of which it is a part.
Turner 1963; Grant 1965, 1968; Newcomb and Kirkland The major subsystems of a cultural system have
1967; P. Schaafsma 1963, 1971, 1972; Burton 1971; been classified as technological, sociological, and ideologi-
Hedges 1973; Heizer and Clewlow 1973). In the organi- cal (Binford 1962), and the functioning of any of these
zation of data into style categories, a number of different so-called subsystems leaves behind material evidence that
methods have been used, the simplest being based on reflects the nature of the component. Art is an artifactual
mere inspection of the material. More exact methods have or material record of the ideological component of a pre-
involved the use of statistics and factor analysis in order historic social system.
to measure the occurrences of given elements or to deter- With this understanding, rock art studies can
mine how certain traits cluster for the purpose of describ- proceed on at least two different levels of investigation:
ing definite figure types (Heizel and Baumhoff 1962; Von regional and local. It has been proposed that the term
Werlhof 1965; Burton 1971). interaction sphere be used to deal with regional configu-
It is worthwhile, perhaps, to examine the meaning rations in an archaeological context (Struever 1972). The
of the word style and to clarify its use in rock art studies. concept of the interaction sphere is applicable to areas
Among the major components of style in regard to rock of stylistic uniformity. Stylistic uniformity results from
art are the element inventory and the specific figure types a panregional information exchange network, and the
making up this inventory. A figure type is the specific degree of homogeneity in a region depends on the effi-
form and characteristic mode of expression of any given ciency of the intergroup communications (C. Schaafsma
element. Important in the development of figure types are 1973:12, 26-27). A shared repertoire of rock art elements,
the major design components and the shapes employed. figure types, figure complexes, and aesthetic modes—
Second, the forms used and the relationships between hence style— thus signifies participation in a given ideo-
the elements of a panel work together to create an overall graphic system and, in turn, in a given communication
aesthetic quality of expression that in many instances network. The spatial and temporal distribution of a style,
is an important aspect of style. The various technical once determined, can be used as an aid in defining the
means employed in creating designs also contribute to the range of the communication network and hence the so-
general sense of style and its aesthetic consideration (P. ciocultural system being considered. Regional differences
Schaafsma 1971:3). within the style may denote regional variation within the
Schapiro (1953) noted that style is studied more culture.

10
reprinted by permission from Indian Rock Art of the Southwest, by Polly Schaafsma

At the local level, minor variation within a style, cal evidence (Frobenius and Fox 1937:22-24; Moors
such as different element inventories between contempo- 1971:117-19). The fact that many Australian sites are
raneous sites, may indicate that these sites served different currently in use or are subject to ethnographic interpreta-
needs. This brings us to the subject of how rock drawings tion has contributed to an understanding of how rock art
functioned for the people who made them. The means to sites have been used by people everywhere. Specifically,
understanding this are several. these sites have provided models for suggesting how hunt-
er-gatherer sites may have functioned in the Southwest.
The Function of Rock Art Sites In the Southwest, however, the use of ethnographic
analogy can also be much more specific. Ethnographic
How rock art sites functioned is a major concern documentation on the use of rock art sites by recent
in reconstructing the lives of prehistoric groups when Pueblos and Navajos can by extension aid the archaeolo-
these sites are present in the cultural inventory. Informa- gist in understanding the function of prehistoric or proto-
tion may be limited to the contents and the situation of historic sites of these same people. Or, individual rock art
the site itself. Or it may be known how it correlates with elements may be interpreted ethnographically. For ex-
other contemporaneous prehistoric remains (habitation ample, modern Pueblo use of the hand print, a common
sites and trails) as well as with geographic features such element in rock art (Fig. 5), has suggested its meaning in
as hilltops, canyon junctions, and water sources. In most certain prehistoric occurrences.
instances the rock art of a specific cultural group exhib- In sum, the combined use of ethnographic analogy,
its patterned modes of distribution. Using this kind of both generally and within a single ongoing culture, and
information, Heizer and Baumhoff (1962) and Grant analysis of sites and their relationships to other remains
(1968) have made a convincing case that the Great Basin has suggested many uses and functions for southwestern
Abstract petroglyphs of Nevada and eastern California rock art before historic times. The creative activity of
were made in connection with hunting rituals. Likewise, painting and carving designs on stone was not narrowly
White (1965), Zahniser (1970), Kearns (1973), and oth- focused, nor do these remains as a rule represent doodling
ers have attempted to correlate Hohokam rock art sites and play, as is sometimes postulated. Rather, they were
with a number of different kinds of Hohokam remains more often integrated with a wide range of needs, just as
(see pp. 96-99). artistic enterprises permeate many facets of all modern
A consideration of the location as well as the con- cultures.
tents of Paleolithic paintings in Europe has led scholars to
suggest that these ancient works, dating over thousands of
years, were done for a multitude of reasons. As summa-
Symbolism and Interpretation
rized by Ucko and Rosenfeld: The relationship between rock art and its cultural
“There is nothing against assuming that Palaeolithic matrix is all very well, but of surpassing interest to most
art, as is also the art of many living “primitives,” is the general readers are the questions: What does it mean? Are
result of many different interests. Within any one cave, these rock drawings a language awaiting interpretation?
therefore, it is possible to imagine that many. . . possibili- Interpreting rock art designs is intriguing yet difficult,
ties . . . apply: that some representations were the work often impossible. As a result, other, more fruitful ap-
of children (perhaps some of the floor engravings), that proaches to rock art have been devised.
some were used in acts of sympathetic magic (perhaps Whenever an interpretation of rock art by the ar-
some of the representations pierced with holes), that some chaeologist is possible, it is usually made so through
were placed in particular situations in order to please the use of the ethnological record, just as ethno-
(perhaps some of the open-air low reliefs), and that some graphic accounts contribute to an understanding of the
were illustrations of myths and traditions (perhaps those function of rock; art sites. Certain general interpretations
which contain imaginary creatures, anthropomorphs and have been arrived at by comparing elements in the rock
unexpected combinations of animal species). It is very art with various aspects of shamanistic symbolism. A
possible, however, that some and perhaps many Paleolith- number of basic shamanistic beliefs recur throughout the
ic representations were made for reasons which still totally world, and the elements of these beliefs are present in the
escape the modern observer. “(1967:239) native religions of this continent. Rock art from a num-
Ethnographic documents of modern tribes in Africa ber of different places in North America has been exam-
and Australia substantiate the multiuse interpretation set ined from the point of view of shamanism (Hedges 1975;
forth by Ucko and Rosenfeld on the basis of archaeologi- Wellmann 1975; Vastokas and Vastokas 1973). In many

11
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

instances, figure complexes and symbolism found in the nity or desire to learn the esoteric connections and com-
rock art of the Southwest seem to be explainable within plex web of meanings of the borrowed goods. The new
the context of shamanic beliefs and practices. user was often satisfied with an explanation of a ceremo-
Further, ethnographic sources are especially useful nial object furnished by his own beliefs (Spier 1921:517).
in those instances in which we are dealing with prehis- In this way, symbolic meanings were constantly changing
toric or protohistoric records of the same Indian cultures as they were passed on between even similar groups of
that exist in the Southwest today, such as the Pueblos and people.
Navajos. In many cases, specific supernatural beings can The baffling nature of the content of rock drawings
be identified in the rock art of these peoples, and even continues to spark the imagination of the uninitiated,
some of the more abstract symbolism of ritual design can providing a kind of Rorschach test in which the observer
be interpreted with a reasonable degree of certainty. projects onto the drawings meanings that coincide with
Nevertheless, it is also true that ethnographic cultural biases and personal and popular fantasies. Among
sources should be used with caution. Fewkes (1973:64) the most common of these “folk interpretations” is that
observed that among the Hopi the meanings of many a particular petroglyph or painting represents a map to
designs have been lost and that a single design can have treasure buried somewhere in the vicinity. Finding a “sto-
a variety of meanings. He found, for example, that the ry” that can be “read” in the depictions is also common.
circle is the totemic signature of the earth people but that There are also the very popular volumes that see in rock
it also means other things. Thus he did not try to inter- art, as well as in other archaeological remains, evidence of
pret the circles in the designs of the prehistoric pottery sunken continents or ancient visitors from outer space.
with which he was dealing. He also pointed out that most One of the most persistent misconceptions is the
of the ancient pottery symbols were incomprehensible to notion that all Indian rock art is, in fact, a form of writ-
the modern Hopi priests, although the priests suggested ing. Although this possibility has been considered by vari-
many—and differing—interpretations for the designs. ous writers for some time, a recent book by Martineau
Ellis and Hammack (1968:35), in referring to the (1973) develops this thesis most explicitly. It is his con-
concentric circles from Arrow Grotto, state that this tention that rock art is rock writing–a pan-Indian system
ancient symbol is so standardized in Pueblo explanation akin to sign language, applicable everywhere, regardless of
as possibly to warrant designation as a glyph—the outer cultural affiliations or the time in question. This system
circle representing the light around the sun, the second he attempts to “crack” by the application of the tools of
the sun himself, and the dot his umbilicus (Fig. 6). Sev- cryptanalysis. His hypothesis, however, is not substanti-
eral years ago, however, while visiting some petroglyphs ated by archaeology. The fact that universal meanings
near the Hopi reservation, I was informed by a knowl- are lacking for symbols commonly found in rock draw-
edgeable Hopi that this symbol represents the earth, the ings has been admirably discussed by Renaud (1936:5),
center circle or dot standing for the water in the earth’s Cain (1950:54), and recently by Heizer and Clewlow
center. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that in (1973:51-52).
this particular instance the apparent contradiction may
be superficial. Heyden (1975:143) expresses the opinion Dating Rock Art
that sky and earth were inseparable in ancient myth and
thought in Mexico, and he cites the fact that Sahagun One of the major problems presented by the study
(1969, IV:172) refers to the Sun-Earth as one. That this of rock art is that of dating the art. Several approaches, in
duality is also present in Pueblo thought is made explicit some cases used together, have made possible the chrono-
by Ellis and Hammack (1968) in their reference to Arrow logical ordering of southwestern rock art styles as they
Grotto as a combined earth and sun shrine. are described in the following pages. The ability to date a
An interesting case of symbol diffusion on the Great particular site absolutely is rare, but various methods pro-
Plains that serves as a model along the lines of which vide means of relative dating.
change in symbolic meaning occurs has been described by Patination is an important means of determining
Spier (1921). Among the Plains tribes, there was a wider the relative ages of petroglyphs made at different times
distribution of rites and regalia, including symbols, than on the same cliff or boulder surface. Patina is the forma-
there were shared features of organization and mythologi- tion of a black or brown stain of hydrous iron and man-
cal beliefs. This situation occurred because objective phe- ganese oxides on rock surfaces (Grant 1967:43). When
nomena were readily diffused between neighboring tribes, a petroglyph is made, the design is pecked or scratched
but the borrower would not necessarily have the opportu- through this surface so that the original color of the rock

12
reprinted by permission from Indian Rock Art of the Southwest, by Polly Schaafsma

is exposed. On this exposed surface, a new layer of patina of the bow as a hunting weapon, replacing the spear and
immediately begins to form. The older the figure is, the the atlatl, is dated in Arizona as early as A.D. 200. It
darker it becomes. If two or more figures on a surface spread eastward across New Mexico, reaching West Texas
were made at different times, the more recent one will be between A.D. 600 and A.D. 1000 (Grant 1968:5~51;
lighter in color (Fig. 7). Because patina varies with the Newcomb and Kirkland 1967:40). The appearance of the
composition of the rock and its exposure to sun and rain, bow in rock art, particularly in the northern Chihuahua
however, the degree of patination alone is not an absolute and West Texas region, has been helpful in establishing
guide for dating. the earliest possible date for these paintings. Conversely,
Superimposition is another way to determine the styles in which the spear is emphasized must be earlier in
relative age of rock art. Designs were sometimes painted date than those in which the bow is depicted.
or pecked on top of older ones, and in some cases the The horse is another element with obvious tempo-
figures of several different styles and periods were made ral restrictions. The presence of this animal in a rock art
in the same spot. When the superimpositions are petro- panel indicates beyond any doubt that one is dealing with
glyphs, the difference in patination between the periods art of the historic period. First brought to this continent
of work will indicate, at least roughly, whether much or by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, the horse was
little time elapsed between the points at which they were becoming popular among the Apaches of New Mexico by
made. Where designs were pecked or painted over others the first half of the seventeenth century (Clark 1966:8).
of the same style and no age differences are apparent, we Horses became a favorite motif in Apache rock drawings,
may be dealing with a narrower time span. presumably at this time or shortly thereafter; they first oc-
Vertical placement of styles on a cliff face or within cur in Navajo art in the early eighteenth century.
a rock-shelter can also be an important indication of age. Finally, some of the late rock art of the Navajo
In the river canyons of the Colorado Plateau during early depicts specific historical events, such as the Spanish ex-
prehistoric times, for example, petroglyphs were some- pedition into Canyon del Muerto that ended with the
times made from the tops of sand dunes lying against the tragedy at Massacre Cave in 1805 and the Ute invasion
cliffs. The dunes were often removed later by floods, and of the same canyon in 1858. Presumably the paintings of
petroglyphs were made by subsequent canyon occupants the Spaniards and their horses and the charcoal drawings
in the scars left by the dunes. Thus vertical stratigraphy depicting the encounter with the Utes were made within
is present today, with the oldest work on top. Similarly, a few years of the events themselves (see Chapter 9).
ledges in rock-shelters and along cliffs often enabled early
artists to reach locations now inaccessible, and the work Techniques: Brush & Hammerstone
of later cultural groups, made after the ledges fell, is often
present below. Rock drawings were made in a number of different
The association of habitation debris with rock art is ways, and the method or combination of methods chosen
sometimes very helpful. In the Southwest, rock art often to execute designs on rock is one aspect of style. There are
occurs with habitation sites of the Hohokam, Mogollon, two major technical categories: rock paintings, and petro-
and Anasazi horticulturalists. Frequently these sites can glyphs, or designs cut into rock. The ambiguous term
be placed within a given time frame by the pottery types “pictograph,” which has a long history of usage in the lit-
present. In late Anasazi sites very specific dates are some- erature and may refer to either rock paintings alone or to
times obtainable for the rock art that was made from the both painted and cut figures, is not used in this volume.
rooftops of cliff dwellings. Some of this originated within
the fifty-year period between A.D. 1250 and A.D. 1300. Rock Paintings
One of the most useful means of ordering the
chronology of certain rock art styles has been the com- Rock paintings are usually found on the light-col-
parison of rock art figures with those on datable artifacts ored rock surfaces of protected places such as rock-shel-
such as pottery or clay pipes, or wall plaster in the ruins ters and beneath overhangs where there is little or no
themselves (Figs. 8, 9). A major stylistic break occurring patina (Plate 1). Of the colors used for these paintings,
in the mural art of the Anasazi around A.D. 1300-1350 red, white, black, and orange are the most common,
has assisted in dating a comparable change in the Anasazi with red predominating. Yellow and pink also occur from
Pueblo rock art. time to time. Green and blue are rare but are occasionally
Limitations on absolute dates are sometimes pro- found. The colors used were determined by the materi-
vided by the content of the art itself. The first appearance als available as well as, at least in some cases, by ritual

13
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

requirements. sandstone was involved, was sometimes smoothed and

Paint consists of three major components: the pig- abraded in preparation for receiving the painting (Fig.
ment or coloring agent, a binder used to stabilize the 12). Brushes, possibly made from the ends of yucca leaves
paint and cause it to adhere to the surface to which it is that had been chewed to remove the pulp and leave the
applied, and the vehicle, the means by which it is made strong vertical fibers, seem to have been used for painting
fluid (Hibben 1975:36). small solid areas, clear lines, and fine details. Wider areas
The pigment, consisting of a lump of clay or other may have been painted with a corn husk wrapped around
mineral, was ground up in preparation for mixing with the finger (Smith 1952:31). The use of the finger itself for
the other ingredients. The paints used in southwestern painting is evident in the finger streaks left in areas paint-
rock paintings have not been tested for their constituent ed in this manner (Fig. 13). This technique was often
parts, but the pigments used in the kiva mural art of the used to create a thin application of paint over a large area.
Hopi ruins of Awatovi and Kawaika have been analyzed Dots, an element commonly found in abstract paintings
in detail; for an excellent discussion of the results, see or as a decorative device on the human form, were usu-
Watson Smith (1952:22-24). Astonishingly similar results ally painted with fingertips dipped in paint. Whole hand
are reported from Pottery Mound by Hibben (1975:36- prints are also common (Plate 2). Occasionally a negative
48). It is reasonable to suppose that the pigments used in or stenciled design occurs, like the star crosses in Figure
rock paintings did not differ appreciably from those of 14, which were made by spraying paint around a form.
the mural paintings. Hands are the most usual motif painted in this way. Fi-
The various shades of red can probably be ascribed nally, dry lines were produced by drawing directly on the
to the use of the mineral hematite, or red iron oxide. rock with a stick of charcoal or a lump of soft pigment.
Limonite was probably the source for yellow, while or- Lines or areas of solid coloring done with a dry medium
ange was in all likelihood obtained from a combination are usually less definite and very sketchy compared to
of these. Malachite is the most obvious source for green painted ones.
pigment and azurite for bright blue. Turquoise paint may
have been obtained from grinding up turquoise itself. Petroglyphs
White clay was often used for painting, although silica,
gypsum, chalk, or calcium carbonate are other possible Petroglyphs are more common than paintings.
sources indicated by the mural paint analysis. Clays Throughout many regions of the Southwest these figures
stained with other minerals produce various pastel shades, occur by the hundreds, Dark exposed surfaces of highly
and these were used for rock painting, particularly by patinated sandstone and basalt cliffs and talus boulders
thirteenth-century Anasazi; colors include subtle shades were often selected for making petroglyphs because of the
of pinks, salmon, lavender, and pale green. An organic effective contrast between the original rock surfaces and
material such as charcoal or another form of carbon the newly cut designs.
would have been a readily available source for black paint. The usual method of making petroglyphs was by
The vehicle and binding agent were combined into pecking (Figs. 15, 16). This was often done by means of a
a single fluid to which the ground pigment was added. direct blow with a hammerstone, a tool sometimes found
It is likely that water was commonly used to create the in association with petroglyph sites. Direct percussion
desired consistency of the paint, but the binding medium does not provide precise control over the placement of
used in the mural paints has never been determined be- the resulting peck mark or dint (Turner 1963:2). When a
cause there is no evidence of it left. Judging by what is hammerstone was used in conjunction with a chisel, re-
known from ethnographic sources, the binding medium sults were finer, as greater control could be exercised over
was probably any one of a number of organic substances. the size of the dints and their spacing (Fig. 17). Another
The Hopis, in painting ceremonial objects, use saliva aid to achieving accurate results in the finished design
generated by chewing a variety of seeds that contain a was the occasional practice of lightly incising or pecking
vegetable oil; sometimes, but not always, water is added a preliminary outline. The remains of these outlines are
(Smith 1952:30). Smith also reports the use as a binding sometimes still visible.
agent of yucca juice or syrup, water and white bean meal, Even taking into account variability attributable
pinon gum for preparing blue and green paints, and the to individual artists, differences in pecking techniques
whites of eagle eggs (1952:31). to some degree characterize different styles. Large dints
Once the paint was mixed, it could be applied in and uneven outlines, for example, may be typical of one
several ways, and the rock surface, particularly when petroglyph style, while another may fairly consistently
exhibit small and very even dinting.
14
reprinted by permission from Indian Rock Art of the Southwest, by Polly Schaafsma

Whether small solid figures or large outline figures The Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic Style
were made was largely a stylistic choice within the peck-
Rock paintings believed to be the production of
ing technique. Because of the greater amount of work
pre-Fremont hunting-and-gathering peoples in the north-
involved, solid figures tend to be smaller. Outline figures,
ern Southwest are the Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic
on the other hand, are sometimes very large and may
Style paintings of eastern Utah (Figs. 3, 13, 38-48 and
approach life-size. Further, the use of unpecked interior
Plates. 1, 4-8). They constitute a major style grouping.
space allows the addition of many details or decorative
The number of known sites is about twenty, and they are
elements.
located in the rugged, arid canyon country of the Colo-
Another method of making petroglyphs is to incise
rado Plateau in the drainage of the Colorado River (Figs.
or scratch designs into the rock with a sharp tool. Incised
36, 37) (P. Schaafsma 1971:68).
designs are often found on soft sandstone surfaces lack-
This region was also occupied by the San Rafael
ing a heavy patina, and they are characteristic of historic
Fremont between A.D. 1700 and A.D. 1200, and the
petroglyphs in the Southwest (Fig. 18). Designs rendered
paintings have been classified by some archaeologists
by this method lack the boldness of the pecked figures;
as Fremont (Gunnerson 1969). In an earlier study of
but more fluid and expressive lines result, and greater de-
Utah rock art, the problem of the cultural affiliation of
tail is possible. Although incising tends to create a linear
these paintings was examined in depth (P. Schaafsma
style, in some cases large areas were abraded, resulting in
1971:128-35), and it was felt that evidence supported
solid patterns.
the probability that the Barrier Canyon Style artists were
In some examples, two or more techniques were
hunter-gatherers immediately preceding the Fremonters
used together. Scratched or incised details, for example,
of the region.
were sometimes added to both pecked and painted fig-
The dominant motif in the Barrier Canyon Style
ures. In other instances, pecked figures were also painted.
is the dark, tapering, immobile anthropomorphic form,
The reasons for the different technical methods
painted in a dark red pigment. These figures are frequent-
chosen by prehistoric artists are not always clear, but a
ly ghostly in appearance, hovering in rows against a sand-
major determinant in this matter frequently seems to
stone backdrop within arched alcoves and rock-shelters
have been the regional character of the available rock or
(Figs. 38, 39). The number of figures at a site may vary
the character of the particular rock to be decorated. Petro-
from a single anthropomorph to dozens. Isolated compo-
glyphs dominate, for example, in parts of southern Ari-
sitional groupings, centered on one or two large human
zona and in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico where
forms, flanked by smaller ones or tiny birds and quadru-
open talus slopes strewn with patina-blackened boulders
peds, as well as by zigzags or unidentifiable objects, some-
are a major landscape feature. On the other hand, shallow
times occur (Fig. 40 and Plate 4).
caves and overhangs in light-colored rock were selected
The paintings of the Great Gallery in Barrier Can-
for rock painting. Thus painting is the characteristic rock
yon, better known as Horseshoe Canyon, are among the
art technique found in the mountains of southwestern
finest in the style. The long wall of the shelter is covered
New Mexico, where small overhangs in the rhyolite cliffs
with dozens of richly decorated anthropomorphs, many
present the best surfaces for decoration,
of which are life size (Figs. 13, 39, 43-46 and Plates 1,
On the Colorado Plateau, however, where vast
6). In a number of instances the surface of the rock was
stretches of highly patinated, smooth sandstone cliffs are
smoothed in preparation for receiving the paintings, and
readily available along with numerous rock-shelters, cer-
several techniques were used to achieve the varied and
tain stylistic complexes may be made up predominantly
elaborate textural effects. The tall ghostlike being in Plate
of either petroglyphs or paintings. This suggests that
6 was created by a spatter technique; the indefinite result
other factors, such as ritual prescription, function (hence
contributes to his ethereal appearance. Possibly, however,
location, which often has a bearing on the nature of the
it is a fur robe that is represented. The paint on the torsos
rock), and even fashion, may also have influenced the
of other anthropomorphs (Figs. 13 and 44) was applied
method used. An intensive regional survey to determine
with the artist’s fingers, a method of painting that cre-
how technical aspects of rock art correlate with such vari-
ated a thin background on top of which lines and dots
ables as style, subject matter, and site situations would be
were applied in thicker paint. In several cases, lines were
informative, particularly on the Colorado Plateau, where
incised through the more heavily painted areas, and the
both rockshelters and highly patinated cliffs and boulders
feeling of a rich textile resulted. In some instances, the
were available for rock art.
body area is divided into panels: elaborated with stripes

15
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

or wavy lines or both. One Great Gallery anthropomorph Grand Canyon split-twig figurine complex in southern
has animals in the area of the chest, and another has Utah and the Pecos River region in Texas that suggest
smaller, mummylike figures incorporated into panels on a relationship between these two regions. Schroedl re-
the torso. Other solidly painted figures are adorned with gards the Barrier Canyon Style paintings as a probable
linear patterns of white dots (Figs. 45, 46). Tiny birds and component of the late Grand Canyon figurine complex
quadrupeds are grouped at the heads, shoulders, or sides in southern Utah. Excavation in Cowboy Cave in the
of a number of these anthropomorphs. The skull-like as- vicinity of the Great Gallery on a Barrier Creek tributary
pect of the heads in Figure 43 is readily apparent. revealed painted sandstone and clay figurines with coun-
The triangle of delicately painted mountain sheep terparts in the Pecos River region.
(Fig. 46) forms an unusual group. The sheep are por- The Cowboy Cave materials, which are dated be-
trayed in different running positions and below, more tween 100 B.C. and A.D. 500, also correlate well tem-
crudely painted, is a dog that appears to be chasing them. porally with the Barrier Canyon Style. Comparisons of
To the right are two men apparently holding spears and the Barrier Canyon Style with other rock art in the same
engaged in combat. The expressive use of line to denote general. region of the Colorado Plateau suggest that the
action in the figures of the sheep and the two men con- Barrier Canyon Style falls late in the Archaic sequence.
trasts with the surrounding immobile mummylike forms, It may have been, in part at least, contemporaneous with
although they were all clearly done by the same hand. the Anasazi Basketmakers to the south, and a rough tenta-
Other notable paintings (Figs, 47, 48 and Plates 7, tive dating between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500 is suggested.
8) are located at the Bird Site in the Maze in the Horse Evidence to support this general assignment is found in
Canyon drainage near the junction of the Colorado and the occasional overlap in anthropomorphic types between
Green rivers (Fig. 37). The main panel is a composition the Barrier Canyon Style and those painted by the San
consisting of a long row of figures that are very elongate Juan Basketmakers. Also, at Butler Wash, a Basketmaker
and that approach life size (Plates 7, 13). Again there is site in southern Utah, certain details of torso decoration
evidence of surface preparation prior to making the paint- resemble those from Barrier Canyon Style art. Further,
ings. Unlike the Great Gallery anthropomorphs, most of the emphasis on the depiction of the yucca fruit at Butler
those in the Maze have thin arms or legs or both. Stripes Wash is of interest, as a similar depiction occurs in the
and wavy lines decorate their bodies, and zigzag lines are Maze. The absence of the bow, which may have been
drawn beside them. As elsewhere, these figures are ac- present in the region as early as A.D. 200 (Grant 1968:5l)
companied by tiny birds and animals. Motifs concerning and the absence of Pueblo stylistic impact, which is preva-
the harvest also are present (Plate 8). Two smaller figures, lent in the Fremont art of the same region, also suggest an
expertly rendered as silhouettes, seem to wear burden bas- early date for Barrier Canyon Style art.
kets and carry in their hands objects that resemble tools One senses that the remote, awe-inspiring anthro-
for gathering wild grains (P. Schaafsma 1971:129). The pomorphic forms of the Barrier Canyon Style are beings
last figure on the right in this group is approached by a imbued with supernatural power. It is not unreason-
large bird and has rabbits running down his aim. What able, considering the content of the paintings, to suggest
appears to be ricegrass, the seeds of which were a major that we are dealing with a shamanic art. In fact, Well-
food source at the hunter-gatherer level, sprouts from a mann (1975) has described the paintings in the Maze as
finger. Another small composition at this site consists of “the seasonal image of a harvest scene imbued with dis-
a human figure about 15 inches tall that is approached by tinctly shamanistic dualities.”
tiny birds and quadrupeds; again, wild plants are included The presence of shamanistic symbolism in North
in the group. In addition to what appear to be grasses, American Indian rock art has been pointed out, and the
there is a stalk of what may be yucca fruit. idea that certain rock art may be the result of shamanic
A comparison can be drawn between the Barrier practices has been discussed by investigators in widely dif-
Canyon Anthropomorphic Style and the paintings of the ferent areas: southern California (Hedges 1975), Ontario
Archaic Pecos River Style in Texas (P. Schaafsma 1971: (Vastokas and Vastokas 1973), and Utah, Arizona, and
Fig. 132). These two art complexes share certain stylistic Wyoming (Wellmann 1975). Shamanism is an “ecstatic
emphases as well as some very specific and unusual de- technique at the disposal of a particular elite” (Eliade
tails. Considering the distances involved, the significance 1964), shamans themselves being individuals of power
of these similarities is puzzling. In a recent article, how- who have the ability to transport themselves mentally
ever, Schroedl (1977:260-62) points out that- parallels from one level of awareness to another, communicating
in the realm of nonutilitarian objects exist between the with the supernatural by means of dreams, fasting, trance,

16
reprinted by permission from Indian Rock Art of the Southwest, by Polly Schaafsma

visions, and the like. During their quest for power, aspir- Reprinted by permission from Indian Rock Art of the
ing shamans have to submit to an initiatory ordeal involv- Southwest by Polly Schaafsma. © 1980 by the School of
ing symbolic death and rebirth, and during ecstasy the American Research, Santa Fe.
shaman’s soul is able to travel throughout this world as
well as into the realms above and below.
Many shamanic practices and much of the symbol-
ism associated with shamanism are held in common over
vast areas (Furst 1974a), and the Barrier Canyon Style an-
thropomorphs have attributes and associations character-
istic of shamans throughout the world. Horns, which are
one type of headdress occurring on Barrier Canyon Style
figures, are almost universally emblematic of shamanic
and supernatural power. Animal spirit helpers, common
to the shamanic realm (Furst 1974a:135), may explain
the many tiny animals and birds that approach these
figures or appear on their heads and shoulders. Birds in
this context may symbolize the shamanic power of magic
flight; the bird may lead the soul in flight, or the soul may
actually change into a bird (Wellmann 1975). The large
dog, a major figure in many Barrier Canyon Style panels,
may be analogous to the jaguar, whose form New World
shamans commonly are believed to assume. This belief
in jaguar transformation in Central and South America
has been documented from ancient times to the present
(Furst 1972). In this regard, the fact that the cat does
appear in a similar context in the Western Archaic paint-
ings of the Pecos River Focus is noteworthy (P. Schaafsma
1971:131, Fig. 132; Newcomb and Kirkland 1967).
Further, according to Goldman (1963:262), among the
Cubeo (a tribe of the Amazon Basin), “the yavi is the
supreme shaman, the one who can take the form of a
jaguar, who consorts with jaguars, who maintains the
jaguar as a dog” —a comment that may have a certain
amount of relevance here. Finally, the deathlike aspect
of many of the anthropomorphs may well be significant.
Skeletal motifs in rock art may in some cases relate to the
shaman’s initiatory journey to the Underworld.
The compositions in the Barrier Canyon Style
paintings were carefully planned, and the fact that su-
perimpositions are rare suggests that the image, not just
the act of painting, was important. Further, the painting
at each shelter appears to be the work of a single person,
or, at the most, a limited number of people, indicating
that these paintings were probably made only by a select
few, probably artist-shamans. These factors, along with
the powerful impact made by the paintings themselves in
their impressive settings, imply that the sites where these
paintings occur served as some kind of religious foci or
retreats.

17
reprinted by permission from Trance and Transformation In the Canyons, by Polly Schaafsma

Trance and Transformation

in the Canyons
Shamanism and Early Rock Art on the Colorado Plateau
By Polly Schaafsma

Introduction tion of shamanic elements in this rock art is not new, and
these have been pointed out and briefly discussed in pre-
The early rock art of the Colorado Plateau of east- vious publications (Cole 1990:77, 123; Grant 1978:167,
ern Utah and northern Arizona includes some of the 185, 189-190; Hedges 1985:90-91; Schaafsma 1980:71-
most explicitly shamanistic 72, 117, 1986:226,
rock art in North America. 1990:230).
Painted and pecked on A more extensive
sandstone cliffs and in consideration is given to
rock shelters are several the shamanic aspects of
rock art styles or systems Basketmaker rock art by
of iconography distin- Cole (1989) who in part
guished by subject matter relies on much later eth-
that strongly suggests they nographic accounts from
had origins in shamanic Zuni and Hopi as aids to
beliefs and practices. This interpreting Basketmaker
paper explores shamanistic imagery. There is, however,
models for “goodness of fit” a significant temporal gap
as explanations of the con- separating Basketmaker
tent of two of these styles: II from the ethnographic
the Barrier Canyon style present, from a minimum
(BCS), the work of West- of 1,450 to possibly as
ern Archaic hunter-gather- much as 3,500 years. Al-
ers of the Colorado River though I cite potential
drainage [estimated dates Pueblo parallels in some
ca. 5000-4000 B. C. to ca. instances, the thrust of the
1000 or 500 B. C. (Schaaf- discussion in this paper is
sma 1986:225)], and the Figure 1. Map of the Colorado and San Juan drainages based instead on general
San Juan Anthropomorphic showing the distribution of Barrier Canyon Style and San Juan shamanic models. Lacking
style of the Basketmakers of Basketmaker rock art. ethnographic data closely
the Lower San Juan drain- related to the ancient
age. prehistoric cultures that made this art, interpretations
A new “long chronology” for Basketmaker II has are offered here on the basis of comparisons between ele-
emerged out of recent research that extends the early ments and scenes in the rock art and various more or less
dates for maize farming on the Colorado Plateau back to universal aspects of shamanic phenomena from more re-
sometime between 1500 and 1000 B. C. (Lipe 1993:2-3; mote ethnographic contexts. As discussed by Furst (1986)
Smiley 1993; Smiley et al. 1986). The earliest dates (1500 and others (Eliade 1964; Halifax 1982), many shamanic
B. C. to A. D. 50) come from rock shelters that contain elements are transcultural. The antiquity of shamanism
burials and storage cists as well as rock art. The new long in the history of mankind is acknowledged by all students
chronology better explains the large quantity of extant of the subject, and shamanic elements persist today in the
Basketmaker rock art and its relationships with the Ar- religions of many cultures. Shamanic practitioners were
chaic styles featuring large anthropomorphs. The recogni- (are) persons skilled in “the techniques of ecstasy.” With
19
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

the assistance of various spirits, including those of ani- from his trance may account for many or most of the
mals, through trance and symbolic death, they have the BCS and Basketmaker petroglyphs and rock paintings.
ability to travel to celestial realms and the Underworld Rock art made in a shamanistic context would serve to
in order to communicate with the “purveyors of power” validate the supernatural journey into the cosmic myster-
(Halifax 1982:9). The interconnectedness and kinship be- ies and to communicate this voyage to a wider group, in-
tween all things underlies the shamanic world view. Man, cluding initiates. In addition, rock art might be made in
animals, and plants are qualitatively equal and can assume order to refresh the shaman’s memory of the otherworldly
each other’s forms. Aural and somatic hallucinations and journey. In all cases, rock art imagery would have been
visionary experiences characterize the shamanic trance effective in reducing the barriers between the real and the
experience, and these are often provoked by the use of supernatural. In both BCS and San Juan Basketmaker
hallucinogens. With rock art, a large an-
JIM BLAZIK

the aid of spirit help- thropomorphic figure

ers, tutelary deities, with supernatural
and divine or semi- attributes is the domi-
divine beings (Eliade nant subject (Figure
1964:88-95), these 4). In both styles,
otherworldly voyagers these anthropomorphs
contact ancestral and display otherworldly
supernatural powers (non-naturalistic) fea-
in the interests of cur- tures and, in the BCS
ing, fertility, divining, in particular, spirit
successful hunting and helpers and tutelary
battle exploits, and deities, commonly in
weather control. In animal form, are con-
other words, shamanic sistently represented
rites are performed by (Figures 5, 6). In sites
persons with access of both BCS and
to supernatural pow- Figure 4: Basketmaker petroglyphs, Butler Wash, San Juan River, Utah. Basketmaker origin,
ers for the benefit of Stylistic consistency and layout of these figures indicate that they were one is able to identify
the group. Shamans conceived and created as a group, probably by a single artist. Large figures groups of figures and
would have been held discrete composi-
responsible for effect- tions that appear to
ing a balance with the cosmos and played important roles have been executed by a single individual (Figure 4). In
in curing, as well as in the social and economic welfare of individual technique and “style” they “go together”, of-
the early people on the Colorado Plateau. ten focusing on a particular theme or type of figure. The
Universally, shamans have communicated their aesthetic achievement and technical excellence present
extraordinary experiences through art. It is reasonable to in much of this art indicate that making it was a time-
speculate, with little possibility of testing this proposi- consuming, exacting, and thus a “valuable” activity. It is
tion and without close ethnographic comparisons, that interesting that as shamanic themes wane in Anasazi rock
shamans were frequently the BCS and Basketmaker art- art, there is a notable decline in the technical and visual
ists. In addition, as pointed out by Whitley (1992:94), quality, suggesting that rock art was less important than
in the ethnographic past in southern California, initiates in earlier days.
participating in puberty rites that included shamanic ex- In addition to spirit helpers, transmogrification,
periences sometimes made rock art. Initiation can involve and other somatic as well as aural trance symbolism, what
a journey to the supernatural realm with its associated may be entoptic (neuropsychological) phenomena appear
experiences of death and rebirth, as well as the acquisition to be represented in these art styles, raising the question
of spirit helpers. Rock art made as records of these events of the use of hallucinogens. Archaeological evidence in
by shamans and initiates alike may involve trance im- the form of pipes and cane cigarettes suggests that altered
ages, paintings or petroglyphs of beings encountered on states of consciousness and trance were induced or assist-
supernatural journeys, spirit helpers, and transformational ed by tobacco (Switzer 1969). The use of datura among
experiences. A shaman’s commitment to record visions the Pueblos (Datura meteloides) is well documented

20
reprinted by permission from Trance and Transformation In the Canyons, by Polly Schaafsma

ethnographically. In addition, Amanita muscaria and art may be amenable to some analysis by ethnographic
psilocybin mushrooms were also available (States 1990), comparisons, although a full-blown understanding from
although ethnographically there is no record of the use of this distance is unlikely. In summary, although the eth-
mushrooms in the Southwest. nographic record may be a touchstone for understanding
As mentioned previously, there are no close connec- this rock art, the most useful model for these two early
tions between this rock art and the ethnographic present styles is a generalized shamanistic framework.
or recent past. Whitley (1992, 1994, this volume) cites
material from the ethnographic past, including that of Barrier Canyon Style
Numic speakers, to explain shamanic elements in rock
art of the far west. Settlement of the Colorado Plateau by Barrier Canyon style rock art (Cole 1990:67-82;
Numic speakers, however, considerably postdates the rock Schaafsma 1980, 1986) is found throughout the Colo-
art under consideration (Anderson 1983; Marwitt 1986). rado and Green River drainages from northwestern Colo-
The ethnographic present of the Southwest pueblos is an rado to the Grand Canyon (Figure 1). This indicates that
amalgam of continuities with the past as well as changes hunter-gatherer populations of this wide region shared a
that have either developed in situ or been introduced. common ideological background that distinguished them
Ideological changes were either gradual (from Basketmak- from hunter-gatherers elsewhere. The large number of
er II through Pueblo III) or relatively sudden around A. sites, the complex imagery, and the technical finesse with
D. 1300 (Schaafsma 1980). On a general front, a simple which it is executed are all indications that rock art was
historical continuity from the shamanic ideology of the an important means of communication. There is also evi-
San Juan Basketmakers and to the modem Pueblos seems dence to suggest that this rock art style is not only several
unlikely. The rock art itself indicates that ideology (along thousand years old, but that it continued to be made over
with political and social organization) during this long a long period of time (Schaafsma 1986:225). Imagery
period of time was complicated by change. Change in- that is transitional between BCS, Basketmaker, and Fre-
cludes phasing out, by ca. A. D. 600 if not earlier, much mont indicates that BCS rock art may have been made
of the shamanic imagery that characterizes Basketmaker until farming was introduced and precipitated cultural
rock art. Taking these factors into account, the use of the change. Absolute dating methods will eventually clarify
Pueblo ethnographic record to illuminate certain sha- the nature of these relationships. Petroglyphs exist, but
manic themes may be approached with caution. Natural most BCS rock art consists of paintings in rock shelters.
models (see Whitley, this volume), from whence symbolic There is a conspicuous paucity, perhaps even lack, of BCS
associations are derived, may provide a stabilizing effect. rock art on boulders.
Once metaphors, for example, between certain natural The abstracted anthropomorpb with its attendant
phenomena have become formalized and ritualized, the death and transformational symbolism is the main sub-
continued associations in nature would serve to preserve ject of this art as it is repeated again and again in the
these ideas. Animal and bird symbolism seen in this rock sandstone canyons of the Colorado Plateau (Figures 2, 3,
5-10). This figure, in turn, is often accompanied by small
or tiny animals and birds, sometimes only an inch or two
long (Figure 5). Although it might be argued that these
figures represent the ancestral souls of the dead, or other
anthropomorphic sources of supernatural powers, it is
more likely that in most cases we are viewing pictures of
shamans experiencing symbolic death and at times trans-
formation, possibly into a supernatural or animal form.
Similar figure groupings in the Pecos River style have
long been regarded as depictions of shamans with their
associated animal spirit helpers (Kirkland and Newcomb
1967:65-80). The intimate relationship between the sha-
Figure 5. Detailed paintings of unnaturalistic life forms suggest manic quest and the animal world of tutelary deities and
transformational themes. The one on the right has the head of spirit helpers and guardians is well documented. Accord-
a bird and a suggestion of wings. The end figures are flanked by ing to Eliade (1964:95):
plants and birds flying away, some toward the central motif that
appears to contain a snake. The large figures are less than 40 cm
... the guardian and helping spirits without which no
tall. All painting is red (hematite) unless otherwise indicated.

21
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

or eyes are given unusual emphasis by outlining in white.

When a shaman Is In a trance state, he is said to see with
mystical eyes (Eliade 1964:42) - he can “see” lost objects,
the presence of evil spirits, the nature or cause of an ill-
ness, and into the past and future - things and places
inaccessible to the uninitiated. Dots and lines falling from
the eyes of some anthropomorphs (Schaafsma 1980: Figs.
45, 48) could represent hallucinogenically produced facial
bleeding, indicative of a trance state (see Whitley, this
volume), although this interpretation is subject to further
investigation. Whiting(1950:59) describes shamans bleed-
ing from their eyes and nose, but this seemed to have
Figure 6. Part of a group including a bird and snakes with human been a result of not using their power and therefore not
features suggesting shamans undergoing transmogrification. a condition of trance. Enlarged eyes and bulbous heads
Roots appear to grow from the feet of the figure on the left. are reminiscent of skulls. A suggestion of death imagery
The largest is about 30 cm tall.
is also present in the occasional abstract indication of ribs
shamanic seance is possible can be regarded as the au- (Figure 9; Cole 1990: Fl. 22; Schaafsma 1980: Pl.4). In
thenticating signs of the shaman’s ecstatic journeys in the
beyond. This is as much as to say that the animals spirits
play the same role as the ancestral spirits; these, too, carry
the shaman to the beyond (sky and underworld), reveal
the mysteries to him, teach him, and so on. The role of the
animal spirit in initiation rites and in myths and legends
of the hero’s travels in the beyond parallels that of the dead
man’s soul in (shamanic) initiatory “possession.” But it is
clear that it is the shaman himself who becomes the dead
man (or the animal spirit, or the god, etc.) in order to
demonstrate his real ability to ascend to the sky or descend
to the underworld.
In many respects, this quote well describes what was
painted by BCS artists. We are not viewing living human
beings as such, but transformed anthropomorphic forms Figure 8. Transformational themes in this group include animals
replete with trance and death symbolism. These figures (upper left) holding staffs like humans and the large left-hand
are abstract, often extremely elongated (Figures 6-8), end figure with wings. Feet are unnatural.
frequently lack arms and legs (Figures 2, 3 g). One of
the somatic effects of hallucinogens is the sense of bodily
elongation (Lewis-Williams 1988:10) and projections addition, there are other abstract designs in the body area
from the head (Whitley, this volume). In addition, heads of BCS anthropomorphs comprised of rows of dots, sets
may be completely unnaturalistic, and some figures are of parallel lines, wavy lines, Zigzags, and so forth. These
even headless. In many cases, enormous eyes are featured elements by themselves are recognized types of entoptic
phenomena that can also be integrated with iconic im-
ages in a culturally defined manner (Lewis-Williams and
Dowson 1988:202-203). Thus viewed, these seemingly
“decorative elements” become another material artifact
indicating trance state and, at the same time, they suggest
transparency and inner body parts.
As mentioned earlier in this discussion, spirits of
different categories are invoked for shamanic assistance,
all of which may be pictured in the BCS. Power may be
Figure 7. Elongated Barrier Canyon style figures holding plants, obtained through souls of dead shamans or souls of an-
staffs, and various other objects, some of which may be spears. cestors, and the source of power may differentiate types
The anvil-shaped heads of these anthropomorphs and those in
Figure 6 from the same site suggest bird forms. of shamans. The majority of familiar and helping spir-

22
reprinted by permission from Trance and Transformation In the Canyons, by Polly Schaafsma

its, however, have animal forms. Birds, insects, bighorn be helping spirits, but they frequently play the role of
sheep, various quadrupeds, and other life forms lacking guard in Underworld scenes.
naturalistic counterparts are positioned near or within In addition to the scenes in which human-like
the body area of abstracted anthropomorphs (Figures figures and animals are shown in intimate association,
5, 6, 8, 10). The close relationships between man and there are pictures of transmogrification. Incarnation of a
animals, and the shaman’s ability to share in the oc- shaman into animal form (possession) equals his ability
cult powers of the animal to die, forsake the human
world is one of the major condition, for the sake of ac-
messages of shamanism in quiring supernatural powers
general and of these rock art (Eliade 1964:93). Transfor-
compositions. Scenes in the mational themes seemingly
BCS art are reminiscent of related to shamanic death
a Siberian Goldi shaman’s and rebirth are portrayed
costume painted with small in a painting near Moab,
figures of spirits over which Utah in which a snake or
he had control (Vastokas viscera (or both at once) are
1977:99-104). Birds and graphically painted inside an
snakes, well known for their unidentifiable form (Figure
powerful shamanic associa- 5). On the right of this cen-
tions, preponderate as spirit tral figure is a bird-headed
helpers. Birds in particular Figure 9. Figures from San Juan County, Utah. Body patterns anthropomorph flanked by
symbolize shamanic flight. include the small figure with “ribs” and the snakes on the plants and, on the left, an
Becoming a bird (Figures 5, right-hand figure with the head of a cat. Entoptic imagery is ambiguous headless form
6, 8) allows one to take the suggested by the geometric patterns. The dotted areas indicate with animal feet. Both lateral
white paint. Figure on right is around 1 meter tall.
ecstatic journey to sky and figures are shown with small
beyond, and in many places birds that fly toward the cen-
in the world, bird elements are commonly incorporated tral motif. Soul flight (the birds flying away) and organ
into shamans’ costumes. In the rock art, birds fly over and renewal, both common to the initiatory experience, are
around the heads and toward and away from the bodies suggested here. In a composition of small figures that ap-
of the anthropomorphic forms (Figures 5, 8). Snakes, parently illustrates a whole ceremony, a bird flies upward
who gain strong shamanistic associations through their trailing a line that ends with human feet, and snakes, one
close relationships with earth and Underworld, and who with sheep horns, have human arms (Figure 6 and Hedg-
rejuvenate themselves by shedding their skins, are power- es 1985:90-91). Dashed lines falling from the mouth of
ful assistants. They are shown held in the hands or on one snake suggest facial bleeding, a phenomenon well
or alongside the bodies of shamans (Figures 3, 6, 9, 10). documented in shamanic trance scenes elsewhere (Lewis-
Shamanic powers may also be obtained from “phantoms” Williams 1982:434, Whitley, this volume). Another
and earth spirits (Eliade 1964:89). Depictions by sha- human figure in this group has roots growing from its
man-artists of the spirit world invisible to the uninitiated feet. The most usual transformational image in BCS art,
may account for the inclusion of elements and animals however, is the occasional portrayal of winged anthropo-
in these scenes that lack natural counterparts (Schaafsma morphs (Figure 8), conflated imagery that directly sug-
1980). gests shamanic flight.
In some BCS paintings, actual ceremonies seem to In addition, there are other animals lacking human
be in progress (Figures 6-8). Plants, potential spirit help- characteristics that may symbolically represent shamans.
ers, are held by ceremonial participants (Figures 7, 8). In Shamanic combat during altered states of conscious-
a few scenes, elongated anthropomorphs appear to dance ness and in animal form may be represented in rock art.
with bears or other animals (Schaafsma 1971: Fig. 78). Mountain lions challenging each other pecked in the
Bears and other carnivores, perhaps dogs, are often pic- cliff at the Great Gallery in Barrier (Horseshoe) Canyon
tured on a larger scale. The dog(?) at the feet of anthropo- suggest such an confrontation. Similar encounters are
morphs in some panels seems to be a spirit of a different pictured in the Pecos River style (Kirkland and Newcomb
class and is perhaps a guardian or guide for the shaman’s 1967; Zintgraff and Turpin 1991) and Eliade (1964:94-
journeying soul. In Asia and the polar regions, dogs may 95) cites cave drawings of Saymali Tas, in Kirgizin, in

23
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

which shamans contest each other in the form of reindeer.

If the alter-ego dies in the fight, the shaman soon dies
as well. Another scene at the Great Gallery portrays two
fully human figures in apparent combat above a group
of mountain sheep (Figure 3, lower left). This appears to
be part of a larger group involving abstract shamans and
sheep.
Variation and the personal style of individual art-
ists can be distinguished from site to site and from panel
to panel within large sites, indicating the limit of each
artist’s documented vision. The recurrent theme of the
abstracted shaman figure with helping spirits in BCS art
appears to be the repetitious portrayal of a scene that
distinguishes each seance and the shaman’s death and Figure 10. Large anthropomorph with snakes and bird-like
anthropomorphic spirit helper. The central snake and eyes of the
resurrection. Evidence of repeated painting activity at a
anthropomorph are green and a row of white dots embellishes
site may signify that a given place or shelter was regarded the lower edge of the horizontal open rectangle across the
as sacred or harbored supernatural power. Rock shelters shoulders. Roughly life-sized.
where paintings are located may have been viewed as
entrances to, or at least as sharing a proximity with, the its own formal stylistic attributes and an iconographic
supernatural realm, a widely shared perspective through- system distinct from that of the BCS. Nevertheless, the
out the West and in Mexico (Ellis and Hammack 1968; continuing emphasis on large, broad-shouldered human
Whitley 1992). Once paintings were already present, figures, with shamanic attributes and associated elements,
they may have established the place as “important” or strongly suggests that Basketmaker ideology was linked to
“meaningful” for future generations of shamans to leave older shamanistic traditions on the Colorado Plateau.
their work. In the Great Gallery in Barrier Canyon, there The substantial quantity of Basketmaker rock art
was a lot of available space and there are few superimposi- throughout the Lower San Juan drainage and its tribu-
tions. In Shamans’ Gallery in Grand Canyon (Schaafsma taries is consistent with the long chronology heretofore
1990), the space was relatively limited, but paintings were described. It is also indicative of extensive rock art pro-
superimposed, and sometimes figures were touched up or duction during Basketmaker II. Sites are of two major
refurbished. The eventual result is a many-layered painted types: 1) petroglyphs on exposed cliff faces and boulders,
surface in which images build on each other as if previous and 2) rock paintings within the protected area of sand-
figures gave the new ones added significance. stone rock shelters. As in the BCS, one is often able to
BCS rock art and its accompanying shamanic identify distinct groups of figures that seem to have been
world-view seems to have set the stage for a continuing created together as a group, probably by one artist. Some
tradition on the Colorado Plateau, although the historical of the largest and most complicated San Juan Basketmak-
nature of these relationships is not well understood. Later er petroglyph sites are along the San Juan River in Utah
related styles that communicate some of the same con- (Figure 4). There seems to be a discernible chronological
cepts include the Abajo-LaSal style (Cole 1990:152; 157), development in Basketmaker rock art from early to late,
and San Juan Basketmaker and Fremont rock art. as evidenced both by superimpositions as well as gradual
style changes into Basketmaker III. Whether or not the
San Juan Anthropomorphic style encompasses the early
San Juan Anthropomorphic Style years of Basketmaker III is uncertain, but in no case are
The San Juan Basketmaker region is located in the we dealing with imagery that includes the depiction of
lower San Juan drainage in southeastern Utah and north- bow and arrow hunters. The bow was introduced into
ern Arizona (Figure 1). In this region and beyond, the southern Utah at the end of Basketmaker II or in early
early maize farmers were preceded by hunter-gatherers Basketmaker III (Hurst and Turner 1993:160), although
who produced rock art known as Glen Canyon Style 5 dates of A. D. 300 (Holmer 1986) or earlier (Janetski
(Turner 1963) or the Glen Canyon Linear style (Schaaf- 1993:239; Reed 1990) have been proposed. Precise dat-
sma 1980:72). This style also contains anthropomorphs ing, however, is not a major concern here.
with shamanic characteristics but is beyond the scope The dominant element of the San Juan Anthro-
of this essay. The rock art of San Juan Basketmakers has pomorphic style is a static human figure with drooping

24
reprinted by permission from Trance and Transformation In the Canyons, by Polly Schaafsma

powers and death symbolism are not mutually exclusive

subjects.
The typical elaborate towering headdresses graphi-
cally suggest communication with the spirit world and
the celestial regions (Figures 4, 11). Elements projecting
from the top of the head, especially those comprised of a
series of crescents stacked one above the other, are com-
mon. The crescent headdress is the hallmark of the San
Juan Basketmaker anthropomorph. In certain ethno-
graphic situations, power is thought to reside in shamans
“caps”, and it is interesting that these towering and tiered
headpieces are represented alone as significant objects in
the lower Butler panel (Figure 4).
The significance of the contraptions issuing from
the left ears of figures along the San Juan (Figures 4, 11)
and in Canyon de Chelly (Grant 1978:Figs. 4.13, and
4.14) may lie in the realm of aural hallucinations. Special
Figure 11. Detail of the Butler Wash panel. The central male “hearing” is also a feature of a shaman’s learning experi-
figure has a left ear projection as well as a tiered headdress, a ence, necessary for communication with various spirits,
necklace, fringed belt. The figure to the right has clawed feet, understanding the language of plants and animals, and
and secondary legs hang from the baseline of the body. The left other secret languages (Eliade 1964:42, 96). These ema-
hand holds what appears to be a head surmounted by a tier of nations suggest this kind of power. In almost every case
crescent shapes. The oversized head of this figure suggests that
it might be masked. Large figures are approximately 1 meter the left ear is involved, and this may also have been mean-
ingful.
hands and feet (Figures 4, 11). These figures are usually It is noteworthy that material artifacts resembling
larger than other associated elements, and size seems to these ear pieces or the characteristic headgear are almost
have been a means of emphasizing their importance. nonexistent, in spite of the wealth of perishable mate-
They are often male, although females are clearly depicted rial that has been retrieved from dry Basketmaker caves.
at some sites (Cole 1993). Males and females are rarely A single piece of wood, flat across the top and inscribed
paired, however. Formerly cited as merely a stylistic con- with the figure of a bird, is one possible remnant of such
vention, the drooping attitude of hands and feet is herein a headpiece (Cole 1993: Fig. 9.17a and b). Such a near
regarded as having iconic significance, communicating lack of material correlates, however, raises the question of
information about the state of being of these anthropo- whether we are viewing graphic representations of ideas
morphs. Although it is possible that the souls of the dead or even natural objects.
or deceased shamans are the beings represented, the These images could graphically illustrate
condition of immobility and lifelessness conveyed concepts such as are found among the Huichol,
by this posture also suggests a trance state. As in who maintain that an animating soul
the BCS, a complex of associated ele- or life force resides in (or emanates
ments is also subject to interpretation from) the top of the head (see Halifax
via a shamanic paradigm. The sec- 1982:83 for an illustration), as well as
ondary elements and details of the a belief in a multiplicity of souls (Furst
anthropomorphs themselves, how- 1977:17). At the same time the major-
ever, are very different from those ity of these projecting devices or caps resemble mush-
previously described. In contrast to rooms. I am not saying that this is what we see here (the
their importance in the BCS, large staring eyes wooden artifact isn’t really mushroom-shaped) but, at
are only occasionally an attribute of Basketmaker the same time, hallucinogenic plants are commonly
figures (Cole 1993:Fig. 9.18). In some cases, eyes represented in art, and this possibility should not be
are outlined and, in some painted Basketmaker overlooked.
figures, eyes contribute to a skeletal Necklaces are also one of the
aspect (Grant 1978:Fig. 4.56), As Figure 12. A Basketmaker anthropomorph most significant features of Basket-
should be clear by now, shamanic with bear paw hands. A small figure “rides”
on the left shoulder. Large figure is less than maker anthropomorphs and, in this

25
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

context, may have been important power objects. In below), these associations as expressed through
various cultures, necklaces are viewed as representing the art are less consistent. Man-animal relation-
a certain status, or they signify supernatural power ships are most tenuously expressed where animal
in themselves. Webber (1977:118-121), for example, tracks, usually those of bears or carnivores, are
describes necklaces made by Naskapi shamans of the shown in conjunction with the anthropomorphs.
Quebec–Labrador Peninsula that are worn by patients One figure at Butler Wash, however, has a sheep
for life-time protection. The necklace of a Nepali pecked in the chest region. Similar figures also oc-
shaman symbolizes the teacher who guided him cur in the BCS (Noxon and Marcus 1985:Fig. 66;
through his apprenticeship (Hitchcock 1977:41- Schaafsma 1980: Fig. 44). Cole (1989:77, Fig.
43), and the power of guru is passed on in this 3a) discusses the shamanic import of the close
manner. Among the Zuni, rank and position spatial relationship between two large birds and
of certain kachinas may be indicated by the the central anthropomorphic figure in a Butler
necklaces that they wear (Bunzel 1932:871). Wash panel. Basketmaker figures with clawed
On the Southern Plains, necklaces made of feet or bear paw print hands combine human
the red beans of Sophora secundiflora worn by and animal forms (Figures 11, 12). It is the
peyotists are a historical linkage with the repeated image of the bird-headed shaman,
shamanic red bean medicine societies that Figure 13. however, that is the transformational figure
prevailed before the latter were replaced by Upside-down Basketmaker par excellence in Basketmaker art. Evidence
anthropomorph below a
the peyote cult (La Barre 1964:126-127). medicine bag. Human
from superimpositions and stylistic trends
Other elements that suggest super- figure is about 40 cm tall. suggest that these personages occur in the
natural connections and powers are the lines latter part of the Basketmaker sequence. The
extending from fingers (Figure 11), and the occasional importance of birds in shamanic iconography and trans-
small anthropomorphic form standing on or floating formational imagery with implications of travel to other
above the left shoulder of larger human figures (Figure realms is universal (Eliade 1964; Turpin, this volume) and
12). Upside-down anthropomorphs lack elaborations; has been discussed in connection with the BCS.
some are even headless, and in themselves provide few Instead of winged anthropomorphs and bird
clues as to their meaning. One occurs directly beneath spirit helpers, however, in Basketmaker rock art we
an elaborate medicine bag, and the two figures appear to find shamans with birds on their heads. These birds are
have been executed as a unit (Figure 13). In the context sometimes identifiable as ducks or other water fowl and
of shamanic imagery, these figures could depict the sym- turkeys (Figures 14, 15; Grant 1978:4.4, 4.22). (Note
bolic death of the neophyte or shaman entering a trance. that in some cases Grant’s chronology is subject to revi-
Falling figures in the Pecos River style are combined with sion). Birds as or on heads of human figures, as well as
bird characteristics and are described as shamans falling three-digit hands and feet, emphasize the idea of avian
back to earth from their celestial journey (Zintgraff and transformation and, in some cases, flight and access to
Turpin 1991:22). the sky. In a few cases, these bird-heads actually have
Masks may be pictured in a few sites, either be- their upper arms raised and/or legs bent and appear to
ing worn or as separate elements (Cole 1989:64-65), be flying (Grant 1978:Fig. 4.22 c). Keeping in mind the
although they are not common. Masking is a general temporal discrepancy between the Basketmakers and
phenomenon, and there is no indication that Basket- the contemporary Pueblos, Pueblo symbolism may pro-
maker II masks have anything to do with kachina masks vide more specific clues as the significance of ducks and
(Schaafsma 1980). Masking is consistent with shamanic turkeys in this context. Based on natural models, some
transformational apparel, and the unusual representation symbolic meanings and metaphors, once set in motion,
of a possible animal mask (Cole 1989: Fig. 3b) could at may have remained consistent over a long period of time.
the same time represent a shamanic spirit helper (Furst The strongly liminal nature of the migratory duck, that
1977:2). is at home in the sky, on and even under the water, is a
Animals, birds, and other life forms in rock art are natural model for mobility in several realms. The duck’s
usually represented for their symbolic value. The close linkage with supernatural travel among today’s Pueblos
affinities of the Basketmaker figures to animals and other is discussed at length by Tyler (1979:132-141). On the
elements in the environment are for the most part il- other hand, the more earth-bound turkey is linked with
lustrated differently in Basketmaker work than in the the Underworld and the dead, as well as clouds and rain,
BCS. With the exception of the bird-headed figures (see its home being in the mountains from whence the rain

26
reprinted by permission from Trance and Transformation In the Canyons, by Polly Schaafsma

comes (Tyler 1979:101-106). These associations among well with the carving of an Eskimo shaman harpooning
the Pueblos may well throw some light on the shamanic himself(Halifax 1982:4). Scenes showing shamans (in-
significance of these birds among the Basketmakers. In dicated by their headgear) hunting with atlatls and darts
Basketmaker rock art, bird-headed shamans are frequently also evoke complicated explanations within the shamanic
shown engaged in activities such as hunting with atlatl paradigm as metaphors of death and the acquisition of
and darts or carrying a handful of projectiles. A search power. A mountain lion hunt scene (extraordinary in
beyond the mundane for possible explanations for these itself ) with the cat speared in the nose by bird-headed
figures opens up a world of fundamental shamanic meta- hunters features an over-sized medicine pouch (Figure
phors. 15), further evidence of the ritual nature of this scene.
Along the San Juan, duck-headed figures occur Lewis-Williams (1988:5-7) in his study of San Bushman
in pairs at some sites and are depicted as speared in the rock art convincingly shows how the death metaphor of
torso or leg (Figure 14). The meaning of these scenes is trance is symbolized in dying animals:
ambiguous, and several meanings or implications are pos-
sible. Shamanic combat may be the subject. D’Azevedo When an eland dies, it releases its potency and the whole
(1986:491) describes a contest or demonstration of place becomes imbued with power. The hunters can then
power between Washo shamans in which each would try harness this potency for a particularly efficacious trance
to prove his superiority over the other “by deflecting ar- dance ... (Lewis-Williams 1988:7).
rows.” A specialty of shamans among Numic speakers in
the Great Basin was their invulnerability to arrows (Stew- Paintings of dying antelopes are seen as analogous
ard 1943:285-286; Whiting 1950:28). In addition to real to “dying” shamans, and the antelopes are also symbols
arrows, sickness projectiles may be hurled by sorcerers, of the power thus released and made available. Adopting
supernaturals, or ancestral shamans. In other shamanic this line of reasoning, the significance of the mountain
contexts, however, arrows (or other projectiles) can as- lion hunt takes on new meaning as the animal is viewed
sume positive magical properties. Among the Huichol a as the spirit helper of the hunters. Bighorn sheep are the
feathered arrow may symbolize magic flight. In the lat- more usual object of the hunting quest. Sheep as well
ter case, the arrow is aimed for the purpose of electing as deer had (have) complex symbolic value in the Great
a neophyte to undertake the shamanic journey (Furst Basin and the Southwest (Ezell 1961:76; Schaafsma
1977:23), and the arrow becomes a symbol of submis- 1992a:30; Tyler 1975:80-87; Whitley 1982:98, 1994).
sion to a higher order of knowledge (Halifax 1982:5). These animals functioned as spirit helpers connected with
In this case, the arrow could be identified with symbolic curing, fertility, as well as with rain and weather control.
death and trance. Speared Basketmaker figures compare In the Pueblo world, the killing of deer was said to bring
rain (Tyler 1975). In the ethnographic past, Numic rain
shamans used paraphernalia derived from bighorn sheep.
Sheep hunting scenes with hunters wearing shamanic
headgear could be highly metaphorical showing attempts
to gain access to supernatural powers with which to
control these variables; killing the game conferred power
to the “hunter. At the same time, both hunting success
and the power to bring rain could be implied by hunting
scenes.
Power objects, such as crooked staffs and medicine
bags or pouches, are emphasized at some sites (Figures 13,
15). Both have been retrieved from archaeological con-
texts. In the rock art, they are represented in the hands
of figures with shamanic attributes or as icons worthy
of representation by themselves. Along the San Juan,
medicine bags in the rock art are trapezoidal in shape
with a carrying strap on top. Excavations have produced
similar skin bags (Guernsey and Kidder 1921: 108, Pls.
32 and 38, Fig. 16). Medicine bags, an important part of
Figure 14. Bird (duck?) - headed shamans pierced with spears, the shaman’s repertoire (Webber 1977:120), would have
San Juan County, Utah. Figures are roughly 30 cm tall.

27
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

contained important ritual objects and materials such as Finally, within this shamanic framework, stamped
tobacco and/or other hallucinogens, corn meal, fetishes, painted handprints, found around and on top of painted
and so forth. Basketmaker anthropomorphs, and fetish heads suggest
Another object appearing in this rock art is a fetish that the supernatural power controlled by the images may
made of the flayed skin from a human head (for detailed have been sought by others. The place itself, by virtue of
discussions see Cole 1984, 1985, 1989). In an earlier the presence of the images, may also have been regarded
paper (Schaafsma and Young 1983), these “heads” in as powerful. Offerings left at shamans’ graves among the
Basketmaker rock art were erroneously described as pos- ethnographic Pima (Ezell 1961:79) suggest loosely analo-
sible masks, as the carrying loop (Cole 1984) had gone gous behavior.
unnoticed. Such an artifact This essay, which fo-
was found around the neck cuses primarily on seeking
of a Basketmaker female distinctly shamanic ele-
buried with an infant (Kid- ments in the rock art, has
der and Guernsey 1919: not specifically addressed
Pl. 87a and b). In the rock the economic, social,
art, head skins may be held and political functions of
in the hand (Figure 11) or shamans and their activi-
pictured separately. Hand- ties within the contexts of
prints (see below) may occur hunter-gatherers and the
nearby indicating that either Figure 15. Basketmaker hunt scene showing a sheep with four early farming societies on
spears, a spear above becomes a spiral with an anthropomorph
the image itself or the place attached. To the right, a bird-headed hunter spears a mountain the Colorado Plateau. In
where it was painted was lion in the nose. To the right is a very large medicine bag. the most general sense,
thought to have supernatu- Scale unavailable. Distortion in the drawing is the result of shamans as important
ral power. the angle at which the photograph (the source of the drawing) members of small social
The significance of the groups would have rallied
flayed heads in Basketmaker rock art may be partially at their special powers for purposes of exerting control on
least illuminated by a comparison with beliefs surround- the unpredictable forces of nature. Issues of fertility (see
ing scalping historically in the Pueblos (Cole 1989:71- also Cole 1989) and weather control have been addressed
76). In contemporary Pueblo myth and ritual, scalps in the preceding discussion in relationship to specific
function as rain fetishes, and blood-letting resulting from kinds of images. It is reasonable to suppose that curing
decapitation was conceptually related to fertility (Tedlock was a major shamanic function. Hunting success may
1972:85-132). This seems to have been a widespread and also have been the object of shamanic ritual although the
generalized concept throughout agricultural America, in- symbolic value of game animals is probably exceedingly
volving the concepts of reciprocity and cosmic order. Tro- more complex than it appears on the surface. Evidence of
phy heads in the hands of priests and warriors on Paracas fighting and scalping in the archaeological record (Hurst
and Nazca textiles and ceramics are depicted with plants and Turner 1993) suggests that warfare may have been
growing from the issuing blood (Anton 1987). Follow- another area in which shamanic powers were sought by
ing this line of thought, in the hands of shamans, these the San Juan Basketmakers.
fetishes, as well as functioning as rain fetishes, may have
embodied the concept of preserving a balance with nature Discussion and Conclusions
for an agricultural people. It is worthy of note here that
several sites containing good paintings of fetish head skins This exploration into Barrier Canyon style and
are situated close to large springs, such as Green Mask Basketmaker rock art has revealed evidence for a strong
Cave in Grand Gulch. Parallels between Basketmaker and shamanic tradition among both hunter-gatherers and the
Pueblo scalp ceremonialism, however, which would have first farmers on the Colorado Plateau. The two rock art
had very different social contexts, cannot be inferred. complexes discussed in this essay are replete with themes
One should be careful to note as well that there seems that appear to portray shamanic trance, metaphorical
to be a hiatus in scalp representations between the liter- death, magical flight, and transformations. Together,
ally represented Basketmaker fetish heads and the highly they indicate that shamanistic practices lay behind the
metaphorical scalp symbolism in Pueblo rock art after ca. production of this rock art and, in turn, that shamanism
A.D. 1325 (Schaafsma 1992b:167). played an important role in these societies. The large,

28
reprinted by permission from Trance and Transformation In the Canyons, by Polly Schaafsma

often broad-shouldered shamanic anthropomorph central Acknowledgments

to both styles suggests some degree of historical ideologi-
cal relationship between them, even though for the most I want to take this opportunity to thank Solveig
part they occupied different regions. How to resolve the Turpin for inviting me to participate in this volume. I
perception of ideological continuity on the Plateau, as am indebted to Jim Duffield and Dennis Slifer for their
suggested by the rock art, with the proposal that corn was loan of photos from which to make drawings, and Curt
brought into the San Juan drainage by immigrant San Schaafsma for reading the paper and commentary.
Pedro groups (Lipe 1993:6; Matson 1991) is a challenge
for future research. Rock art encodes symbols, metaphors, Polly Schaafsma, “Trance and Transformation In the Can-
and cosmologies of cognitive systems that motivated and yons,” Shamanism and Rock Art in North America, Solveig
gave reason to the behavior of members of these societ- A. Turpin, ed. (Rock Art Foundation, Inc., 1994).
ies. Ideology provides some insight to the ways man
viewed his universe and sought to control or influence Reprinted by permission.
his environment according to his needs. The ideological
dimension that necessarily influenced social processes
and economic pursuits is overlooked in traditional ar-
chaeological research that focuses on problems of dating,
settlement patterns, subsistence, and other mundane
aspects of life. Methodologies to bring these different
aspects of prehistory together would greatly enhance our
understanding of these cultures and how they interacted
with their environment. The significant roles played by
shamanic practitioners would not be reflected in the Bas-
ketmaker II architectural patterns. On the other hand,
status differentiation in Basketmaker burials is indicated
by the richness of associated offerings that include exotic
items, such as turquoise and shell (Janetski 1993:226).
These burials could be those of powerful people, such
as shamans. The findings here seem to be somewhat in
conflict with more traditional views that tend to relegate
shamanism to hunter-gatherers. In a recent statement
that acknowledges the accumulating evidence for a heavy
dependence on maize farming in southern Utah during
Basketmaker II, Lipe (1993) has argued that “a focus on
commemoration and veneration of ancestors and lineage,
and the promotion of fertility” is more characteristic of
agricultural societies than is shamanism. In response, it
needs to be pointed out that both recent and past research
have clearly demonstrated that shamanistic practices are
not in conflict with ancestor veneration, even in highly
complex societies such as the Maya (Schele and Friedel
1990), or with other complex systems such as pre-Bud-
dhist Tibet (Gettelman 1989:40). Curing rituals involv-
ing shamanic animal transformation have remained a
vital practice in the Pueblos into the ethnographic present
(Stevenson 1904:562-563). Thus, indications of shaman-
ism among the Basketmakers are hardly surprising or
subject to doubt.

29
from Early Archaic Clay Figurines... by Nancy J. Coulam and Alan R. Schroedl

Early Archaic Clay Figurines

From Cowboy and Walters Caves in Southeastern Utah
by Nancy J. Coulam & Alan R. Schroedl

Abstract to the Early Archaic deposits at Cowboy Cave and Wal-

ters Cave. This figurine type, which we call the Horseshoe
Excavations at Cowboy and Walters caves in south-
eastern Utah in the mid-1970s uncovered an assemblage
Shouldered type, is important because of its resemblance
of unfired clay artifacts unlike any previously described to the Barrier Canyon style rock art (Schaafsma 1971) of
types. Analysis of these clay artifacts in 1994 demonstrated the northern Colorado Plateau, and because of what may
that some of them were manufactured during the Early eventually be inferred from these artifacts and rock art
Archaic period. The unfired clay figurines from the Early motifs about the behavior of Early Archaic hunter-gather-
Archaic deposits at these sites have been assigned to a new ers in the Southwest.
type called Horseshoe Shouldered figurines. These unfired
anthropomorphic figurines are the earliest figurines in the
Southwest, and have a suspected time range of 5600 to
Unfired Clay Objects at
5000 B.C. Cowboy and Walters Caves
During the summer of 1975, a University of Utah Hull and White (1980) describe the collection
field school excavated Cowboy Cave and Walters Cave, of 144 unfired clay artifacts from Cowboy and Walters
two large, adjacent sandstone caves in southeastern Utah caves. In addition to clay fragments, Hull and White dis-
(Figure 1). Because the sites were dry, a large range of per- cuss four unfired clay artifact classes: clay figurines, thim-
ishable and nonperishable artifacts was recovered, notably ble-shaped objects, loaf-shaped objects, and a cornucopia
a series of diagnostic projectile points, distinct sandal object. Because these unfired clay objects were recovered
types, split-twig figurines, a cache of corn, and unfired from all four of the cultural units (Units II, III, IV,
clay figurines. Unfortunately, a description of the and Unit V), which date between 7430 B.C. and
cultural features at the sites was not included in the A.D. 640, Hull and White failed to search for
published report by Jennings (1980). In correcting temporal or stylistic variability in the unfired clay
this deficiency and describing the features of artifacts.
Cowboy Cave in relation to the radiocar- In 1994 we attempted to examine each
bon dates and the stratigraphic sequence, of these four artifact classes in the collec-
Schroedl and Coulam (1994) showed that, tions at the Utah Museum of Natural His-
contrary to Jennings’s assertion, about half tory. We reexamined most of the figurines,
of the fill in Cowboy Cave represents Early “thimble-shaped objects” and decorated
Archaic deposits. The Early Archaic occupation fragments, but could not locate the loaf-
starts in Stratum IIb and continues through Stra- shaped objects nor the cornucopia object. The
tum IVb (Figure 2), representing the time period three loaf-shaped objects were not illustrated
from about 7430 to 5260 B.C. or described in Hull and White’s report (1980).
In light of this revised stratigraphic and The single cornucopia object, identified as field
chronological sequence, we reviewed some of the specimen (FS) number FS 1548, is illustrated
artifacts from the site to assess whether the original in Jennings (1980:Fig. 45g). This object, from
analysts had overlooked any temporally Stratum Vb, dates to A.D. 70 or later and is
significant artifact classes. Our analysis re- comparable to the “funnel-shaped objects”
vealed that a previously unrecognized clay, Figure 3. Drawing of Horseshoe reported from Basketmaker contexts in
Shouldered clay figurine from northern Arizona (Guernsey 1931:87) or
anthropomorphic figurine type is strati- Cowboy Cave at the Utah to the “conical vessels or hollow cones” re-
graphically and chronologically restricted Museum of Natural History.

31
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

ported from late strata at Danger Cave in northern Utah of the radiocarbon discussions presented in Schroedl and
(Jennings 1957:208). These objects have been interpreted Coulam (1994), unfired clay figurines and objects from
as miniature replicas of burden baskets and are considered Strata IIIj through IVb at Cowboy Cave date to the Early
diagnostic of post-Archaic periods. Archaic period (7400-5100 B.c.), making them the earli-
After reviewing the original analyst notes at the est clay artifacts identified on the Colorado Plateau.
University of Utah Archives, we were able to reconstruct The Early Archaic figurines from Cowboy and
the field specimen numbers for almost all of the reported Walters caves are morphologically distinct from the three
unfired clay items from Cowboy Cave. This informa- figurine fragments recovered from Unit V (A.D. 70 —
tion is presented in Table 1. It should be noted that the 640) of Cowboy Cave. These three specimens (FS 811,
provenience distribution of the artifacts does not cor- FS 1909, and FS 1918) have pronounced nose ridges. See
respond directly with the table presented by Hull and Jennings (1980:Fig. 47g and h) for an illustration of FS
White (1980:123). Table 1 corrects several provenience 811 and FS 1909. FS 1918 also has breasts and decorated
errors in their table and analysis. First, Hull and White lines. All three are comparable to specimens illustrated
incorporated the unfired clay figurines and objects from in Morss (1954). In his definitive study of unfired clay
Walters Cave into their table. While the five gross cultural figurines from the Southwest, Morss did not define any
units were correlated between Walters Cave and Cowboy specific types, although he did distinguish clay figurines
Cave, individual strata between the two caves were not from the “Northern Periphery” as a northern tradition
matched up (Schroedl and Coulam 1994:26); thus, Hull and figurines from Hohokam and Mogollon areas as a
and White’s table contains spurious data. Second, their southern tradition. Because of the unusual nature of the
table does not include unprovenienced specimens. And, clay figurines found on Fremont sites in the “Northern
third, it appears they misread FS number 1740 (a conical Periphery,” he distinguishes them as a regional style sepa-
object), as FS 1240 and erroneously assigned this object rate and distinct from northern Pueblo figurines.
to Stratum Iib. Most of the specimens Morss described were recov-
The provenience information in Table 1 is con- ered from Formative sites, which could easily be dated
sidered accurate for the objects we actually handled or by ceramic cross-dating. Only two Basketmaker II figu-
could review from the published photographs. We were rines (collected from aceramic contexts) were known at
unable to determine the correct FS number for two min- that time (Morss 1954:10-12). One was collected by the
iature figurine fragments (Jennings 1980:Fig. 47b and c) Wetherills from a Grand Gulch Basketmaker II site (Cave
that are currently displayed in a sealed, permanent exhibit 26) in the 1890s. The other Basketmaker II figurine was
case at the Utah Museum of Natural History. (The mu- collected by Guernsey at Cave 14 in Sagiotsosi Canyon.
seum does not have a listing of the FS or catalog numbers These specimens exhibit a distinctive nose ridge that is
for artifacts in this sealed case.) These two specimens are prominent on many later specimens and on the three
probably FS 819 and FS 823 (Figure 3c and d), although specimens from Unit V at Cowboy Cave.
we are unsure which specimen is associated with which Besides having a raised or pinched nose ridge
FS number. After reviewing the literature and reexamin- (Morss 1954:14), these Terminal Archaic and post-Archa-
ing most of the artifacts, we have reclassified the Early ic specimens have several other distinctive traits, includ-
Archaic unfired clay artifacts into the named categories ing loaf-shaped torsos lacking arms, coffee-bean applique
described below. breasts, round holes or slit-ridge eyes, and, less common-
ly, hair bobs, necklaces, aprons, belts, and breech-clouts.
Anthropomorphic Figurines Decorative punctations are not usually applied to the
main body (cf. Morss 1954:14). Many of the figures have
Our reanalysis demonstrates that unfired clay an- flat, plain dorsal surfaces indicating that the figurines
thropomorphic figurines from Cowboy and Walters caves were intended to be viewed from the front only.
can be grouped into two types based on morphological Morss (1954) does not describe or illustrate any
characteristics as well as stratigraphic and chronological anthropomorphic figurines comparable to those found
differentiation. We call these two types Horseshoe Shoul- in the Early Archaic strata at Cowboy Cave. We believe
dered and Pinched Nose. Hull and White (1980:122) these anthropomorphic figurines represent a previously
attributed all the clay anthropomorphic figurines in Cow- unidentified class of figurines, which we call “Horseshoe
boy and Waiters caves to a single “handle terminus” form, Shouldered” figurines to distinguish them from later
perhaps because they were hesitant to believe that some of types with pinched noses.
the figurines could be more than 6000 years old. In light

32
from Early Archaic Clay Figurines... by Nancy J. Coulam and Alan R. Schroedl

Horseshoe Shouldered Figurines the fill was discarded after removal from the pits. All the
unfired conical fragments from Stratum IVd and from
Based on the recovery of ten specimens of this class
all strata in Unit V appear to have been moved up in the
from Cowboy and Walters caves (Table 1), Horseshoe
deposits and secondarily deposited. Thus we consider
Shouldered figurines at these sites have an estimated time
conical objects, like Horseshoe Shouldered figurines, to
range of 5600-5000 B.C. Illustrated in Figure 3a through
be temporally diagnostic of the Early Archaic period.
d, this class currently represents the earliest known un-
fired clay figurine type in the Southwest. These anthro-
pomorphic figurines range from 3 to 11 cm in length. Clay Objects From Other
They are constructed from a single piece of clay that was Early Archaic Sites
probably rolled and lightly smoothed into shape. Some of
the figurines exhibit light polish, particularly around the We reviewed published information on 12 cave
base of the torso (what Morss calls the handle terminus). and rockshelter sites with probable Early Archaic assem-
One of the figurines (Figure 3a) is also polished on one blages for the presence of unfired clay objects. These sites
shoulder and along the side of its head. The figurines (Bechan Cave, Black Rock Cave, Danger Cave, Dolores
have pronounced, rounded shoulders and are generally Cave, Dust Devil Cave, Hogup Cave, Joes Valley Alcove,
oval in cross section. Some are plain, whereas others are Old Man Cave, Sand Dune Cave, Sudden Shelter, Prom-
decorated with incised lines (Figure 3a), punctated dots ontory Cave, O’Malley Shelter) are scattered throughout
arranged in lines. the eastern Great Basin and northern Colorado Plateau
(Figure 1). Several of the sites contained figurines or cor-
nucopia-shaped objects in their post-Archaic strata — for
Conical Objects example, Danger Cave (Jennings 1957) and Hogup Cave
Hull and White (1980) also identified several un- (Aikens 1970). However, the only sites besides Cowboy
fired clay items as “thimble objects.” Because we do not Cave and Walters Cave with clay objects from Early Ar-
wish to attribute any function to these items, we label chaic contexts are Sudden Shelter (Jennings and others
them conical objects (Table 1; Figure 4). Our review of 1980) and Dust Devil Cave (Lindsay and others 1968).
the “decorated clay objects” class described by Hull and One of the unfired clay objects from Sudden Shel-
White (1980) shows that many were fragments of conical ter is a tiny fragment that is broken along two lines of
objects. Based on the whole and fragmentary specimens, punctated dots (Jennings and others 1980:Fig. 67c). This
we have developed a composite description of this arti- object might be a conical object because it is curved, but
fact class. They are small (1 to 4 cm), unfired clay cones it is too fragmentary to be sure. This item was recov-
made from a single piece of clay. The thickest portion of ered from Stratum 6. Another clay object from Sudden
the object is the rounded base and the thinnest portion Shelter might be a Horseshoe Shouldered figurine, but
is the sides or walls. The interior and exterior are finger the diagnostic shoulder area is missing. The object (Jen-
smoothed but generally not polished. Most of the coni- nings and others 1980:Fig. 67a) is similar to the torso of
cal objects have broken rims. Broken cross sections look a Horseshoe Shouldered figurine. It is decorated on one
like miniature rim sherds. Many of the conical objects are side with nine parallel chevrons of punctated dots. This
decorated with lines of punctations, either dots or half- figurine came from Stratum 7. Radiocarbon dates from
circles (Figure 4). The half-circles were probably made by Strata 5 and 8 provide bracketing dates for these clay arti-
pushing a grass stem into the wet clay. facts from Sudden Shelter. The calibrated 1 sigma date for
The conical objects from Cowboy Cave were re- Strata 5 through 8 is 5690-4950 B.C.
covered from Strata IIIi, IVa, IVd, and Vd, suggesting a Another unfired clay object from an Early Archaic
longer time span than Horseshoe Shouldered figurines. context is the figurine reported from Stratum V of Dust
However, a refitting analysis demonstrated that several Devil Cave (Lindsay and others 1968: 55). This is a
fragments separated both horizontally and vertically may mixed stratum including both Early Archaic (Desha) and
actually be pieces of the same conical object. The refitting Basketmaker components, but the authors state that the
analysis, coupled with the stratigraphic reanalysis of Cow- fragment of smooth, molded clay came from the Archaic
boy Cave (Schroedl and Coulam 1994), indicates that portion of the stratum. Unfortunately, no photograph
Late Archaic and Terminal Archaic occupants of the site of the object is provided. According to the authors, not
dug pits into the Early Archaic strata. Some of the fragile enough is present to determine its original form except to
clay artifacts were broken during these prehistoric pit say that it appears to be part of a clay figurine.
excavations and were redeposited in the later strata where
33
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

Summary rines and conical objects from Early Archaic sites in the
northern Colorado Plateau will encourage archaeologists
This article provides a description of a previously throughout the Southwest to look for similar connections
unreported class of clay figurines that we call the Horse- between symbolic classes of archaeological data, such as
shoe Shouldered type. An Early Archaic type, it appears figurines, and rock art. Only by looking for such spatial
to be associated with small, decorated, conical clay ob- and temporal patterning in the archaeological record and
jects. We have also reviewed other Early Archaic compo- comparing it with the ethnographic record of other hunt-
nents in the northern Southwest, the Colorado Plateau, er-gatherers (cf. Levin 1957) will we be able to learn more
and eastern Great Basin for unfired clay figurines. Al- about Early Archaic ideology and how styles and cultural
though they are rare, unfired clay objects are present in symbols within the Archaic were transformed through
Early Archaic deposits. Based on limited dating informa- time and across the Southwest.
tion, we assign the Horseshoe Shouldered figurines and
associated conical objects a possible date range of 5600-
5000 B.C. These unfired figurines and objects predate
Acknowledgments
those superficially similar specimens, such as pinched We thank Kirk Bradley and other staff members
nose figurines and cornucopia-shaped objects, by more of the University of Utah Archives for allowing us access
than 4000 years. to the original field notes. Laurel Casjens from the Utah
While we can attribute Horseshoe Shouldered figu- Museum of Natural History allowed us access to the
rines to a particular time of discard, we cannot provide original figurine collection from Cowboy Cave. We thank
specific functional interpretations based on the prove- Alan Ferg, Betsy Tipps, and anonymous reviewers for
niences of the objects in Cowboy Cave, Walters Cave, or reading and commenting on the manuscript. The figures
Sudden Shelter. We cannot tell if the objects functioned were drawn by the authors and computer enhanced by
in the domestic sphere (as dolls or toys), as ritual para- Jeremy J. Main and Greg H. Miller.
phernalia (Talay 1993), or both. However, if we look be-
yond the immediate site proveniences, there is a striking Nancy J. Coulam & Alan R. Schroedl, “Early Archaic
resemblance between the Horseshoe Shouldered figurines Clay Figurines from Cowboy and Walters Caves in
and anthropomorphs depicted in Barrier Canyon style Southeastern Utah”, KIVA, Vol. 61, No. 4 (1996).
rock art (Schaafsma 1971). Schroedl (1976) was the first
to conjecture that the prehistoric people who manufac- Reprinted by permission.
tured the clay figurines may have also painted the Bar-
rier Canyon pictographs. However, recent efforts dating
Barrier Canyon pictographs suggest that the rock art is
only about 3000 years old (Tipps 1995), several thousand
years younger than the date range for Horseshoe Shoul-
dered style clay figurines.
We believe that there are more than coincidental
similarities between the Early Archaic unfired clay figu-
rines and the anthropomorphs in Barrier Canyon style
rock art. It is possible that the dating on the rock art is
in error, and that it actually dates to the Early Archaic.
Another possibility is that Early Archaic objects at Cow-
boy Cave were moved upward and redeposited in later
strata, to be uncovered by later people who depicted a
similar motif in pictographs on nearby canyon walls. A
third possibility is that the Horseshoe Shouldered motif
remained part of the symbolism of the hunter-gatherers
in the northern Colorado Plateau from the Early Archaic
through the Late Archaic.
A considerable amount of basic archaeological work
will be necessary to explore any of these hypotheses, but
we hope that recognition of Horseshoe Shouldered figu-

34
reprinted by permission from Barrier Canyon Rock Art Dating, by Betsy L. Tipps

Barrier Canyon
Rock Art Dating By Betsy L. Tipps

Barrier Canyon rock art in the Canyonlands area Schaafsma (1988:18) revised her dating for the style to
has long captured the interest and imagination of re- 2000 B.C.-A.D. 1. More recently, Schroedl hypothesized
searchers and visitors alike. The age and cultural affili- that Barrier Canyon rock art could be as much as 6000-
ation of the rock art are of great interest to the visiting 8000 years old:
public and, from a scientific perspective, essential to its
use as a vehicle for understanding past human behavior. ... At... Cowboy Cave, clay figurines of human form
Thus, one of the specific research issues outlined in our were found with tapering torsos lacking arms, identical in
original proposal for the Canyonlands Archeological shape to the body forms of Barrier Canyon pictographs. In
Project concerned rock art dating (P-III Associates, Inc. fact, one of the figurines had a series of parallel lines down
the torso similar to those found on many of the Barrier
1984) as did our research design for the first year’s field
Canyon anthropomorphs. These figurines were found in a
investigations (Tipps and Hewitt 1989:32). Funding for layer dated to about 6000 years old....
this work became available in 1987 and our contract was ... The date of the analogous clay figurines ... suggests
modified (National Park Service 1987) to allow us to at- that Barrier Canyon rock art...
tempt to date the Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic Style could ... [date] as early as 6000 to 8000 years ago...
rock art. [Schroedl 1989:17].
The age and cultural affiliation of this dramatic rock
art style have been the subject of considerable interest for As both authors recognize, these are only best guess
decades with proposals ranging from mere speculation to approximations.
informed, well-reasoned approximations. Barrier Canyon Within the framework of the contract and our
Anthropomorphic Style rock art has, at one time or an- research design, we made a concerted effort throughout
other, been attributed to every prehistoric culture known our multi year Canyonlands Archeological Project to find
to occupy the norther Colorado Plateau with the excep- means of ascertaining the age and cultural affiliation of
tion of Paleoindian (e.g., Grant 1967:117; Gunnerson Barrier Canyon rock art.
1969:68, 158-159; Schaafsma 1971:128-135, 1980:61,
70, 1988:18; Schroedl 1977:262-263, 1989:17), and
even to a protohistoric or historic people (Manning
The Barrier Canyon
1990:76). Anthropomorphic Style
Schroedl and Schaafsma have offered the most com-
Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic Style rock art is
monly accepted theories. In her early work, Schaafsma
typified by large static, ghostlike anthropomorphs, usually
(1971:128-135, 1980:61, 70) hypothesized that Barrier
portrayed in front view with elongate bodies that either
Canyon rock art was made by pre-Fremont hunter-gath-
lack or have diminutive appendages. Figures with arms
erers between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500. This suggestion
often hold elements that have been interpreted as ser-
was based on superpositioning, panel subject matter (e.g.,
pents or plants such as wild grasses (Schaafsma 1971:69,
lack of bow and arrow depictions), and stylistic similari-
1980:64; Schroedl 1989:16). Normally, gender is not
ties with an Archaic rock art style found in the Pecos
depicted.
River region of west Texas. The Pecos River Style is now
While almost all figures are elongate, their shapes
believed to date to at least 2000 B.C. (Shafer 1986:142).
vary. The most common form in the Canyonlands area
Following Schroedl (1977:262-263), who used the
is a long tapering body with rounded shoulders and very
similarity between Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs and
infrequent lower appendages; the bottoms of these figures
indirectly dated, unfired clay figurines from Cowboy
usually terminate in a rounded arc, horizontal line, or
Cave (Jennings 1980) to posit an earlier Archaic origin,
35
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

point (see Figures 28 and 31; Cole 1990:Plates 18-19, 21, rock face was smoothed or painted before the artisans
23; Noxon and Marcus 1982:Figure 105). Figures with made the figures (Noxon. and Marcus 1982:43).
shorter tapering bodies and more pointed, wide shoul- The painted figures are normally dusky or dark
ders are also common (see Figure 31; Noxon and Marcus red with frequent buff or white embellishments, and oc-
1982:Figure 105); they usually lack lower appendages but casional green, blue, bluish gray, black, or yellow high-
tend to be more elaborately decorated than those in the lights (Cole 1990:71; Gunnerson 1969:158; Noxon and
first group. A third common body style is an elongate, Marcus 1982:112; Schroedl 1989:16; Tipps and Hewitt
slender rectangle or tapering rectangle. These figures often 1989:109). Buff, orange, black, black-red, and black-red-
have short legs and feet (see Cole 1990:Plate 21; Noxon buff figures have also been reported in the Canyonlands
and Marcus 1982:Figures 94, 114; Schaafsma 1990:Fig- area (Brunsman 1986; Noxon and Marcus 1982:204;
ures 4 and 6). Tipps and Hewitt 1989:108-111; this report). Some
Heads vary from rounded with little constriction for figures are purple but this appears to be the result of the
the neck, to bucket shaped with no separate neck, to flat- red figures being exposed to intense sunlight. Cook et al.
tened ovals with pronounced necks. Unpainted circles de- (1990) report that pigment colors may alter with age due
picting hollow, staring eyes constitute the only common to oxidation, solar radiation, and exposure to differing
facial feature. Mouths are sometimes illustrated. When moisture regimes, etc.
present, head adornment is generally simple and common The characteristic dusky or dark red color of the
only in the form of antenna and horns that occur alone, majority of figures suggests that they were painted using
in pairs, or triplets on either side of the head. Other less ochre-based (iron oxide or hydrous iron oxide) paint.
frequent head decorations consist of crowns composed of Indeed, the red pigment on a spall from the Flying Rug
short lines or dots and plantlike images. Barrier Canyon panel in the Needles District consists of
Solid figures with no interior decoration are the hematite with a small amount of calcite (Swayze 1994).
most common. Torsos of some figures are highly deco- Because the reflective properties of ochres vary with
rated with geometric and anthropometric elements in- the state of oxidation and reduction, among other things,
cluding dots, animals, small mummylike forms, spirals, the present colors do not necessarily reflect the original
and straight, wavy, or zigzag lines, sometimes arranged in colors when the figures were painted. The red figures may
broad bands; a few appear to depict ribs, spines, or intes- have originally been applied in yellow, orange, or brown
tines in x-ray mode. (cf. Bednarik 1994:70).
Single Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs may occur Barrier Canyon Style rock art is believed to extend
in isolation. Normally, however, these large to larger- from the North Rim of Grand Canyon northeast in a
than-life-size figures appear in rows or groups surrounded broad band across much of eastern Utah into western
by small human images, naturalistic renderings of ani- Colorado (Cole 1990:Map 4). Thus far, it appears to be
mated zoomorphs that appear to represent mountain most common in the Canyonlands area of southeast Utah
sheep, birds, dogs, and snakes, and occasional abstract de- (Manning 1990:Figure 3).
signs consisting of zigzags, dots, and circles. The smaller
humans are sometimes static, resembling the large forms, Project History and Methods
but are often animated and depicted in side view. Unlike
the static forms, these animated images frequently have Our first opportunity to address the age and cul-
appendages and are often holding implements such as tural affiliation of the Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic
spears. Barrier Canyon rock art is usually compositional Style came in 1985 when we discovered Salt Pocket
and symmetrical. Cole (1990:76-77) believes it some- Shelter (42SA17092), a small overhang site with a simple
times relates a story. Barrier Canyon anthropomorph (Figure 46)1 and dark,
The vast majority of Barrier Canyon rock art oc- ashy, artifact-rich cultural deposits that could conceivably
curs as pictographs, However, some panels consist entirely be coeval with the rock art (Tipps and Hewitt 1989:122-
of outlined or solidly pecked forms (e.g., Cole 1990:71; 133). If we could demonstrate that the site was single
Manning 1990:44; Tipps and Hewitt 1989:109-111). In component, and that the rock art and deposits were con-
addition, the painted images often have incised, abraded, temporaneous, then a date on the deposits could be ap-
and pecked details (e.g., eyes, mouths, outlines) that oc- plied to the rock art.
cur as part of the original artwork or as later embellish- We obtained authorization to excavate a 1 by 1m
ments. Most Barrier Canyon images were executed on unit at the site in 1986. The test pit contained up to 26
unmodified sandstone walls. Sometimes, however, the cm of unstratified cultural fill and an unlined hearth

36
reprinted by permission from Barrier Canyon Rock Art Dating, by Betsy L. Tipps

that provided a radiocarbon date of 3340 +/- 100 years niques have been attempted (e.g., Bard 1979; Dorn 1994;
(Table 28). This date has a tree-ring calibrated age range Dorn and Whitley 1984; Francis et al. 1993; Loendorf
of 1880-1410 B.C. at two sigma (Pearson and Stuiver 1991; van der Merwe et al. 1987; Whitley and Loendorf
1993). 1994), there is still no generally accepted, foolproof tech-
Based on an unauthorized and inaccurate personal nique of measuring the absolute age of rock art. However,
communication from one of our crew members, Schaaf- one promising technique is accelerator mass spectrometry
sma (1990:215) erroneously reports that “... there was (AMS) which requires only minute amounts of organic
a convincing association between the fill and the rock carbon (1 mg) for dating (Hedges and Gowlett 1986).
art ...” (and hence the date) at Salt Pocket Shelter. Actu- Dorn (1994) and Francis et al. (1993) have used AMS
ally, the artifactual assemblage hints at an Early Archaic carbon-14 techniques to date trace levels of organic mat-
component in addition to Late Archaic materials so it is ter incorporated into accreting varnish on petroglyphs
uncertain that the dated hearth and rock art are contem- and believe that it successfully estimates the rock art’s
poraneous. In view of this, we concluded that “the associ- minimum radiocarbon age. AMS can also be used to
ation is certainly suggestive, but will be stronger if... other date pictographs providing the paint included an organic
sites ...yield similar dates” (Tipps and Hewitt 1989:133). component supplying the radioisotope carbon-14 (e.g.,
The Claflin-Emerson Expedition apparently en- Chaffee et al. 1994; Clottes 1994; Geib and Fairley 1992;
countered a similar problem of uncertain association Lorblanchet et al. 1990; van der Merwe et al. 1987).
when they excavated at Horseshoe Shelter, a small site in AMS dating has a strong advantage over conven-
Horseshoe Canyon with Barrier Canyon rock art and cul- tional radiocarbon analysis in that dating can be per-
tural fill. Evidence from the fill suggested formed on minute amounts of organic carbon. This was
an important consideration because National Park Service
... that there may have been a nonceramic occupation policy precludes collection of paint directly from intact
of the site prior to its occupation by Fremont and/or Mesa pictographs and only trace amounts of paint are likely
Verde Pueblo II-III peoples. On the other hand, there to be available on sandstone spalls from Barrier Canyon
may have been only two occupations, Fremont and Mesa panels.
Verde, or even a single mixed component ... [Gunnerson Barrier Canyon rock art appears to have been
1969:68].
executed using at least two different techniques. One
evidently involved coloring the stone with a lump of pig-
The temporal placement and cultural affiliation of
ment much like a crayon; because the pigment was prob-
the Barrier Canyon artists were not clarified by the Salt
ably inorganic (e.g., hematite, manganese oxide, etc.), it is
Pocket Shelter test excavation.
doubtful that figures created in such a fashion would con-
Spatial and contextual associations between features,
tain organic carbon related to the date of their manufac-
deposits, and/or artifacts and nearby rock art panels may
ture. This may be the reason that no organic binder was
imply contemporaneity, but temporal associations of this
identified in the sample of red pigment recently tested
kind will always be suspect unless the pattern occurs re-
from the Flying Rug Barrier Canyon panel (see above). To
peatedly or special circumstances exist (e.g., the tools or
date, the “color-crayon” technique has only been observed
paint drops actually used to create the rock art are recov-
on the red figures.
ered from dated contexts [e.g., Clottes 1994:3; Loendorf
The other method involved the use of paint consist-
1985, 1990]; or deposits burying or containing spalled
ing of ground pigment suspended in a liquid medium.
fragments of rock art can be dated to obtain a minimum
The paint appears to have been applied with fingers,
age [e.g., Clottes 1994; Cole 1988; Francis 1989; Kirk-
brushes, and occasionally by blow-spraying (Noxon and
land and Newcomb 1967; Loendorf 1985; Morwood
Marcus 1982:256). While the pigment in such paint was
1989; Tucker 1989; Walker 1989]). Shelter and overhang
likely inorganic, aboriginal peoples are believed to have
sites—the most common place for such associations—are
used organic binders such as animal fat, vegetable oil,
particularly suspect because they are often used repeatedly
blood, urine, or egg white to mix paint (Grant 1967:14;
through time. Even if features, artifacts, and deposits at a
Loy et al. 1990; Rudner 1982; Sanger and Meighan
site are from a single occupation, it is still hard to prove
1990:26; Watchman 1993a). Therefore, we thought there
that they are contemporaneous with extant rock art (e.g.,
was a good chance of directly dating the rock art if we
Geib and Fairley 1992). Clearly, the most convincing
could locate samples that had been painted rather than
data on rock art age will come from dating the panels
colored.
themselves.
We began looking for and soliciting fragments of
While several calibrated or numerical dating tech-
37
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

rock that had spalled off of Barrier Canyon figures to use in research efforts could obtain such analysis and dating
for dating. The first sample became available in the fall of at minimal expense. A contract modification was initiated
1987 when a Canyonlands ranger, Gary Cox, discovered to delete this task from our contract and transfer it to
a chunk of painted sandstone that had spalled off a Bar- the National Park Service. All samples were subsequently
rier Canyon anthropomorph at the Great Gallery (site turned over to Canyonlands National Park.
42WN418). This site lies in Horseshoe Canyon, north- The most serious technical difficulty in directly dat-
west of the Maze District in extreme northeastern Wayne ing pictograph paint has been in isolating and extracting
County. the organic binder without also incorporating carbon
In the United States, AMS dating of rock art paint from other sources such as modem organics, atmospheric
had been tried one time prior to our inquiry and the carbon dioxide, the rock substrate, or carbon-containing
results were negative because the sample contained no mineral overcoatings such as calcium oxalate and calcite
organic carbon. This raised concerns about wasting ac- that might be present in the paint (e.g., Whitley and Lo-
celerator time on nonproductive samples. As a result, endorf 1994). This is extremely important. Because such
Beta Analytic and the AMS facility in Zurich required minute amounts of carbon are dated, the effects of any
that the paint on our samples be pretested to guarantee contamination are pronounced (Chaffee et al. 1994).
the presence of organic carbon (Murray Tamers, personal Chemist Marvin Rowe and his colleagues at Texas
communication 1987). We were also concerned about A&M University have been experimenting with direct
the potential for contamination (cf. van der Merwe et al. dating of rock art for several years and have developed a
1987) by organic and/or inorganic carbon in the sand- procedure that selectively isolates the organic carbon from
stone. Beta Analytic advised that the paint would have rock art paint (Russ et al. 1990, 1991, 1992). Briefly, this
to be completely separated from the sandstone host rock method uses high vacuum techniques and low tempera-
to avoid contamination and potential overestimation of ture, low pressure, oxygen plasma to oxidize the organic
the age (Murray Tamers, personal communication 1987, component in the paint and collect the carbon as gaseous
1988). carbon dioxide (C02) which can then be dated using
At the time, these two requirements presented an AMS carbon-14 techniques. This method makes it possi-
insurmountable problem. We knew of no procedures for ble to extract organic materials from any type of pigment
cleanly separating the faint traces of paint from the sand- that contains preserved organic binders (not just charcoal
stone and, even if we had, the amount of paint on the pictographs). It also overcomes problems of possible con-
sandstone was insufficient for available organic content tamination from inorganic carbon in the host rock and
tests. subsequent mineral overcoatings. Rowe and colleagues
We began soliciting additional samples in hopes of have had good success with this technique in some areas
finding one with a better preserved paint. Julie Howard, (Chaffee et al. 1994). However, in the Canyonlands area,
then Bureau of Land Management (BLM) archeologist, there have been some problems with contamination from
Grand Resource Area, sent us a sample from Dubinky an organic component in the host rock.
Well (site 42GR382) in January of 1988. This site is situ- Nancy J. Coulam, Canyonlands archeologist, sub-
ated in the Island-in-the-Sky uplands north of the park mitted four of the samples (two from site 42SA20615 and
in southwestern Grand County. Gary Cox returned to one each from the Great Gallery and Dubinky Well) to
the Great Gallery in May of 1989 and discovered ad- chemist Marvin Rowe at Texas A&M University for ini-
ditional pieces that had spalled off of the panel. None tial processing. As noted previously, the site 42SA20615
of these pieces retained sufficient paint for the available samples consisted of pure pigment that had spalled off of
techniques so we continued to store the samples with the Barrier Canyon figures. The samples from Dubinky Well
hope that improved techniques would eventually allow and the Great Gallery consisted of faded traces of paint
the paint to be dated. In the meantime, we kept looking on sandstone spalls. After initial processing, the Dubinky
for samples with thicker coats of preserved paint. A site Well and Great Gallery samples contained a large amount
with such samples, 42SA20615, was found during the of sandstone debris (Rowe 1993:1). Rowe was concerned
Squaw Butte inventory reported in this volume. that the sandstone might contaminate the samples so he
The site 42SA20615 samples were sufficiently large processed additional samples from the bare rock adjacent
for the required analysis but we were unable to process to the paintings on both the Great Gallery and Dubinky
them because the fees charged to private consulting firms Well specimens as controls. These two control samples
for the dating and analysis exceeded available funding in along with the four samples from the paint were dated at
our contract. Fortunately, government agencies engaged the Facility for Radioisotope Dating at the University of

38
reprinted by permission from Barrier Canyon Rock Art Dating, by Betsy L. Tipps

viewed under an optical microscope, it showed no sign

Arizona. of any other material (Chaffee et al. 1994:71). Therefore,
Since the submission of the original specimens, Dr. contamination from carbon in the sandstone should not
Coulam has continued to search for, collect, and date be a concern. Rowe (1993:1-2, personal communication
samples relevant to dating the Barrier Canyon rock art 1994) confirms that there is no reason to suspect con-
style. As part of this ongoing effort, she has recently dated tamination from this source.
features on two sites with Barrier Canyon rock art—the Other sources of visible contamination were lack-
Harvest Scene (42WN665) and site 42WN766. Neither ing. The pictographs showed no outward evidence of fun-
date is on the rock art itself, but both add to the growing gus, mold, lichen, water stains, mineral accretions, fecal
body of potentially relevant information, much like that or other organic matter, bird or insect activity, smoke
provided by Salt Pocket Shelter. blackening, or overpainting. And, they are well protected
from surface runoff. Therefore, it seems reasonable to
The Sites and Dating Information accept the date at face value and conclude that Barrier
Canyon artists painted the orange horned images at site
42SA20615 sometime between circa 1000 and 800 B.C.
Site 42SA20615
As discussed previously in this report, site The Great Gallery
42SA20615 is a multicomponent site that was intermit- The Great Galley in Horseshoe Canyon in the Maze
tently inhabited from as early as circa 4000 B.C. until is a shallow, north-facing rockshelter with numerous Bar-
A.D. 1100-1275+/- (see Chapters 4 and 6). It has five rier Canyon anthropomorphs and quadrupeds, mainly
rock art panels consisting mainly of Barrier Canyon Style arranged in groups or rows for a distance of approximate-
anthropomorphs, zoomorphs, and zigzags, as well as ly 30 m along the shelter wall (Gunnerson 1969:65-67;
dots, mountain sheep, and sprayed and stamped hands Malouf 1941; Schaafsma 1971:75, Figures 72-74, Plates
considered to be Anasazi (see Chapter 4 for a complete 34-36). This site is the type locality of Barrier Canyon
description). Anasazi pictographs overlie some of the Bar- Anthropomorphic Style rock art. Unlike site 42SA20615,
rier Canyon figures at the site, but not those sampled for the Great Gallery is devoid of prehistoric cultural remains
dating. other than rock art.
As noted in Chapter 4, the last few bits of thick The painted rock sample from the Great Gallery
mud paint or slip remaining on the orange horned Barrier was found 3 m from the back of the shelter at the loca-
Canyon anthropomorphs in Panel 5 were rapidly chip- tion shown in Figure 47. It had a solid red design and
ping off the shelter wall. Pieces of this exfoliating paint refit to the lower portion of the small red anthropomorph
were collected from two of the figures for analysis. One noted in Figure 47 (Gary Cox, personal communication
sample (FS 5) is from the orange horned figure on the left to Alan R. Schroedl 1987).
in Figure 32; the other (FS 6) is from the orange horned
figure on the right in Figure 32. Sometime after the sam- The pictograph fragment sampled for paint had
ples were transferred to the National Park Service, they no visible contamination from smoke blackening, plant
were renumbered as 42SA20615-la and 42SA20615-2a so growth, animal matter, water, or carbonate, but the
it is not certain which sample is from which figure. This sample did contain relatively large amounts of sandstone
may not be important, however, because everything about after extraction from the rock (Rowe 1993:1). This
the two figures suggests they are contemporaneous. sample yielded a date of 3400 +/- 65 (see Table 28). The
One sample yielded a date of 2710 +/-75 years B.P. unpainted sandstone control sample from the Great Gal-
(see Table 28). Unfortunately, the other sample (AA- lery contained sufficient carbon to produce high levels
9178) was lost during graphite preparation at the Univer- of CO2 and a date of 4010 +/- 55 years B.P. (see Table
sity of Arizona when air was accidentally let into the CO2 28). Therefore, the date of 3400 +/- 65 years obtained on
from the sample (Chaffee et al. 1993:71; Rowe 1993:1). the paint is probably too old, having been contaminated
Inadvertent incorporation of older or younger car- by organic carbon in the sandstone host rock. There is
bon into a sample is a concern with AMS dating due to no way to assess how much too old the date is; although
the minute amount of carbon being dated. Before placing the amount of sandstone contamination was high, it is
faith in a date, one must know precisely what is being uncertain how much it affected the date (Marvin Rowe,
dated and the potential for contamination. The sample personal communication 1994). However, it is probably
from site 42SA20615 consisted of pure paint; when safe to tentatively use the date as a maximum date range

39
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

and conclude that the sampled figure at the Great Gallery sized dots is superimposed over a cucumber shaped ghost
was painted after 1900 B.C. (Rowe 1993:2). Referring to figure.
this sample and the one from Dubinky Well, which is dis-
cussed below, Chaffee et al. (1993:71) state, “... presum- A radiocarbon date of 2660 +/- 80 (Beta-75861)
ably the pictograph dates obtained can be taken as upper was obtained from an ash stain directly in front of the
limits on their ages.” panel (Nancy J. Coulam, personal communication 1995).
The second site is the famous Harvest Scene
Dubinky Well (42WN665) or Bird Site (Schaafsma 1994) which
Schaafsma (1971) used in her original definition of the
Dubinky Well in the Island-in-the-Sky is a large, Barrier Canyon rock art style. This site includes numer-
north-facing overhang with Barrier Canyon rock art and ous life-size and larger-than-life-size anthropomorphs,
evidence of occupation consisting of cists excavated into often with wavy lines at their sides, small animals, flying
an indurated alluvial deposit, groundstone tools, a few birds and/or insects, and figures which appear to hold
flakes, and a yucca fiber bundle (Brunsman 1986; Del- wild grasses. Some of the anthropomorphs are believed
ling and Delling 1963). Rock art at the site is composed to either be stooped or carrying burden baskets and they
of seven Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs: four executed hold objects that have been interpreted as tools (Castleton
in black, one in black-red-buff, and two in red only (Fig- 1979:290-291; Schaafsma 1994:77). Most of the figures
ure 48). Remnants of a black and red indeterminate and are painted but several are pecked (Castleton 1979:290-
deteriorated image were also noted. The sample from this 291). A radiocarbon date of 1860 +/- 50 (Beta-64818)
site was a large sandstone spall painted with parallel red was recovered from a large slab-lined hearth in front of
stripes. There is only one red striped figure on the panel the panel (Nancy J. Coulam, personal communication
(the anthropomorph, the fourth from the left in Figure 1995).
48) so it must have come from that figure. The association between the dates and the rock art
Like the Great Gallery sample, the Dubinky Well at these two sites is suggestive, but by no means defini-
sample contained large amounts of sandstone (Rows tive. It will be stronger if similar dates from better con-
1993:1). Given that the unpainted sandstone control texts are obtained at other sites.
sample from the site dates older than the pictograph
sample (see Table 28), the paint date of 2100 +/-50 is
probably too old. There was no visible evidence of other Discussion
contamination from the common sources discussed for Barring some unexpected and heretofore unidenti-
the previous sites. Using the paint date as a maximum fied problem with the plasma technique or contamination
limiting age (cf. Chaffee et al. 1993:71), the red striped by modern organics, the date of 1010-780 B.C. prob-
figure at the site would appear to date sometime around ably provides a realistic estimate of the time period when
or after the turn of the millennium. the orange Barrier Canyon figures were painted at site
42SA20615. This date places the Barrier Canyon Style
Other Sites squarely in the Terminal Archaic period.
As noted earlier, radiocarbon dates are available Though less certain than the site 42SA20615 evi-
from two features that lie beneath Barrier Canyon rock dence, other available data support this general temporal
art panels in the Maze District of Canyonlands. The first placement. The Great Gallery paint date of 1880-1410
site, 42WN766, is a long overhang that harbors a Barrier B.C. is within a millennium (500-900 years older) of the
Canyon pictograph panel and a diverse artifact scatter site 42SA20615 date and, if it is too old because of con-
(Cox 1994). This site is believed to have a single prehis- tamination from organic carbon in the sandstone, the ac-
toric component (Nancy J. Coulam, personal communi- tual dates could be closer, lending more support to a first
cation 1995). millennium B.C. time frame for the rock art.
Cox (1994:1-2) describes the rock art panel as fol- The Salt Pocket Shelter hearth date (1880-1410
lows: B.C.) is equally earlier than the site 42SA20615 date, but
if the Salt Pocket Shelter date suffers from the old wood
The panel is crowded with figures. A row of four, tiny, problem (Smiley 1985, 1994), the dates may be relatively
Barrier Canyon style anthropomorphs, hovers directly above contemporaneous. If we accept the site 42SA20615 date
four plantlike forms growing up out of three rectangular plus the Great Gallery date as an outside maximum age
clusters of dots. A zoomorph consisting of fingerprint of the Great Gallery figure, together they lend support to

40
reprinted by permission from Barrier Canyon Rock Art Dating, by Betsy L. Tipps

the association between the Salt Pocket Shelter date and posed by pothunters digging along the cliff wall sometime
the Barrier Canyon anthropomorph at that site. after 1979. The pothunters also exposed a hearth.
Finally, the hearth date from site 42WN766 is sta- In 1984, Loendorf (1985) profiled the pothole,
tistically the same as the site 42SA20615 paint date at the sampled the hearth, and collected a small assemblage
95 percent confidence level (Stuiver and Pearson 1993), of artifacts—including a mano with a faint layer of red
lending credibility to the feature date-rock art associa- pigment adhering to it—from the soil the pothunters re-
tion at this site as well. If old wood is a problem at site moved. The hearth provided a radiocarbon date of 1990
42WN766, then the 42WN766 panel might be slightly +/- 70 B.P. which has a tree-ring corrected age range of
younger than the site 42SA20615 panel. However, this 170 B.C.- A.D. 200 at two sigma (Stuiver and Pearson
difference should not be sufficient to reject the potential 1993). Based on this radiocarbon date from a feature in
applicability of the 42WN766 date at the coarse level of soil that covered the pictograph and the ochre-stained
chronological resolution at which we are working. mane that may have been used to prepare the paint for its
Together these four dates—the evidence from site production, Loendorf (1985:8) concludes that the red fig-
42SA20615 combined with the more tenuous evidence ure was painted around “the time of Christ.” The Roch-
from Salt Pocket Shelter, site 42WN766, and the Great ester Creek date is statistically the same as the Dubinky
Gallery—suggest that the dated figures on these four sites paint date at the 95 percent confidence level (Stuiver and
were painted during the first or first and second millennia Pearson 1993).
B.C. The date of A.D. 70-320 from the Harvest Scene
With the limited dating evidence at hand, there is feature is slightly younger than the Rochester hearth and
no way to accurately estimate the longevity of the style Dubinky paint dates. This may suggest that all three dates
and, if it was protracted, whether these dates apply to the could be reasonably valid approximate estimates of when
beginning, middle, or end of its maximum time span. the Barrier Canyon figures were painted at those sites.
However, given these four dates which potentially apply Let us assume for the purposes of argument that
to the Barrier Canyon Style, the first and second millen- these three dates do represent the maximum age of or are
nium B.C. may represent the period of florescence when older than the images. If so, they may well be giving us
the majority of the rock art was produced. an indication of the style’s longevity or showing that later
The Dubinky Well paint date diverges from the people added to, embellished, refreshed, or emulated ear-
other four dates—it is several hundred years later (340 lier Barrier Canyon figures for spiritual or other reasons.
B.C.-A.D. 10). In reality, this difference could be greater Ethnography and previous rock art research tells us that
because the sample was evidently contaminated by older each of these scenarios is possible.
organic carbon in the sandstone. In light of the other four An example of a long-lived rock art style is provided
dates, this date will be more convincing when and if it by the Dinwoody petroglyphs found in the Wind River
can be confirmed through replicate analysis and dating and the upper Bighorn River drainages of western Wyo-
of additional Barrier Canyon panels. However, it is obvi- ming (Gebhard 1969; Gebhard and Cahn 1950, 1954;
ously inappropriate to reject the date on the grounds that see also Tipps and Schroedl 1985). Recent AMS and
it diverges from expectations at this early juncture. cation-ratio dating suggests that it persisted from at least
In the meantime, we do not have to look far for 6800 to 300 B.P. and was concurrent with other totally
other evidence that tentatively corroborates the validity of distinct styles (Francis 1994:39; Francis et al. 1993:731-
the late Dubinky paint date. Without modifying the date 732). Throughout its long history, the style evolved
to account for organic carbon contamination, indepen- through time (see Gebhard 1969).
dent evidence indicates that Dubinky Well was inhabited Without explicitly saying so, Cole (1990:70-72)
during the period indicated by the AMS date on the rock implies that the Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic Style
art paint. Six highly eroded circular cists are excavated was long-lived by her claims that it overlapped with the
in the alluvial hardpan on the shelter floor. Such cists Glen Canyon Linear Style (Turner 1971), the San Juan
are believed to date between circa 500 B.C. and A.D. Anthropomorphic Style (Schaafsma 1980), and Fremont
1 in southeastern Utah (Lipe 1970:100-101; Matson rock art. Glen Canyon Linear is tentatively dated between
1991:122-124). 1000 B.C. and A.D. 500. The San Juan Anthropomor-
Tentative support for the late date also comes from phic Style may date between 100 B.C. and A.D. 750.
limited salvage work at the Rochester Creek site in central Fremont rock art is believed to date between A.D. 400
Utah (Smith 1980). This predominantly petroglyph site and 1350 (see Cole 1990:60, 109: Geib and Fairley 1992:
has one red, Barrier Canyon anthropomorph that was ex- Schaafsma 1980:109).

41
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

Australian literature contains numerous references 1988:692). The long history of renewing the images has
to aboriginal custodians adding to, retouching, repaint- resulted in the addition of new motifs and noticeable sty-
ing, and renewing rock art images, apparently over listic shifts (e.g., Clarke and Randolph 1992:18), some of
considerable periods of time (e.g., Bowdler 1988; Elkin which are perhaps best considered emulations of an earli-
1931; Layton 1992:17-26; Mowaljarlai et al. 1988; Ute- er style. An aborigine from the Kimberley. district reports:
mara and Vinnicombe 1992; Walsh 1992; Watchman
1992). The best known examples are from the Kimber- In some cases entire panels have been repainted, first
ley area of western Australia though other examples are obliterating the original panel under a background coating
known (e.g., Watchman 1992). of white paint, and then repainting similar but not identi-
In the Kimberley, aborigines tell of Wandjini, spirits cal subject matter on top of the original paintings. One
that inhabited the land and created everything (Utemara investigator identified paint up to 5 mm thick, with over
40 distinct layers in places ... [Mowaljarlai et al. 1988:693;
and Vinnicombe 1992:25). When their time on earth
emphasis added].
came to an end, the Wandjini transformed into spectacu-
lar rock art images where their spirits still live (Crawford
Confirming this archeologically, a researcher re-
1973:108). Placation of these spirits is of considerable
ports:
importance to the aborigines because the Wandjini have
great powers to send torrential rains, death, and destruc- ... In most cases, a bright white pigment (huntite) was
tion, but also to provide needed rain, an adequate food spread over the faded image, and then the figure was re-
supply, and life itself (Crawford 1973:116). Retouching, painted. With repetitious repainting over time some of these
repainting, and renewing the Wandjini images are part of paintings have become 1 cm thick ... [Welch 1993:15].
the placation process.
Aborigines in the Kimberley are not concerned
... Art in the Kimberley is perceived as a tangible inheri- about stylistic shifts or modifications to the images be-
tance from the spiritual past for which the Aboriginal people cause it is the process of renewing the figures and inter-
have been charged with clear social responsibilities. They ceding with the spiritual authorities, not the product, that
believe that for the intrinsic power of the image to remain
is important (Ward 1992:33).
effective, it must be cyclically renewed in the same way
that nature is cyclically renewed. Life cannot be stagnated
Modern aboriginal modification of earlier rock art
by study and preservation. Life moves in a never-ending is not limited to the Australian continent. In northeast-
cycle, and interruption of that cycle may result in chaos and ern Utah, modern Ute peoples are still adding to existing
death ... Aboriginal priorities lie with the spiritual power of rock art (Blaine Phillips, personal communication 1987).
the ancestral painting which, in order to remain powerful Similar activities appear to have occurred in the past.
and meaningful to present and future generations, need Francis et. al (1993:731) document such a case in Mon-
to be spiritually recharged and freshened by repainting ... tana. Schaafsma (1988:8) reports on another in Arizona:
[Mowaljarlai et al. 1988:693]. at Shaman’s Gallery, there were “ ... numerous painting
episodes ... Designs were frequently painted on top of
Ethnographic accounts from the Kimberley district previously existing ones, and old figures were added to or
emphasize the association of retouch with adequate rain renewed.”
(Walsh 1992:50; Welch 1993:15). They also note the im- There is ample evidence that Barrier Canyon im-
portance of retouch in ensuring an adequate food supply ages were also modified prehistorically through embel-
(Love 1930:7). lishments and renewal (Cole 1990:79-82; Noxon and
Marcus 1982:141, 184; Schaafsma 1988:8; Steven J.
Where Wandjina made snakes or yams or honey or Manning, personal communication 1994; personal obser-
crocodiles, he painted them there. When we wanted to have vation). Noxon and Marcus (1982:153) suggest Anasazi
plenty [of ] yams or crocodiles, we would go back to that emulation of the Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic Style
place and paint them again.... [Utemara and Vinnicombe
and it is possible that the style inadvertently evolved
1992:25].
through repainting of similar figures after obliterating the
earlier work with mud.
In the Kimberley case, the paintings were normally
Some Barrier Canyon Style figures have been cov-
repainted just as they were, but sometimes, when the
ered by mud.... In some instances, individual painted
images were faded, the aborigines put in their “... own
elements have been mudded over; in other cases, entire
ideas of what had been there before” (Mowaljarlai et al.
panel surfaces appear to have been covered with mud....

42
reprinted by permission from Barrier Canyon Rock Art Dating, by Betsy L. Tipps

New images have been placed over mud in a few instances Barrier Canyon figures with white paint postdate those
... [Cole 1990:81]. without it.
Some Barrier Canyon Style figures have been paint- All substances used for white clay pigment poorly
ed on mudded surfaces. bond with rock faces and are, therefore, subject to more
Evidence to support these or other scenarios is rapid exfoliation and deterioration than most other pig-
equivocal at Dubinky Well. There is no obvious evidence ments. Ochre-based pigments such as hematite are the
of modification, repainting, or renewal but the figures most long-lived because of their ability “. .. to penetrate
are highly weathered, so later applications of paint may sandstone pores, or to become chemically or physically
not be visible. Two of the anthropomorphs have unusual bonded ...” (Bednarik 1994:70) to the rock. These pig-
polychrome decorations and atypical L-shaped antennae ment characteristics might provide independent evidence
that depart from standard Barrier Canyon characteristics. that white figures and embellishments are among the
Could these represent a long standing tradition evolving youngest of the preserved Barrier Canyon figures. How-
through time or emulation of the original style by the ever, it does not mean that white pigment was not used in
original artists, their descendants, or a people of a differ- older Barrier Canyon figures. It may have simply eroded
ent, and perhaps later, cultural group? beyond recognition. The poor bonding characteristics of
These questions cannot be addressed with the white paint may have implications regarding the nature
data at hand but they do point out the need and some and breadth of the preserved rock art assemblage, espe-
potential directions for further research. First, we need cially if particular types of figures were executed solely in
to reexamine the definition of the Barrier Canyon An- white. However, if white or other fugitive pigment com-
thropomorphic Style. Schaafsma’s (1971:65-82) original posed only a small element of a figure largely executed
definition was based on less than 20 sites. Now there are in more long-lasting pigment, it should be possible to
potentially 155 or more known sites with Barrier Canyon identify its former presence by consistent gaps in figures
Anthropomorphic Style rock art (Manning 1990:74). of other colors (Bednarik 1994:70-71; Welch 1990:111-
There is considerable diversity within this large group of 112).
rock art sites and upon close examination, it may be pos- Subject matter may also be important in isolating
sible to isolate geographic or stylistic differences that have styles or substyles that have temporal significance. Man-
temporal significance. Such information will be critical ning (1990:70-72, 74-75) claims to have found Barrier
in analyzing and interpreting additional absolute dates Canyon rock art with bow and arrow depictions and
as they become available and placing the rock art in its mounted horseman. These claims are hard to accept with-
proper cultural perspective. out better justifications of how and why they represent
Already, Schaafsma (1988, 1990) has posited the the Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic Style and clear,
existence of a Barrier Canyon variant along the North scaled illustrations showing the figures in the context of
Rim of Grand Canyon. This variant (as represented by the entire rock art panel. If verified, however, such panels
Shaman’s Gallery and a few other sites) shares many might provide the very type of information needed to
characteristics with the Canyonlands area Barrier Canyon demonstrate the presence of multiple, perhaps temporally
style, but almost as many differences including, among segregated styles within the group of rock art we now call
others, more elongate body forms, narrower shoulders, the Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic Style.
round heads, large legs and phalli, extreme crowding Second, we need to carefully look for evidence
and overpainting of the figures, and more frequent use of evolution of the style through time, repainting, and
of yellow paint (Schaafsma 1990:227-228). The age and modification. Each of these characteristics has a potential
cultural relationship of this variant relative to the classic to provide insights on the longevity of the style and how
Canyonlands Barrier Canyon images is unknown. the images may have functioned as part of a dynamic liv-
Even in the Canyonlands area, there may also be ing culture. Reference to the work of Australian research-
more than one temporally distinct type or evolution of ers, who have already considered and researched many
the style through time. Note the three distinct body styles of these types of issues, should be of considerable help in
described in the introduction. Also, method of execution providing theoretical and methodological frameworks.
(e.g., painted, “colorcrayoned,” solidly pecked, outlined Third, while hypotheses and conclusions based on
by pecking) and color may be important. The occur- preliminary and tentative dating information may provide
rence of white Barrier Canyon figures super-imposed over a starting point for further research, they require confir-
weathered and faded red Barrier Canyon figures, among mation through replicate analysis and additional cases.
other things, led Manning (1990:59) to propose that Therefore, we need to be alert to dating opportunities,

43
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

especially those that may be lost because of weathering, Dr. Nancy J. Coulam, the Canyonlands archeolo-
erosion, vandalism, and theft. gist, is currently working with the U.S. Geological Sur-
For example, when site 42SA20615 was recorded vey Office in Denver to identify the pigment in various
in 1988, the thick mud pigment on the orange horned Barrier Canyon rock art panels (using nondestructive
Barrier Canyon figures was rapidly exfoliating from the reflectance spectroscopy). If organic binders are rare or
shelter wall. Today, nothing is left but staining. When lacking in most Barrier Canyon paints, Watchman’s ap-
Dubinky Well was recorded in 1963 (Delling and Del- proach may be well suited for future dating attempts.
ling 1963), a large piece of a Barrier Canyon figure had Accretionary deposits of the type dated by Watchman are
spalled off the panel and was lying on the floor of the known to exist at rock art in the park (e.g., Chaffee et al.
shelter. This fragment was not present when the site was 1994:769).
rerecorded by the BLM in 1986 (Brunsman 1986).
Dating opportunities need not be limited to pig- Conclusion
ment spalling from panels or testing of features and
deposits presumably associated with the images. Dating In sum, three AMS and four conventional radio-
opportunities may exist in museum holdings. The 1930 carbon dates relevant to ascertaining the age of Barrier
Claflin-Emerson Expedition collected a rather large, Canyon Anthropomorphic Style rock art were presented
oblong piece of modeled red pigment during their exca- and evaluated. While most of these dates are tentative for
vations at Cottonwood Cave (site SR 16-6), a reputed one reason or another (e.g., single-sample AMS dates,
Basketmaker II site (Gunnerson 1969:47, 57, Figure dates that could be contaminated by old carbon, and in-
39f ). This site has several Barrier Canyon anthropo- conclusive associations), there are too many coincidental
morphs (Gunnerson 1969:56; Manning 1981) executed and squarely overlapping dates to completely dismiss all
in what appears to be the same red pigment. If the pres- this evidence.
ence of an organic binder can be confirmed through All seven dates cluster in a 2200-year time frame
nondestructive reflectance spectroscopy, for example, and between approximately 1900 B.C. and A.D. 300 despite
permission from the Peabody Museum can be obtained their being from widely scattered sites, a variety of con-
for destructive analysis, there will be another opportunity texts, and two organic mediums. This suggests that the
for dating the Barrier Canyon style. problems of possible contamination of the AMS paint
Finally, we need to be alert to advances in rock art dates are not on the order of thousands of years but more
dating and new techniques that overcome weaknesses of likely a few hundred years. Considering where we started,
earlier methods as well as techniques that approach the with dating based only on stylistic evidence and superpo-
problem differently and, therefore, provide an indepen- sitioning, I think this is an acceptable level of resolution
dent means of dating the figures. An example of the lat- from which we may begin additional research. Like any
ter is represented by the recent work of Alan Watchman interpretation based on few dates and tentative evidence,
(Watchman 1990, 1993b; Watchman and Lessard 1993). it will probably require revision when the next batch of
Noting that pictographs can only be directly radiocarbon dates becomes available, but, in the meantime, we may
dated when they contain preserved organic binders and have narrowed the range of possible ages from that pro-
that many paintings lack these constituents, he believes posed on stylistic evidence alone (Schroedl 1989).
that the best approach is to date carbon-bearing substanc- One AMS date on pigment and three more tenuous
es in laminae that have accumulated both beneath and dates (two conventional radiocarbon dates on features
on top of the pictograph (Watchman 1993b:40). Watch- possibly associated with Barrier Canyon rock art and one
man uses a focused laser beam to convert carbon-bearing AMS paint date that may be too old because it was con-
substances in individual laminae into CO2 which can taminated by older organic carbon in the sandstone host
subsequently be dated using the AMS carbon-14 method. rock) are clustered during the first and second millen-
The ability to sample and date individual laminae is criti- nium B.C., suggesting that this could have been a major
cal, especially if the laminae developed over a protracted period of production for the Barrier Canyon style. These
period of time; dating of an entire accretion would result dates are in accord with archeological inference based on
in an average age for all carbon in the accreted deposit. style, subject matter, and superpositioning.
Watchman advocates the dating of laminae above and Another AMS paint date is several hundred years
below the paint layer, not only to provide minimum and more recent than the aforementioned dates and may be
maximum dates for the rock art, but also to ensure reli- more recent still because of contamination from organic
ability of the dates by checking their internal consistency. carbon in the sandstone. Without correction for this con-

44
reprinted by permission from Barrier Canyon Rock Art Dating, by Betsy L. Tipps

tamination, this date almost perfectly overlaps with other Noxon and Marcus 1982:Figure 81; Schaafsma l980:Fig-
dating evidence from the site, as well as a hearth date ures 42, 44).
believed to be associated with Barrier Canyon rock art at Close reexamination of the Salt Pocket Shelter
another site. It is slightly earlier than a hearth date from panel on May 7, 1994, by Alan R. Schroedl and Nancy
a third site that also has Barrier Canyon rock art. These J. Coulam provided additional convincing evidence that
overlaps and similarities may suggest that alteration of the the figure represents the Barrier Canyon Anthropomor-
date by old carbon was not substantial. If this is the case, phic Style and not the Chihuahuan Style. Although not
or the correct date is even later, it raises questions regard- noticed originally, the vertical lines converge into a faded
ing the style’s longevity and whether the later people wide red horizontal line at the base of the figure. Figure
emulated, added to, or modified earlier rock paintings. 34 from Tipps and Hewitt (1989) has been revised to re-
Detailed studies of what should actually be included in flect this new information and is included here as Figure
the Barrier Canyon Anthropomorphic Style coupled with 46. Chihuahuan Style “rakes” do not terminate in solid
additional attempts at absolute dating may shed light on lines on both the upper and lower ends because they
these issues. With additional research and more dating would not be classifiable as “rakes,” but Barrier Canyon
information, we should eventually be able to confirm, anthropomorphs do. (As an aside, also note that the hori-
refine, or reject the dates and ideas proposed here and be zontal pecked line described by Manning could not be
better equipped to elucidate how rock art can help us un- located during the close reinspection, nor could any other
derstand past human behavior. natural or cultural pecking).
The figure is also of the wrong proportions for a
Notes Chihuahuan Polychrome “rake.” Most of the “rakes” il-
lustrated by Schaafsma (1972:Figures 53-55, 57, 1980:
1 In a recent article on the age of Barrier Canyon Figures 29, 31) and Cole (1990:Plate 9, 1993:9.4-9.6) are
Anthropomorphic Style rock art; Manning (1990:44) wider than they are tall owing to the short length of the
states that the figure at Salt Pocket Shelter resembles the vertical lines. The figure at Salt Pocket Shelter is much
Chihuahuan Polychrome Abstract Style more than it does taller than it is wide. This is atypical of Chihuahuan
the Barrier Canyon style. This suggestion is untenable. Polychrome “rakes,” but characteristic of Barrier Canyon
As defined by Schaafsma (1972:61-71, 1980:49-55, anthropomorphs. The sizing and proportions of the Salt
1992:43-46), the Chihuahuan Polychrome Abstract Style Pocket figure are within the range expected for a Barrier
is characterized by multicolored paintings of informal ab- Canyon anthropomorph.
stract designs such as series of short, closely spaced, paral- The absence of a head may be one reason Manning
lel lines and zigzags. The parallel lines are freestanding considers the figure a Chihuahuan Polychrome design
or joined to form “rakes.” Circles, ovals, sunbursts, dots, rather than a Barrier Canyon anthropomorph, but not all
and dot designs are also depicted as are few stick-figure Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs have heads (Schaafsma
humans. Elements are haphazardly arranged and generally 1988:17). Reinspection of the figure in May of 1994
independent of the others in the panel. The designs may failed to reveal traces of a head. It was clear, however, that
be executed in any of the following colors: yellow, red, the upper right and center portion of the figure, includ-
orange, black, and white. ing the expected location for a head, was more highly
Manning presumably believes that the Salt Pocket eroded than the surrounding area. Any paint originally
Shelter figure is one of the “rake” designs common in the present in this area would have weathered away.
Chihuahuan Polychrome Style but the design does not In sum, after considering all the evidence, the figure
match Schaafsma’s description. The descending lines are clearly and unequivocally represents a Barrier Canyon
neither short nor parallel but, instead, long and radically anthropomorph, not a Chihuahuan Polychrome abstract
converging forming a tapered figure. Close examination element. The original assessment reported in Tipps and
of the Chihuahuan panels illustrated by Schaafsma (1972: Hewitt (1989:124), that the figure is a Barrier Canyon
Figures 53-57, 1980:Figures 29-31) and Cole (1990: anthropomorph, is correct.
Plates 6, 8-9, 1993:9.4-9.6) reveals that most of the lines
are indeed parallel as Schaafsma described, a few actually Betsy L. Tipps, Barrier Canyon Rock Art Dating (Na-
expand (e.g., see Schaafsma 1980:Figure 31), but none tional Park Service, 1994).
radically converge like the Salt Pocket Shelter to form a
tapered figure. Tapered figures are, however, characteristic
of Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs (e.g., see Figure 29;

45
reprinted by permission from Archaic Occupancy of the Glen Canyon Region, by Phil R. Geib

Archaic Occupancy
of the Glen Canyon Region by Phil R. Geib

Until recently little was known from throughout the Glen Canyon region (both canyon
about Archaic period hunter-gatherers lowlands and surrounding benches and mesas). The pri-
of the Glen Canyon region. Jennings mary purpose of this chapter is to summarize the existing
(1966:38) fully anticipated that the Glen chronometric data to provide a context for characterizing
Canyon Project would yield “significant the Archaic period of the Glen Canyon region and for
evidence of some local examining two competing
version of western Ar- models of Archaic occupancy
chaic culture,” yet the of the region. The first,
only conclusive evidence regarded as the traditional
of an Archaic presence concept of southwestern
found during the preinun- archaeologists, posits
dation project came from Sand long-term continuity
Dune and Dust Devil caves at the in hunter-gatherer occu-
northeast foot of Navajo Mountain (Lindsay pancy marked by evolutionary
et al. I968). Several authors believed that some changes and other alterations. The second model, cham-
of the numerous lithic sites recorded in the Glen Canyon pioned by Claudia and Mike Berry (1986), contends that
lowlands must have been the product of Archaic hunter- hunter-gatherer occupancy was discontinuous; that the
gatherers, but the data were only suggestive in this regard Archaic period was punctuated by a sequence of popula-
(e.g., Gunnerson et al. 1959:21-22; Suhm 1959:223). tion abandonments and reoccupations, with new lifeways
Subsequent field studies, including those by NAU, docu- and material culture introduced by each successive wave
mented Archaic remains throughout the Glen Canyon of hunter-gatherers.
region (Agenbroad et al. 1989; Geib 1989a, 1989b; Geib
and Bremer 1988; Geib, Fairley, and Bungart 1986; Background
Schroedl 1981b; Tipps 1984, 1987). Increased recogni-
tion of Archaic remains is largely due to the establishment The first solid evidence of the antiquity of an Ar-
of an Archaic point chronology for the northern Colora- chaic culture in the Glen Canyon region came from
do Plateau (Holmer 1978, 1980b), resulting from excava- excavations at Sand Dune and Dust Devil caves in the
tions at Sudden Shelter (Jennings, Schroedl, and Holmer early 1960s. Sandals of a previously undocumented style
1980) and Cowboy Cave Jennings 1980). Temporally di- (open-twined) from Sand Dune Cave were radiocarbon
agnostic projectile point types have allowed researchers to dated from 7000 to 8000 B.P. (Lindsay et al. 1968).
assign numerous sites of the Glen Canyon region to the Identical sandals, plus two other distinctive styles (fine
Archaic period. Such assignments are tentative, of course, and coarse warp-faced), were found at Dust Devil Cave
due to problems with curation and site reoccupation. (see figs. 13 and 14 in chapter 3). Complete excavation
Moreover, there is J. J. Flenniken and P.J. Wilke’s (1989) of Dust Devil Cave in 1970 clarified the stratigraphic
argument that point types are actually poor temporal relationship of the Archaic sandals and other remains,
markers (cf. Bettinger, O’Connell, and Thomas 1991). extended the range of the Archaic occupation back to al-
More reliable than temporal diagnostics for docu- most 9000 B.P. (Ambler 1984c; chapter 3), and provided
menting when various Archaic hunter-gatherers occupied much greater detail on subsistence (Van Ness 1986; chap-
the Glen Canyon region are the numerous radiocarbon ter 7) and lithic artifacts (Geib 1984) Since the findings
dates processed in the past fifteen years. There is now an from Dust Devil Cave have yet to be published, the site
extensive array of preceramic radiocarbon dates available has not received much attention from the archaeological
47
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

community. In an effort to rectify this situation in part, the region (the Archaic to Formative transition herein
and because the site is important to understanding the designated as the Early Agricultural period), but exclude
Archaic period in Glen Canyon, Ambler summarizes his dates from the early Formative period (except perhaps for
work at the cave in chapter 3 of this book. a few old wood determinations), 1600 B.P. was used as
Two sites of great importance to our present un- an appropriate time-line cutoff. Most of the dates listed
derstanding of Archaic culture-history and lifeways on in table 5 were obtained in the past ten years, so less than
the northern Colorado Plateau are Sudden Shelter (Jen- 5% have been included in previous summaries of Archaic
nings, Schroedl, and Holmer 1980) and Cowboy Cave radiocarbon dates (Barnes 1985; Berry and Berry 1986;
(Jennings 1980; Schroedl and Coulam 1994). Besides Schroedl 1976b). All standard dates (Beta decay) are gas
being relatively rich in material remains, both sites were determinations made on wood charcoal from hearths or
excavated by natural rather than arbitrary levels and the on perishable organics such as yucca. Some of the dates
results were published in a timely manner. Furthermore, on perishables are accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)
the relative abundance of projectile points from the nu- determinations, where the ratio of 14C/12C was directly
merous strata at Sudden Shelter allowed R. N. Holmer measured. Determinations on materials subject to isoto-
(1978, 1980b) to delimit distinct shifts in point types pic fractionation (Stuiver and Polach 1977) were correct-
through time. The Cowboy Cave evidence was fully sup- ed by either measuring actual 13C/12C ratios or using an
portive of the Sudden Shelter sequence; on the strength assumed delta value.
of these results, Holmer (1978) outlined a chronology for All dates used in this analysis have a cultural origin,
Archaic point types of the northern Colorado Plateau, but in cases such as buried hearths exposed in arroyo cuts
while Schroedl (1976b) devised a phase system for the there is little or nothing in the way of associated artifacts.
same vast region. A few of the dates listed in table 5 are excluded from
The general applicability of Schroedl’s phase system further consideration because they are inconsistent with
to the Glen Canyon region was acknowledged in the other evidence or for other reasons presented in the table.
Glen Canyon research plan (Geib, Fairley, and Ambler Some dates are on materials from multicomponent sites
1986:8), especially when contrasted with the Oshara where stratigraphic context was lacking (surface artifacts)
phase system (Irwin-Williams 1973, 1979), which does or obscured by poor excavation technique or prior distur-
not accurately represent the chronology and material re- bances. These dates are nonetheless useful for chronomet-
mains found in and around Glen Canyon. Nevertheless, ric analysis because they are on materials of indisputable
Schroedl’s phase names were dropped in favor of more cultural origin, such as artifacts and human feces. Two
neutral temporal designations (early, middle, and late) dates on charcoal pulled up in an auger test of Bechan
until greater detail on Archaic culture history of the study Cave (A-3513 and A-3516; Agenbroad et al. 1989) and
area and surrounding regions is obtained. another date on scattered charcoal from Rock Creek Al-
cove (Beta-8623; Nickens, Reed, and Metzger 1988) are
The Chronometric Database perhaps the most suspect.
As most archaeologists now know, dates on hearth
The most basic data for any discussion of Archaic charcoal routinely overestimate the age of a cultural event
chronology are radiocarbon dates. As Berry and Berry by 200 years or more (Smiley 1985). This can lead to
(1986:282) observe, “this impressive empirical base allows spurious conclusions about the chronology, use histories,
us to proceed inductively from chronometric evidence and depositional rates of single sites, among other issues,
to chronological inference without reference to artifac- and can be particularly confounding when attempting to
tual content.” Furthermore, J. W. Rick (1987:55) argues trace the origin and spread of stylistic, technologic, and
that, since radiocarbon dates represent human activity biologic innovations. In a regionally based examination of
at points in time and the number of dates is related to the radiocarbon record, such as this, age overestimation
the “magnitude of occupation,” then “it is possible to is not so critical, though one must be aware of the prob-
assess and compare, in a relative fashion, the occupa- lem. The suite of radiocarbon dates for the Glen Canyon
tion histories within and between regions.” Almost 180 region includes many for organic remains such as yucca
radiocarbon determinations from 74 sites of the Glen leaves that are not subject to age overestimation. In fact,
Canyon region (fig. 6) predate the use of ceramics and the region is blessed by having so many dry shelters with
have clear cultural origins. These dates are listed in table excellent preservation of annual plant remains that ulti-
5 along with comments about context and associations. mately the old wood problem can be circumvented.
To allow inclusion of the first practices of agriculture in The dates included in table 5 come from the entire

48
reprinted by permission from Archaic Occupancy of the Glen Canyon Region, by Phil R. Geib

Glen Canyon region as defined in chapter I. Particularly quency of dates on maize (8b). Figure 7a also shows three
important radiocarbon records for this region are those of temporal subdivisions of the long Archaic period. The
Cowboy, Dust Devil, and Old Man caves, sites that geo- dashed lines mark the approximate breaks in the Archaic
graphically bracket the region on the north, south, and sequence, with the realization that these are arbitrary cut
east. Sandal technology indicates that the Archaic groups points during drawn-out transitions within an apparent
who used these sites had similar material culture. Indeed, continuum of occupation. Figure 8a shows an alternative
it is conceivable that some of the same families could partitioning of the Archaic period discussed at the end of
have occupied these sites, which at about 120—160 km this chapter.
apart are within the potential annual range or longer-term The radiocarbon record for the Glen Canyon region
settlement shifts of human foragers. Other sites contrib- starts abruptly at 9,000 years ago (ca. 8000 cal. B.C.), a
uting to the data set are scattered throughout the region, consequence of the lack of radiocarbon dates for Paleo-
and therefore the temporal pattern reflects occupation of indian remains of the region. During the ensuing 3,000
an approximately 43,000 sq km block of territory center- years the record is filled in except for a short gap at about
ing on Glen and Cataract canyons. This is a considerably 8500 B.P. and two dips in the record at about 8050 B.P.
scaled down study area from that examined by Berry and and 7000 B.P. There is a significant decline in dates be-
Berry (1986), yet the record for this central section of tween 6,000 and 4,000 years ago and a few small gaps in
the Colorado Plateau should doubtless reflect the general the distributions graphed by 150-year intervals (figs. 7a
trend on the plateau at large. and 8a). After 4000 B.P. the frequency of dates increases
The temporal distributions of all acceptable cul- and remains moderately high but fluctuating until about
tural dates are shown in figures 7 and 8. The laboratory 1500 B.P., at which point there is a dramatic increase to
determinations plotted in figure 7 are uncorrected for an all-time high. The record is arbitrarily cut off at 1600
secular variation in atmospheric 14C, whereas those in B.P., and the short dip just before this is due to “edge ef-
figure 8 were calibrated to the tree-ring calendar using fect.”
the CALIB Program (Stuiver and Reimer 1993). I use At this juncture it is worth considering the degree to
uncalibrated dates throughout most of this chapter for which the patterning of figures 7 and 8 is due to differen-
two principal reasons. First, because prior discussion of tial preservation resulting from such postdepositional fac-
Archaic chronology uses uncalibrated dates, continuing tors as erosion and burial by recent sediment. One aspect
to do so greatly facilitates communication and compari- of the record is that the vast majority of dates earlier than
son. Second, all paleoenvironment research is couched in 5,000 years ago are from natural shelters (caves, alcoves,
terms of uncalibrated radiocarbon years; until the various and rockshelters) that have served to preserve the remains
paleoenvironmental data sets and reconstructions are also from this early time (fig. 7a). Early dates from unshel-
calibrated, a calibrated Archaic archaeological record is tered settings come from sites deeply buried by eolian
dislocated from its environmental context. After plot- or alluvial sediment, but none come from sites exposed
ting both the calibrated and uncalibrated dates, and even on the surface. This is not to suggest that surface lithic
though the disparity between the laboratory determina- scatters earlier than 5,000 years ago do not exist, simply
tion and the true age of a sample increases with age, up to that such sites have been so severely eroded that datable
about 700 years during the early and middle Archaic, the organic material is usually absent. Thus the early portion
basic temporal pattern remains unchanged. Using uncali- of the radiocarbon record is the by-product of both costly
brated dates does not greatly alter our understanding of excavation of deeply stratified sheltered sites and chance
prehistory until the Christian Era, and then the chronolo- finds of buried hearths or organic remains exposed by
gies established by radiocarbon dating have to meld with erosion.
high-resolution tree-ring chronologies tied to the Grego- In contrast, about one-third of the dates younger
rian calendar. than 5,000 years ago are from surface hearths at open
An interval width of 150 years is used in figures 7a sites. The sampling of these features (see chapter 8 and
and 8a, [figures not shown] whereas a 300-year interval Tipps ‘995) has increased the frequency of younger dates.
width is used in figures 7b and 8b [figures not shown]. Hearths were not sampled to provide a detailed late Ar-
The numbers listed on the x-axis are the midpoints for chaic chronology; in fact, Peter Bungart (chapter 8) an-
the intervals. Other information in these figures includes ticipated that the hearths he sampled in the Orange Cliffs
the frequency of dates from open and sheltered sites (7a), area would reflect a wide range of ages. Natural factors
the frequency of dates from “high-quality” and “low- have resulted in a greater accumulation of more recent
quality” samples (see Smiley I994:175-76), and the fre- dates since sites of this period are more visible (less buried

49
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

or eroded) and have a greater likelihood to contain dat- and that if such a change is evident it represents popula-
able remains because hearths are still preserved. In short, tion replacement. Regarding the first issue, a body of the-
sites exposed on the surface have a greater chance of dis- ory exists that supports the notion that change is mainly
covery and investigation and are more likely to date to the a conservative process (see Wills 1988:36 for summary of
late Archaic or Early Agricultural periods. this opinion with regard to hunter-gatherer adoption of
What about the reduction in dates between 6,000 agriculture). Regarding the second issue, little is known
and 4,000 years ago? Could this be a consequence of of the late Paleoindian occupation, so the degree to which
postdepositional bias? The same sheltered sites that pro- early Archaic subsistence patterns and material culture
duced numerous early Archaic dates yielded few if any vary from earlier patterns and remains is largely conjec-
middle Archaic dates, suggesting that differential pres- tural.
ervation cannot be evoked in this instance. Something In contrast to the apparent situation for the Glen
apparently happened that prompted humans to abandon Canyon region specifically and the northern Colorado
or seldom use shelters that were previously important Plateau in general, a case can be made for Paleoindian
residential bases. Although preservation bias may not be to Archaic continuity on the southern Colorado Plateau
a significant factor in the middle Archaic decline in ra- in northwestern New Mexico (Judge 1982; Stuart and
diocarbon dates, sampling bias could well play a role. In Gauthier 1981). Here C. Irwin-Williams (1979:35)
other words, middle Archaic sites may be located in areas defined the Oshara sequence, five sequential phases of
inadequately investigated as of yet. Archaic occupation spanning the period from about 5500
Discounting preservation bias, the low frequency of B.C. to A.D. 400 (ca. 7450—1550 B.P.). She proposed
middle Archaic dates may be the result of sampling bias that the Jay phase (ca. 5500-4800 B.C. or 7450-6750
related to another visibility problem. The archaeological B.P.) represented the first Archaic occupation of north-
record produced by foragers with a high degree of resi- western New Mexico following the Paleoindian aban-
dential mobility and variable annual rounds might be so donment of the region at about 6000 B.C. (ca. 7950
dispersed as to be largely invisible and thus rarely subject B.P.) (Irwin-Williams 1973:4). D. E. Stuart and R. P.
to archaeological investigation. Logistically organized Gauthier (1981:406) argue that Jay is at least partially
hunter-gatherers will produce more visible archaeologi- contemporaneous with late Paleoindian remains and
cal traces than mobile foragers and consequently their that the Jay materials actually represent a big game hunt-
remains are more likely to contribute to regional chro- ing adaptation. Even if one does not accept Stuart and
nologies (Wills 1988:65). Thus changes in mobility and Gauthier’s (1981:406) argument that the transition to an
subsistence-settlement strategies during the Archaic may Archaic adaptation happened during the ensuing Bajada
be partially responsible for some patterning in the radio- phase (see Wiens 1985, cited in Vierra 1990), it does not
carbon chronology! take a wild imagination to see the stemmed Jay points as
derivative from late Paleoindian stemmed points. Both K.
Archaic Origins Honea (1969) and W.J. Judge (1982) have commented
on the similarity between Jay points and Hell Gap points.
No apparent local antecedents exist for the early If the relationship is developmental (Stuart and Gauthier
Archaic remains of the Glen Canyon region. It seems 1981:29-33), then there could well be a different origin
doubtful that the point types (Elko Corner/Side-notched, for Archaic populations on portions of the northern and
Northern Side-notched, Pinto), sandals (open-twined southern Colorado Plateau.
and plain weave), close-coiled basketry, and generalist A plausible ecological basis for the above scenario
subsistence remains (diverse small seeds, cactus pads, and is apparent in the post-Pleistocene plant communities
small mammal bone) that characterize the earliest cultural that developed across different portions of the Colo-
deposits from sites such as Dust Devil, Cowboy, and Old rado Plateau. The Plains-related grassland community
Man caves were the cultural residue of local late Paleoin- that currently characterizes much of northwestern New
dians turned foragers. Though the region apparently had Mexico (Brown 1982) probably evolved during the early
a low-level late Paleoindian occupation, a break in oc- Holocene. The development of this grassland would have
cupation probably occurred before about 9000 B.P., and helped to maintain bison herds and, by consequence, a
Archaic hunter-gatherers soon resettled the abandoned focal hunting lifestyle, far longer than would have been
rugged canyon landscape. the case in the Canyonlands Section of the Colorado
This assumes, of course, that hunter-gatherers Plateau, where a Great Basin desert scrub community de-
would not make an abrupt change in adaptive strategy veloped. Only later, as bison herds continued to thin and

50
reprinted by permission from Archaic Occupancy of the Glen Canyon Region, by Phil R. Geib

with less opportunity to migrate (perhaps about 8000— 9). This dated sandal is also important since it appeared
7000 B.P.), did the economy of northwest New Mexico closely associated with a painted, unfired clay figurine
native groups shift toward a greater reliance on plants and (Hull and White 1980:fig. 47a) that Polly Schaafsma
smaller game. In contrast, early Holocene environmental (1986:225) and later Alan R. Schroedl (1989:16-17) of-
change had a more immediate negative impact on large fered as indirect evidence for the great antiquity of Barrier
game herds of the Canyonlands Section of the Colorado Canyon style rock art (cf. Manning 1990). Field notes re-
Plateau, so that by about 9000 B.P. a hunting tradition veal that the figurine occurred in a stratum (Fea. 54) that
was no longer viable, except perhaps at higher elevations intersected the stratum with the sandal (Fea. 71); thus the
(Schroedl 1991:11). With low human population densi- figurine is more recent. It is still probably an early Archaic
ties at this early time, Paleoindians simply moved on artifact based on its stratum of origin, just not as early as
rather than alter their lifestyle, leaving open a vast chunk some have argued. Recent AMS dating of a plain weave
of territory for populations already employing a generalist sandal (FS 576) collected from the same stratum as the
subsistence strategy-foragers spreading out of the eastern figurine reveals that the artifact was made during the end
Great Basin. of the early Archaic (6350 +/- 35 B.P., Geib 1995).
These hypothesized divergent origins for Archaic The second early date, 8830 +/- 160 B.P. (TX-
populations of adjacent regions on the Colorado Plateau 1266), comes from the lowest portion of Stratum IV in
could account for the low degree of correspondence of Dust Devil Cave (Ambler, chapter 3). As with the early
point types, chronology, and other aspects of Archaic date from Walters Cave, this one is also on yucca (in this
culture history as reconstructed by researchers working instance leaves lining a storage pit) and thus does not
in Utah (e.g, Ambler 1984b, chapter 3 of this book; Hol- suffer from age overestimation. This sample was not,
mer 1978, 1986; Jennings 1980; Jennings, Schroedl, and however, corrected for isotopic fractionation. As a plant
Holmer 1980; Schroedl 1976b) and in northwest New with a crassulacean acid metabolic (CAM) pathway, and
Mexico (e.g., Cordell 1984; Irwin-Williams ‘973,’979), depending on environmental conditions, yucca will not
Other reasons for the lack of congruence come to mind discriminate against the heavier carbon isotopes and
(Matson 1991:142-45), but this certainly seems an issue therefore can be “enriched” in 14C (Browman 1981). Yet
worthy of further consideration. all early Archaic yucca samples for which 13C measure-
ments are available indicate that age correction is not
Early Archaic warranted (13C values range from -21.9% to -26.2%).
Another early date from Dust Devil Cave is 8730 + 110
The early Archaic period in the Glen Canyon region B.P. (TX-1265) on charcoal from a hearth at the bottom
apparently starts shortly after 9000 B.P., as evidenced by of Stratum IV. This sample could well correspond to a fire
8800 B.P. dates on yucca leaves from both northern and several hundred years younger than its radiocarbon age.
southern portions of the region. The oldest of these dates Thus, conservatively, only the yucca date provides firm
(8875 +/- 125 B.P.; SI-2416) is on a sandal from Walters support for occupation of Dust Devil Cave during the
Cave, immediately adjacent to Cowboy Cave. Unless ninth millennium B.P.
there was unrecognized contamination (highly unlikely) There are eight other dates for the region that fall
or laboratory error in processing, this date accurately within the ninth millennium B.P., but only one of these
represents the time of artifact manufacture. Since other is on material that will not result in age overestimation.
organic remains were found near the sandal, additional This is the date of 8280 +/- 160 B.P. (Beta-31192) on
radiocarbon dates can eventually be obtained to verify open-twined sandal fragments from Rock Bar Alcove on
this early determination. Unfortunately, the manufactur- the Spur, just 14 km northeast of Cowboy Cave (Geib
ing technique for the sandal apparently was not recorded 1994). The other five dates are on charcoal and provide
before its destruction, but my examination of a field pho- equivocal evidence for occupation prior to 8000 B.P.
to of the artifact in situ suggests that it was open-twined. Most of the early Archaic radiocarbon dates fall
Another open-twined sandal found next to the dated san- within the eighth and seventh millenniums B.P., includ-
dals is still housed at UMNH.1 ing numerous dates on yucca leaves or other materials not
Jennings (1980:table 3) designates this sample as subject to age overestimation. Dates of this period come
unprovenienced, but field notes on file at the Museum from many sites, though the most informative of these for
of Man, University of Utah, indicate that the sandal was fleshing out the chronological skeleton with details of ma-
quite specifically provenienced from near the bottom of terial remains and subsistence are Cowboy, Dust Devil,
a stratigraphically controlled test unit in this cave (fig. and Old Man caves (chapter 7 summarizes the subsis-

51
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

tence data from these sites). Sand Dune Cave (Lindsay “plain weave” is more appropriate for the sandals that
et al. 1968) has assumed less importance because of its Ambler designated as coarse warp-faced, since it better
excavation by arbitrary levels and the consequent mixing describes the construction method. Ambler’s term “warp-
of materials from widely different periods. This site is faced” may be applicable to those specimens of the “fine”
of historic note, however, for it was here that archaeolo- category since the weft is nearly undetectable within
gists documented the first conclusive evidence of an early the closely packed yucca leaf warps (see chapter 3). The
Archaic presence within the region. At this point, other construction technique is, however, plain weaving. These
early Archaic sites in the region have only been tested, so terminological quibbles aside, it is unclear from Hewitt’s
they have not added much to our understanding of this descriptions whether both of Ambler’s fine and coarse
period except to fill out the radiocarbon record and reveal warp-faced types occur at Cowboy Cave, lumped together
that early Archaic populations were residing throughout as plain weave sandals, or whether only Ambler’s coarse
the region in all sorts of environmental settings. Several warp-faced variety occurs at this site. My examination of
of these tested sites are dry shelters with stratified cultural the Cowboy Cave specimens at the Museum of Natural
deposits and have the potential to shed considerable light History revealed the latter to be true.
on this early period in Glen Canyon prehistory. Based on the Dust Devil Cave excavations, Ambler
One aspect that seems more certain than ever before (chapter 3) postulates distinct temporal shifts in these
is the temporally diagnostic value of open-twined san- three sandal types, with none being contemporaneous:
dals. A.J. Lindsay et al. (1968:95-97, 120-21) identified fine warp-faced earliest, followed by open-twined, and
open-twined sandals as a key diagnostic trait of the early finally coarse warp-faced. Direct dating of open-twined
Archaic Desha Complex northeast of Navajo Mountain. and plain weave sandals does not support this scenario
Excavations at Cowboy Cave, however, produced this (Geib 1995) Plain weave sandals were initially manu-
sandal type from Units IV and V (Hewitt 1980a:table factured during the end of the early Archaic and slightly
12), dated between about 3600-3330 B.P. and 1900- overlap in time with open-twined sandals. Plain weave
1500 B.P., respectively. Ambler (1984c) suggested that sandals continued to be manufactured through the mid-
these occurrences in later strata at Cowboy Cave were due dle Archaic, extending into the late Archaic, up to 3,000
to disturbance of early deposits by later occupants. Berry years ago.
and Berry gave a similar argument (1986:309-10) to ac- The end of the early Archaic cannot be specified
count for the presence of Gypsum points and split-twig with any great precision except as sometime during the
figurines in Unit V at this cave. Since Ambler’s conten- latter half of the seventh millennium B.P. No clear break
tion, open-twined sandals from five separate sites (Atlatl exists in the radiocarbon record—just a reduction in the
Rock Cave, Bechan Cave, Good Hope Alcove, Rock Bar number of dates from 7,000 to 6,000 years ago. Besides
Alcove, and Old Man Cave) widely scattered in the Glen fewer dates, a principal reason for identifying an end to
Canyon region were directly dated, and all are within the the early Archaic is that cultural activity at several differ-
early Archaic period (see Geib 1995). Ambler is therefore ent caves apparently ceased during the seventh millen-
probably right about the displacement of open-twined nium and for the next several thousand years they were
sandals upward in the deposits of Cowboy Cave into later seldom if ever used. Dust Devil and Cowboy caves pro-
cultural units. At this juncture there is sufficient justifica- vide good examples (Ambler 1984c; Jennings 1980:17-
tion to state that this type of footwear is restricted to the 26). The latest dates just prior to this hiatus at Cowboy
early Archaic and might be expected at any time within Cave are in the late 6300s B.P., while at Dust Devil Cave
the general span of this period; direct dates confirm that they are in the 6700s B.P. Early Archaic occupancy of At-
this sandal type occurs from about 8900 to 6700 B.P. (or latl Rock Cave apparently ended around 7000 B.P. (Geib
9100 to 6500 B.P. based on two standard deviations). et al. 1996)
Open-twined sandals are just one of three sandal Evidence from Old Man Cave (Geib and David-
types produced during the early Archaic; the other two son 1994) suggests that there was relatively heavy early
are the coarse and fine warp-faced first described by J. Archaic cultural deposition at this site during the eighth
Richard Ambler from Dust Devil Cave (Lindsay et al. millennium B.P. This cultural activity waned during the
1968:118—19). Sandals of similar construction were seventh millennium, as evidenced by the thinning of lay-
also recovered from Cowboy Cave, but were designated ers with cultural debris and their interspersion with layers
as plain weave by N. J. Hewitt (1980a:58-61) The sandal of mostly natural deposition (i.e., tiny spalls and sand
she illustrates (fig. 26) resembles Ambler’s coarse warp- loosened from the ceiling, dust, packrat dung). Human
faced type but not his fine warp-faced type. Hewitt’s term use of the site essentially ended shortly after 6100 B.P.

52
reprinted by permission from Archaic Occupancy of the Glen Canyon Region, by Phil R. Geib

and for at least the next several thousand years the depos- had principally accumulated during the latter part of the
its accumulated through natural agents with little addi- middle Archaic (ca. 4800 to 4100 B.P.).
tion of cultural material. The evidence for gradual change At least two other sites in the Glen Canyon region
in site use and not abrupt abandonment probably applies attest to a change in site use that marks the end of the
to other caves in the region as well. In other words, there early Archaic: Rock Bar Alcove (Geib 1994) and Good
was a several hundred year long period of transition be- Hope Alcove (Geib 1989b). Both of these shelters have
tween the end of the early Archaic and start of the middle trashy early Archaic cultural strata buried beneath appar-
Archaic. This era of gradual change is hypothesized to be ently sterile sediment. These strata are exposed in profile
correlated with an increase in residential mobility, more at the front of each alcove because of downslope move-
variable annual rounds, a reduction in population density, ment of talus and sediment from dripline erosion. Good
and an expansion of foraging territories. In such a scenar- Hope Alcove was used later in prehistory, but there was
io, sites that were once key nodes in an annual subsistence an evident long break in occupation marked by a sterile-
round lost their former significance and were rarely used. looking eolian sand layer, similar to that reported at Dust
Devil Cave. At Rock Bar Alcove the only evidence of oc-
Middle Archaic cupation is the early Archaic deposit. Had it not been ex-
posed by erosion, the alcove would have gone unrecorded
The middle Archaic is characterized by a significant as a site.
reduction in radiocarbon dates. The start of this interval The middle Archaic period lasted over 2,000 years
is placed during the latter half of the seventh millennium until about 4200-3800 B.P., at which time there is a
B.P. and lasted over 2,000 years until around 4000 B.P., marked increase in the number of radiocarbon dates (fig.
when there is a marked increase in dates. The beginning 7) and Gypsum points first appeared (this is discussed in
of the middle Archaic is not fixed in time, owing to the greater detail below). With this time span, the middle Ar-
extended transition from the early Archaic as described chaic period includes the apparent 1,000-year gap in ra-
above. Besides fewer dates, a principal reason for identify- diocarbon dates for the Colorado Plateau noted by Berry
ing the onset of the middle Archaic is that sites that were and Berry (1986:fig. 14). As is evident from figures 7 and
once key nodes in annual subsistence rounds lost their 8, the dates from the Glen Canyon region are beginning
former significance and were rarely used. This is well ex- to fill this gap, as are dates from further north along the
emplified by Cowboy, Dust Devil, and Old Man caves. Colorado River (Barnes 1985). It still seems plausible
At Cowboy Cave there apparently was virtually no cul- that population declined to an all-time low relative to
tural or natural deposition between about 6300 and 3600 other periods (Schroedl 1976b:64), but with the partial
B.P. (Schroedl and Coulam 1994;cf. Jennings 1980). At filling of the middle Archaic gap in the radiocarbon re-
Dust Devil Cave an essentially sterile layer of dune sand, cord, there is good reason to doubt that hunter-gatherers
Stratum V, buried the early Archaic Stratum IV (Ambler completely abandoned the region 6,000 years ago as the
1984c and chapter 3). A similar situation occurs at Old Berrys (1986:315) suggested. The small middle Archaic
Man Cave, where a relatively intensive~early Archaic oc- break in the Glen Canyon region radiocarbon record is
cupation started drawing to a close early in the seventh more likely due to sampling problems than to a lack of
millennium, terminating roughly 6,100 years ago (Geib occupancy.
and Davidson 1994). The one difference is that eolian Sites interpreted as having been abandoned during
sand did not accumulate within Old Man Cave after the middle Archaic provide some of the most compelling
6100 B.P.; rather, there was a slow deposition of small evidence for regional abandonment. Nevertheless, there is
roof spalls, dust, and rat dung, with very little addition of reason to believe that a site such as Dust Devil Cave was
cultural material. used at least on occasion during this interval. An analysis
Investigation of a recently vandalized cave at the of lithics from Dust Devil Cave showed that almost as
southern edge of the study area also demonstrates a many projectile points were recovered from the appar-
change in site use marking the end of the early Archaic ently sterile middle Archaic Stratum V as from the early
(Geib et al. 1996) At this site, named Atlatl Rock Cave, Archaic Stratum IV (Geib 1984). Despite the quantity of
a sterile deposit of roof spalls up to 80 cm thick separates projectile points, flake density was reduced (Geib 1984),
a trashy early Archaic stratum dated between 8000 and as was the amount of most other debris (Ambler 1984c).
7000 B.P. from a thick late Basketmaker deposit dated Instead of a hiatus, it is plausible that there was a signifi-
1900 to 1600 B.P. AMS radiocarbon dating of single oak cant change in cave use: after 7000 B.P. the cave was used
leaves from the roof spall layer revealed that the deposit less and less frequently as a base camp and ultimately

53
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

became a seldom used way station for small groups of tinent to continent and region to region.” The Berrys’
highly mobile hunters who added little debris to the eo- (1986:312-13) choice of K. L. Petersen’s (1981) climatic
lian sand accumulating within the cavern. reconstruction for the La Plata Mountains as the best
The apparent middle Archaic population decline indicator of the Colorado Plateau paleoclimate is debat-
and the abandonment, or drastic reduction in use, of able. Furthermore, Petersen’s study is just one of several
previously inhabited shelters (e.g, Cowboy, Dust Devil, paleoclimatic reconstructions for the La Plata Mountains
Old Man, and Atlatl Rock caves and Rock Bar and Good (e.g, Andrews et al. 1975; Maher 1961), each of which
Hope alcoves) probably result from regional climatic presents a different picture of past conditions. P.J. Meh-
change. It is perhaps no coincidence that the middle Ar- ringer’s (1967) effective moisture curve, which Berry and
chaic occurs during the period that Ernst Antevs (1955) Berry also discuss, seems a better approximation of what
characterized as being warm and dry, his middle Ho- appears to have been a warm and dry middle Archaic pe-
locene Altithermal drought. This drought episode and riod for the Glen Canyon region, but his reconstruction
indeed many of Antevs’s conclusions have been contro- is not based on data from the Colorado Plateau and there
versial (e.g., Barnosky, Grimm, and Wright 1987; Davis is a notably large data gap during the interval of interest.
1984; Hall 1985; Martin 1963; Mehringer 1967; Pe- Unfortunately, there is no well-supported paleoenviron-
tersen 1981; Van Devender, Thompson, and Betancourt mental reconstruction specific to the Glen Canyon region
1987). Antevs’s tripart division of western United States as a whole that deals in detail with the early-middle Ho-
climatic history is now recognized as invalid (Thomp- locene transition and the middle Holocene. What can
son et al. 1994:495) because “the periods of maximum be offered at this time are small bits of information that
warmth and moisture were time-transgressive, and the in combination seem to suggest that the climatic pattern
range of climatic conditions was much broader than the for the middle Archaic period was both warmer and drier
cool-wet versus warm-dry opposition seen by Antevs.” As than during the early Archaic.
an alternative to Antevs’s tripart model, Schroedl (1976b) There is general agreement that the middle Holo-
and Berry and Berry (1986) used the Blytt-Sernander cene for the world as a whole (Denton and Karlen 1973)
sequence of global climatic steady states and transitions and for North America (Wendlund 1978) was warmer
for comparison with cultural events on the Colorado than today and in other postglacial times (cf. Peterson
Plateau. It is interesting to note that changes in rates of 1981); on the Colorado Plateau there is also consider-
cultural deposition at Old Man Cave correlate quite well able support for the middle Holocene being a period of
with three episodes of climatic transitions as modeled maximum warmth (e.g, Hall 1985; Lindsay 1980a; Scott
by R. A. Bryson, D. A. Baerreis, and W M. Wendlund 1980). What remains in dispute is whether the climate
(1970): heavy cultural deposition during Atlantic II (ca. was wetter or drier than now. On a large spatial scale of
7740-6910 B.P.), waning cultural deposition during comparison, R. S. Thompson et al. (1994:495) conclude
Atlantic III (ca. 6910- 6050 B.P.), and essentially no cul- that “effective moisture was at a minimum ... during
tural deposition during Atlantic IV (ca. 6050-5060 B.P.). the middle Holocene in the Great Basin and Colorado
Thus the intensity of occupation at Old Man Cave and Plateau.” S. Hall (1985) and G. W Spaulding (1991) sug-
the timing of changes in the intensity of site use certainly gest that effective moisture was greatly reduced during
accord well with several of the Blytt-Sernander episodes. the middle Holocene. On Black Mesa, T N. Karlstrom
A similar pattern may characterize much of the Glen (1988:69) documents a major postglacial drought that
Canyon region, and on a larger geographic scale Berry culminated about 6000-3500 B.P. With regard to the
and Berry (1986:315) find that significant occupation of Glen Canyon region there are several lines of evidence
the Colorado Plateau “continued through Atlantic I, II that support the model of a hot, dry middle Archaic.
and III and terminated at the Atlantic III/IV transition.” Ambler (1984c and chapter 3) postulates that the period
But what were the particulars of the climatic transitions of dune deposition in Dust Devil Cave indicates a period
(i.e., the directions of change—cooler to warmer, wetter of extreme aridity and/or increased wind severity. Al-
to drier, or vice versa) that might have been the principal luvial dissection and eolian activity between about 7000
external factor precipitating the systemic changes leading and 4000 B.P. in Bowns Canyon in the central portion
to the middle Archaic period? of the Glen Canyon region also indicates a warm, dry
As the Berrys (1986:311) observe, “the timing of period (Anderson 1988:98) These findings from Bowns
the [climatic] transitions is thought to be applicable on Canyon seem to parallel those of past and recent allu-
a global scale, whereas the direction of change and the vial stratigraphy studies immediately south of the Glen
nature of any particular quasi-steady state vary from con- Canyon region (e.g, Hack 1942, 1945; Karlstrom 1982,

54
reprinted by permission from Archaic Occupancy of the Glen Canyon Region, by Phil R. Geib

1988; Karlstrom and Karlstrom 1986). At least two of tethering of Archaic populations to these principal river
the sites radiocarbon dated to the middle Archaic period corridors or other stable water sources, then these are
(42GA3I32 and 42KA2771) are deeply buried in eolian the localities where we need to search for middle Archaic
sand dunes, which might provide additional evidence of sites. Further north along the Colorado River, sites such
drought conditions. Finally, there is Kim Withers’s (1989) as Debeque Rockshelter (Reed and Nickens 1980) have
study of late Quaternary macrobotanical remains from middle Archaic cultural deposits. Alan D. Reed and Paul
alcoves of the lower Escalante River Basin. She interprets R. Nickens (1980:60) postulate that this site’s proximity
her findings as reflecting a warming and drying trend at to the Colorado River may have made it a more suitable
the end of the late Pleistocene, culminating in hot xeric residence relative to other areas of the Colorado Plateau
conditions by the middle Holocene (ca. 7000 B.P.). Fol- during a time of deteriorating environmental conditions.
lowing K. L. Cole (1981), Withers believes that a north- Unfortunately, due to the creation of Lake Powell,
ward shift of the summer monsoon and polar jet-stream sites along the Colorado River corridor for most of the
could account for a dry middle Holocene in the Escalante Glen Canyon region can no longer be investigated to see
River Basin. if middle Archaic deposits are present. Moreover, little re-
If the Glen Canyon region experienced a drought search effort was spent on preceramic remains during the
(both hot and dry) during the middle Archaic, then resi- preinundation Glen Canyon Project, so the collections
dent hunter-gatherers might have made several adaptive and field notes from this undertaking may not shed much
responses. The most extreme response would be wholesale light on the issue. A few shelters along the river corridor
population movement over long distances to more favor- that contained deep deposits were excavated but never
able environments of adjacent regions-the Altithermal radiocarbon dated; thus it seemed appropriate to date
refugia model. The Colorado Rockies, which have nu- selected materials from these sites. Portions of plain weave
merous middle Archaic sites, could have served as an Al- sandals from the Hermitage and Benchmark Cave, both
tithermal refuge as J. B. Benedict proposed (e.g, Benedict located in lower Glen Canyon, were recently submit-
1979; Benedict and Olson 1978) The Berrys (1986:317) ted for AMS dating. The results have been incorporated
concur with Benedict’s argument, but conclude that the into table 5 and figures 7 and 8, but a full report on this
eastern Great Basin, with its resource-rich lake margins, study is presented elsewhere (Geib 1995). Suffice it to
could have absorbed many more middle Archaic hunter- say that the dated sandals confirm that these shelters had
gatherers (Berry and Berry 1986:319). previously unsuspected middle Archaic occupations and
With the recent accumulation of over a dozen support the proposition that Archaic populations shifted
radiocarbon dates during the middle Archaic, total emi- some residential bases to river corridors.
gration of hunter-gatherers is not credible. Without com- Ultimately, full understanding of the middle Ar-
pletely discounting long-distance movement of some of chaic period will require new field studies. If new field-
the populace, it is more likely that hunter-gatherers made work is undertaken, then well-watered environments
more localized adjustments in settlement-subsistence with known concentrations of Archaic sites would be an
strategies in response to increasing aridity. One likely ideal place to start, and in this regard Bowns Canyon (see
adjustment could have been relocation of base camps to chapter 10) comes to mind.
secure water sources. D. J. Meltzer (1991:259) relates Besides shifting residential camps to water-rich low-
that “a lack of water, and not food resources or foraging land settings, middle Archaic groups could have moved
efficiency, is the limiting factor in arid settings.” Settle- to the several higher elevation settings (those over 2,438
ment patterns may have shifted as sites situated at a dis- m [8,000 feet]) in and adjacent to the Glen Canyon re-
tance from reliable (i.e., drought-resistant) water sources gion. These include Navajo Mountain in the southern
became less desirable for residential bases. It is notable in part of the region, the Henry Mountains near the central
this regard that two of the Glen Canyon sites dated to the portion, the Abajo Mountains and associated high mesas
middle Archaic are within Bowns Canyon, which has a (e.g. Elk Ridge) to the east, the Aquarius Plateau (Boul-
permanent stream fed from numerous springs. Even dur- der Mountain) to the west, and the La Sal Mountains to
ing a protracted drought, the Navajo Sandstone aquifer of the northeast. The benefit of the high-elevation settings
this canyon probably would have maintained its viability. would have been their greater biotic productivity relative
Even in the worst conditions, the Colorado, San to the lower-elevation benchlands and canyons during a
Juan, Escalante, and Dirty Devil rivers would have pro- protracted drought. The presence of so many high-eleva-
vided resident hunter-gatherers of the Glen Canyon re- tion settings, especially those of great areal extent such
gion with a plentiful water supply. If there was significant as the Aquarius Plateau (ca. 2,600 sq km above 2,750

55
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

m), might have been an important factor in the apparent Berry and Berry (1986:318) hypothesize that a
continual hunter-gatherer occupancy of the Glen Canyon major exodus is responsible for the apparent late Archaic
region during the middle Archaic. population increase and suggest the Mexican highlands as
In addition to changes in the location of residential one possible source region based on similarities between
camps, middle Archaic populations could have increased Gypsum points of the Southwest and the earlier constrict-
the frequency of residential moves, greatly expanded the ing stem points of Mexico. Gypsum points appear on the
territory of seasonal rounds, and decreased the periodicity northern Colorado Plateau sometime after about 4500
of residential reuse. All of these factors could have led to a B.P. (Holmer 1986:105) and are key late Archaic diag-
substantially less visible archaeological record, one greatly nostics. They are among the more common type of point
diminished in cultural remains and more spatially diffuse. found in southeast Utah (e.g., Hauck 1979a, 1979b;
The middle Archaic material record might be far more Tipps 1988) and are the most common temporally sensi-
dispersed than that of the early Archaic and thus less sub- tive dart-sized point found in Glen Canyon. (Only Elko
ject to archaeological discovery and investigation. This points are found more frequently than Gypsum points,
might sound contrary to the notion of becoming tethered but these are poor temporal diagnostics except for Elko
to water sources, which could result in more concentrated fared [Holmer 1978, 1986].) Many examples of Gypsum
accumulations of debris. Nevertheless, if the truly reli- points were found during the NAU surveys, from the
able water sources in the Glen Canyon region during far southern portion of the recreation area at Lees Ferry
the middle Archaic were the linear eases of rivers, there (Geib 1986) to the far northern portion on North Point
would be less chance for point-specific concentrations. (Bungart and Geib 1986) and the Spur (Geib 1994).
Along rivers, hunter-gatherers could have had the option The frequency and distribution of Gypsum points alone
to move camps frequently in response to lowered foraging indicate a rather significant late Archaic occupation of the
return rates, without having to worry about finding water. Glen Canyon region. Nevertheless, it has yet to be dem-
Moreover, despite being tethered to secure water sources, onstrated that a point style equals a people, and there are
expanded foraging territories, shorter stays at residential many examples of point styles spreading rapidly between
bases, and longer lapses between residential reuse still different cultural groups.
would have resulted in a diffuse archaeological record. Split-twig figurines are another important diagnos-
tic of the late Archaic period, occurring over a broad terri-
Late Archaic tory centered along the Colorado River and its tributaries.
Split-twig figurine discoveries since Schroedl’s (1977)
The late Archaic began around 4,000 years ago review have extended their range to the Mojave Desert of
and corresponds to a noticeable increase in radiocarbon California (Davis and Smith 1981), the Black Mountains
dates (fig. 7). The middle-late Archaic transition may of the lower Colorado River (Geib and Keller 1987), and
have happened at a quicker pace than the early-middle east of Lisbon Valley in southeast Utah just shy of the
Archaic transition, though this is just an impression. The Colorado border Wett 1991). So far, no split-twig figu-
increase in radiocarbon dates is perhaps interpretable as rines have been found in Glen Canyon proper (the closest
an increase in population from the middle Archaic period example is from Cottonwood Cave in the Waterhole Flat
and is temporally correlated with an increase in effective locality south of the Maze [Gunnerson 1969:fig 39g] but
moisture during what has been termed the “sub-boreal given the apparent extent of late Archaic occupation in
interval” (Berry and Berry 1986:316-17). In addition to the region, future archaeological excavations will probably
a possible population increase, settlement and subsistence change this.
strategies might have changed during the middle-late The late Archaic is marked by heavy reoccupation
Archaic transition, thereby greatly increasing the archaeo- of Cowboy Cave starting at about 3700 B.P., but cave
logical visibility of late Archaic hunter-gatherers. This sites in the far southern portion of the Glen Canyon re-
is basically the reverse of the scenario proffered for the gion continued to be little used. Several Gypsum points
early-middle Archaic transition, though the specifics of occur in Stratum VI of Dust Devil Cave (Geib and Am-
late Archaic subsistence and settlement may have varied bler 1991), but this layer also contains Basketmaker ma-
from earlier patterns owing to the expanded range of the terials, and Ambler (1984c, chapter 3) interprets Stratum
pinyon (see chapter 8) and other factors. Moreover, as VI as essentially a Basketmaker II deposit. A few Gypsum
discussed earlier, late Archaic sites have a greater chance points were recovered from Sand Dune Cave (Lindsay et
of contributing to the radiocarbon record because of pres- al. 1968:fig. 23w), but the lack of stratigraphically con-
ervation biases with earlier periods. trolled excavation precludes an accurate assessment of this

56
reprinted by permission from Archaic Occupancy of the Glen Canyon Region, by Phil R. Geib

late Archaic occupation beyond the simple statement that table I); but dates on hearth charcoal from open sites
there apparently was one. At Old Man Cave, too, there is throughout the Glen Canyon region indicate a lack of
little evidence of a late Archaic presence, though the strata wholesale abandonment at the end of the late Archaic.
that correspond to this interval were largely disturbed by The Glen Canyon radiocarbon record does not exhibit a
Basketmaker burial pits and looters. Gypsum points are dip between 3000 and 2500 B.P., and even the Colorado
even more rare immediately south of the Glen Canyon Plateau record graphed by the Berrys (1986:fig. 14) lacks
region, with few examples known from the Kayenta re- a gap. The basis for concluding that there was an occupa-
gion. For example, Gypsum points are virtually unknown tional discontinuity at about 3000 B.P. is not, therefore,
from northern Black Mesa (Francis Smiley, personal com- evident in the chronometric data.
munication 1991), and the three excavated late Archaic A major point in Berry and Berry’s (1986:309-10)
(ca. 3000 B.P.) sites of this area produced large, corner- argument for lack of continuity during the late Archaic-
notched, convex base points (Parry and Smiley 1990:55). Formative transition is placing an upper temporal limit
The introduction of agriculture marks the end on the production of Gypsum points and split-twig figu-
of the late Archaic, a process that in Glen Canyon ap- rines. The crucial evidence that has to be refuted by the
parently occurred less than 2,400 years ago. As Berry Berrys comes from Cowboy Cave, where these twin late
and Berry (1986:319) observe, “the agricultural influx Archaic diagnostics were recovered from Unit V dated to
drastically changed the character of Southwestern sub- the Early Agricultural period (ca. 1800—1500 B.P.). The
sistence systems and altered profoundly the trajectory Berrys are probably right that late Archaic artifacts were
of evolutionary development.... Hence, for all intents displaced upward from Unit IV into Unit V at Cowboy
and purposes, the Archaic came to a close.” Direct dat- Cave and that Gypsum points and split-twig figurines
ing of maize, cucurbits, and beans from Glen Canyon were not produced much after about 3000 B.P., but their
northward has yet to produce a reliable date before 2,000 argument cannot account for the basketry sequence at the
years ago, but maize is dated to around 2,200 years ago site, which mirrors the developmental sequence in Utah
immediately south of Glen Canyon (see chapter 4) and from Archaic to Fremont (Hewitt 1980:57). Early For-
to around 3,000 years ago further to the south and east mative basketry from the Escalante River Basin also repre-
(Smiley 1994). sents a continuation and elaboration of Archaic basketry
Schroedl (1976b:fig. 4) and Berry and Berry (1986: technology for Utah and supports the idea of cultural
fig. 14) highlighted a break/dip in the Colorado Plateau continuity during the agricultural transition north of the
radiocarbon record between roughly 3000 and 2500 B.P. Colorado River (see chapter 4). As R. G. Matson (1991)
Despite the apparent break in his plot of radiocarbon describes it, the case south of the Colorado River is sub-
dates from about 3000 to 2500 B.P., Schroedl (1976b:68- stantially different and seems to support the notion of an
73) saw strong evidence for cultural continuity in points, intrusive agricultural population.
basketry, and other material remains from dated contexts
on both sides of this 500-year gap. Thus he defined the Conclusions
Dirty Devil phase as spanning the possible hiatus. Berry
and Berry (1986:309) took issue with his reasoning, char- Recasting Jennings’s statement at the start of this
acterizing it as “a typical case of phase-stacking to achieve chapter in light of the recent findings reviewed here, Glen
the illusion of continuity.” Alternatively, they saw signifi- Canyon emerges as a region of the Southwest with sig-
cant depopulation due to drought as the reason for the nificant evidence of Archaic culture. Indeed, the earliest
drastic reduction in radiocarbon dates between 3000 and documented expression of an Archaic lifeway anywhere
2500 B.P. and concluded that Archaic hunter-gatherers on the Colorado Plateau is found in the Glen Canyon
were subsequently displaced by San Pedro/Basketmaker region. The entire temporal span of the Archaic period
II agriculturalists from some southern source area (Berry seems represented in the region, and the three temporally
and Berry 1986:318-19). Rather than cultural continuity discrete occupations separated by abandonments that Ber-
from the Archaic to Formative periods, as maintained by ry and Berry (1986) identified for the Archaic occupation
Schroedl (1976b:77), Berry and Berry argued for cultural of the Colorado Plateau are not apparent in the local ra-
replacement (see Matson 1991 for detailed discussion of diocarbon record. Though major population movements
this issue). might have taken place, at no time during the Archaic
Some stratified shelters in the region still reveal a period does the Glen Canyon region appear to have been
break in occupation between about 3000 and 2000 B.P. completely void of human inhabitants. There are signifi-
(e.g, Horn 1990:85; Janetski, Crosland, and Wilde 1991: cantly fewer dates between 6000 and 4000 B.P. than ei-

57
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

ther previously or subsequently, plus small gaps, but there they derive from sheltered sites (caves and rockshelters),
seems little support for a complete abandonment during perhaps based on the implicit assumption that shelters
this interval as argued by Berry and Berry (1986:315). would always be used for occupation if people were pres-
Rather, there may have been a reduction in population ent. Occupational breaks at sheltered sites are commonly
density owing to an expansion of foraging territories cou- assumed to have implications far beyond their point-spe-
pled with some migration. The apparent abandonment cific empirical basis, yet their occupational records can
of previously used sites, which has provided some of the never vouch for that of a region, no matter how provoca-
most compelling evidence for an occupation hiatus, may tive and unequivocal they might be. As Wills (1988:155)
merely reflect a change in settlement pattern—residential put it, “we need to consider individual sites and artifacts
bases relocated close to rivers and well-watered canyons as participants in and products of socioeconomic systems,
of the Glen Canyon lowlands, and perhaps to the several not models for such systems.”
high-elevation settings near the canyon lowlands. In ad- At this point, I wonder whether the tripart temporal
dition, middle Archaic populations could have increased subdivision of the Archaic period is not too coarse for
the frequency of residential moves, expanded the territo- future research in the Glen Canyon region. These broad
ries of their seasonal rounds, and decreased the periodic- temporal periods and their implication of within-period
ity of residential reuse. These factors would have led to a stability potentially obscure any trends in adaptation in
substantially diminished archaeological record. In essence, response to environmental changes, such as middle Ho-
middle Archaic remains might be far more dispersed than locene desiccation, or other selective pressures. Lumping
those of other Archaic intervals and thus less subject to together thousands of years of prehistory ensures that
archaeological discovery and investigation. periods of transition are analytically lost. As a result,
It is also worth recalling Schroedl’s (1976b:63) changes between periods seem abrupt and can engender
point about the possibility that archaeologists have missed false notions of human migrations and population re-
the evidence corresponding to this interval (which he calls placement. The seven-part framework presented in table
the Castle Valley phase) by incorporating middle Archaic 6 and shown in figure 8a is tentatively advanced as a po-
remains with those of earlier or later occupations. Based tentially useful partitioning of the roughly 6,500 years of
on the Sudden Shelter sequence, he reasoned that greatly hunter-gatherer occupation of the Glen Canyon region to
reduced depositional rates resulted in thin middle Archaic describe change. These seven temporal subdivisions of the
deposits and that “unless very fine-grained distinctions Archaic period should not be viewed as cultural phases
with tight controls are utilized during excavation of Ar- in the traditional sense, though they may correspond to
chaic sites, the occupations associated with this phase intervals wherein cultural patterns were relatively similar
[Castle Valley or the middle Archaic] might be complete- yet sufficiently different from earlier and later patterns.
ly missed” (Schroedl 1976b:64). By partitioning the Archaic period in this way, it should
The other occupational hiatus recognized by Berry be possible to isolate and more clearly define the temporal
and Berry corresponds to the 500-year date gap identified patterning and rates of change for those characteristics
by Schroedl (1976b) between 3000 and 2500 B.P., just that changed: material remains, subsistence practices, mo-
before the introduction of agriculture on the northern bility strategies.
Colorado Plateau. This was also the hiatus identified It is important to note that the seven partitions of
by D. B. Madsen and M. S. Berry (1975) as evidence the Archaic period also correspond to some degree with
for lack of continuity between Archaic and Fremont the extent of current knowledge. For example, on a scale
populations in Utah. No hiatus is apparent in the Glen from 0 to 10, where 10 denotes detailed knowledge, the
Canyon radiocarbon record; the region was clearly not empirical underpinning for each of the seven subdivisions
void of human occupants. Again, certain key sites such as might be ranked as follows: 3 for the early and late Archa-
Cowboy Cave and the Down Wash Site were apparently ic, 1 for the two transitions and the initial Archaic, 0.5
abandoned, but this does not necessarily mean regional for the terminal Archaic, and 0.1 for the middle Archaic.
abandonment. Once we have comparable amounts of information for
It is important to acknowledge the spatial limita- the entire Archaic sequence, including a greater under-
tions of point-specific data sets when it comes to infer- standing of environmental conditions, more useful tem-
ences about regional patterns of settlement. Few would poral partitions might become obvious. If for no other
infer the occupational history of a locality or even region reason, the seven subdivisions usefully emphasize which
on the basis of one or even several open sites. Yet site-spe- portions of the Archaic sequence should receive concerted
cific occupational records are commonly used for this if investigation.

58
reprinted by permission from Archaic Occupancy of the Glen Canyon Region, by Phil R. Geib

In table 6 the breaks between the seven temporal transitions that took place during the long Archaic se-
subdivisions are also listed in calibrated years B.C. This quence and thereby disentangle the various historical and
reveals that some of these intervals are relatively longer evolutionary processes that might be involved in culture
than indicated by the radiocarbon dates, while a few are change. Even for those portions of the Archaic period
slightly shorter. For example, the 1200 year middle Ar- that are more completely understood, the information is
chaic period actually spanned over 1,400 years. Overall, derived from a paltry site sample with primary reliance
the Archaic period is lengthened by about 1,030 years on two caves (Cowboy and Dust Devil) in largely similar
with date calibration. environmental settings. The sample of excavated high-in-
Having reviewed the current chronometric evidence formation (Thomas 1985:27) sheltered sites needs to be
for the Glen Canyon region, I find that the data are more expanded to cover a diversity of environmental settings,
in accord with the long-term continuity model of Archaic with particular emphasis placed on well-watered canyon
occupation. The radiocarbon record is sufficient to cast lowlands and on high-elevation settings (ca. above 1,615
doubt upon interpreting the Archaic period as a sequence m). Open sites also need to be investigated, but it seems
of population abandonments and intrusions on a panre- evident that the sample of chronometrically datable early
gional scale. Despite arguing for occupational continuity, and middle Archaic open sites available for study is limit-
I am unwilling to discount population immigration as ed. Open sites are potentially assignable to these early pe-
a reason for some apparent changes during the Archaic. riods based on point types; but even if such assignments
Migration still has something to offer archaeologists in are correct, the sites are often so deflated and otherwise
understanding prehistory (see Anthony 1990), but not to affected by postdepositional processes that our ability to
the extent that Berry and Berry (1986:321) believe when use them for interpretive purposes is limited.
they suggest that major population replacement “is the In conclusion, the Glen Canyon region is one of
key to understanding Archaic prehistory in the Desert the highly productive areas in the Southwest for studying
West.” Current knowledge of the Archaic period is still Archaic hunter-gatherer adaptations and economic transi-
so limited and spotty that we cannot yet critically evalu- tions, including the adoption of agriculture. The region
ate the issue of migrations during this early time interval. is characterized by exceptional preservation of subsistence
Furthermore, standard archaeological approaches to remains and perishable technology within numerous
identifying prehistoric migrations (e.g, Rouse 1986) are stratified dry shelters. Paleoenvironmental data abound
severely limited by an absence of supporting theory (An- from a variety of sources (alluvial stratigraphy, packrat
thony 1990). middens, pollen, macrobotanical and faunal remains,
I see no necessary linkage between long-term oc- etc.) and should eventually enable detailed climatic and
cupational continuity and gradualism (Berry 1981; Berry biogeographic reconstructions for the Holocene. Our
and Berry 1986:255), but find little evidence for sudden understanding of this period is not limited by a lack of
change during the Archaic. Even by examining change potential data sources, though the best of these—dry
during seven temporal subdivisions instead of three, it is shelters—are in serious danger of being lost to illicit
difficult to make a case for anything happening rapidly digging. To gain the most benefit from the still-rich ar-
because the smallest time interval is of 500 years’ duration chaeological database, a longterm, region-wide research
or about twenty generations. Berry and Berry (1986:320) program is needed, designed to document not just the
apparently also believe that Archaic period culture change common lifeway patterns that form the basis of culture-
was a slow process. history but also the variability that informs us about the
But the Archaic hunter-gatherers saw only minor organization of hunter-gatherer societies and how they
shifts in resource availability and, in response, made change.
minor adjustments in exploitative range. In the process,
they sometimes encountered new classes of resources that Notes
required modifications in extractive technology or a reori-
entation of relative resource dependency. None of these I. Walters Cave was tested during the time that Cowboy
constituted major evolutionary developments. Cave was excavated and the findings are reported along
Future research on the Archaic period in the Glen with those of Cowboy Cave Wennings 1980). Hewitt
Canyon region should attempt to muster evidence for (1980a:table 14) does not list any open-twined sandals
those portions of the Archaic sequence that are still recovered from Walters Cave, yet a field photograph
poorly documented. Only by such an effort can we clearly shows two open-twined sandals in situ in the
adequately describe the economic, social, and cultural lowest cultural deposit at the cave. One of these was

59
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

specifically identified as a sandal in the field notes and

field specimen log and this was the artifact submitted
for radiocarbon dating (FS370) The other artifact was
identified as basketry in the field notes and specimen
log, yet no basketry is listed as coming from Walters
Cave (Hewitt 1980a:table 14). This discrepancy resulted
because the field specimen number for this other woven
artifact was written down by the analyst as 1370.2 instead
of 370.2 (Nancy Hewitt’s sandal analysis notes on file at
UMNH). In the field specimen log, FS1370 is listed as a
metate fragment from Cowboy Cave, not Walters Cave.
Hewitt describes the 1370.2 artifact as a poorly preserved
fragment of an open-twined sandal, which is exactly what
the field photograph shows. There are no other artifacts
in the collections with the FS370 designation, just the
sandal fragment that Hewitt describes as 1370. Resolv-
ing this discrepancy also removes the one open-twined
sandal listed as coming from Unit V of Cowboy Cave.
It is abundantly clear that use of this type of sandal had
discontinued thousands of years prior to the Unit V oc-
cupancy. It is now evident that a simple clerical error
added the sandal to Unit V of Cowboy Cave instead of its
proper provenience as Unit II of Walters Cave.

Phil R. Geib, “Archaic Occupancy of the Glen Canyon

Region,” Glen Canyon Revisited (Utah: University of Utah
Press, 1996).

Reprinted by permission.

60
reprinted by permission from The Curve-Tailed Canine, by Jim Blazik

The Curve-Tailed Canine

How Much Is That Doggie In The Picto?
Text and photos by Jim Blazik

There are relatively view of the dog in close as-

few examples of the canine sociation with a single ma-
figure in the Barrier Canyon jor anthro-pomorph. More
Style, but of the dozen or so often than not, the dog will
that exist, several questions diagnosticly have an up-
naturally arise, and these curved tail, and will be of
questions are not easily naturalistic size relative to
answered. Though a wide the human form it attends,
variety of explanations and though one other variation
interpretations may be ap- (that relates primarily to
plied, as with most emblem- size and degree of articula-
atic elements encountered tion) can be found.
in the rock art of peoples so The canine accounts
long past that ethnographic for less than a few percent
evidence is completely un- of the identifiable zoomor-
available, we have only the Figure 1 phic imagery in the Archaic
the art to guide us. This art of the Barrier Canyon
article will present not only a representative sampling of Style. Among quadrupeds, big horn sheep are easily the
these depictions, but will investigate and discuss several of most commonly seen, and cervids of one kind or another
the varying aspects of the canine figure. also greatly outnumber canines within the imagery. Even
No archaeological evidence pres- the strange, unidentifiable, mythic-
ently exists, neither bones nor burials, type animals that are sometimes por-
nor midden nor coprolytic remains, trayed are more numerous in number,
that provides us with data concerning but none of these appear to fill quite
what breed or breeds of dogs people of the same iconographic niche as does
the upper Colorado Plateau may have the dog.
had during the Archaic period. Consid- The Great Gallery, located in
ering the corresponding lack of human the Horseshoe Canyon Unit of Can-
remains, it might be inferred that open yonlands National Park, is not only
air interment was the preferred practice the type site of the Barrier Canyon
concerning the honored dead, both hu- Anthropomorphic Style, but also pos-
man and animal. But the visual record sesses the greatest number of canine
that remains clearly shows the presence motifs to be found at a single site any-
of canines, and furthermore, that it was where. Though these dog-type figures
the dog, not the coyote or the wolf, vary somewhat, they fall into, and thus
that was being depicted. Though ab- tend to define, two primary categories
straction of form (artistic license, so to of iconographic use of the canine gen-
speak) was occasionally employed, and erally. These two categories indicate a
several of the still remaining figures are consistency sufficiently notable, across
difficult to discern, the usual composi- the total range of the Style, that every
tion is as seen in Figure 1 —the side Figure 2 possibility exists that the use of the dog

61
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

as a symbol had become a cultural con- larger dogs previously seen. While this
vention, and was used to convey at least closely parallels the two primary an-
two specific meanings, though as usual, thropomorphic types (the large, static,
we are left to speculate what those mean- ‘mummy-like’ anthros -vs- the generally
ings may have been for those who used smaller, actively posed ‘Citizen Figures’),
them. At any rate, the massive size and this way of representing the canine sug-
heroic scale of the Great Gallery itself, its gests a more naturalistic interpretation,
considerable antiquity, and its placement although this is not absolutely conclu-
centrally within the heart of the areal sive.
range of the BC style, lends weight to a Both Figures 3 and 4 are isolated
liklihood that this place was an impor- segments from the Great Gallery, but
tant locus of ceremonial life in Archaic each is best considered as seperate
times. A further assumption, based on sub-panels at the site. Sufficient differ-
the similar and repeated use of this motif ences are found between them visually
at other sites, would be that the dog held (pigmentation, etc.), and the spatial dis-
a special significance in the several reali- tance between the two would indicate
ties of Archaic artist-priests. not only different authorship, but that
Although Figure 2 illustrates the Figure 3 each painter attached a different ‘mean-
primary style of representation —the ing’ to their use, or choice of inclusion
classic side view dog with an up-curve tail, of approxi- in the compositions.
mately naturalistic size— it is in this particular instance While the canine figure shown above lacks the up-
somewhat uncharacteristic in that generally the dog will curved tail—or for that matter, any tail at all—, the figure
be oriented toward the anthropomorph it attends rather below does not. In both instances, however, there is an
than away from it. Regardless, it is notable that both upward movement or direction, a hovering in mid-air, or
figures in Figure 2 are of the same authorship, and hence rising quality common to many figures (both zoomorphic
form a formalized composition. There may be additional and anthorpomorphic) seen within the canon of the BC-
purpose in this composition since the dog is associated Style, and both suggests and supports the ‘going above’
with largest figure at the Great Gallery, and points the tendency often found in the iconography of the Style.
way down canyon, away from all else. Furthermore, close Notably, the canine pictured alongside is quite uncom-
observation reveals that both the dog and the abstracted mon—virtually unique—in that it is not in direct as-
human form have been equally ‘darted’ —presumably sociation with an anthropomorphic figure, and is instead
(at least by ethnographic standards elsewhere) a form of seemingly more closely associated with the triangularly ar-
ritual interaction between celebrants (or passers by) and ranged group of bighorn sheep. It is tempting to conclude
the rock art itself, and which that some type of hunting
denotes a heightened im- activity is being portrayed,
portance attendant in (and especially considering the
gained from in the form of articulated human forms
‘power’) from figures thus that appear to be holding
‘communicated’ with. spears, but whether or not
The Other Kind this is actually the case, what
is important is that another
Of Canine... of the aspects of the canine
The second category is defined, and it relates
of canine depiction is typi- primarily to the naturalistic,
fied by the smaller (i.e., not as opposed to the spiritual,
proportionately sized rela- world.
tive to the anthropomorph In both Figures 3 and
it ‘attends’) dog-like figure, 4, relative size, degree of
again seen in profile view, articulation, and specific
and which tends to be more placement (above or below
articulated than the static Figure 4 associated figures) within a

62
reprinted by permission from The Curve-Tailed Canine, by Jim Blazik

far as ethnography of more recent people has indicated.

In the relatively stylized canine depiction of Fig-
ure 6, once again the dog faces away from the primary
anthromorph holding a snake, and faces up canyon. Be-
tween the obvious canine and the human form, a smaller,
secondary quadruped also suggests a dog, but this is not
conclusive since the degree of stylization is extreme.
Though perhaps not viewable in the illustration
above, individual ‘hairs’ had been painted on the up-
curved tail. Details such as these are seldom included
without some iconographic purpose, either as a defining
Figure 5 accentuation of an attribute or for the purpose of un-
derscoring some thematic or conceptual aspect inherent
composition are important indicators, and may provide within a panel. The vertical ‘stripe’ (actually, an unpaint-
clues to our overall understanding of the function of each ed ‘negative space’) that had been included in the chest
separate figure as it relates to each other. But further ex-
amples of the ‘doggie in the picto’ must be investigated
before any symbolic function can be assigned, or before
we can discern ‘how much it may be worth...’
Slightly separated from the main portion of the
Great Gallery, the grouping in Figure 5 diverges some-
what from the norm. Rather than being associated with a
single anthropomorph, the dog here can be seen as being
associated with a triplet of figures. Since the highest of
the anthropomorphs in a panel is generally the primary
figure in a grouping, it is odd that the dog would have
been associated with a subordinate (lower composition-
ally) figure, and may in this instance represent merely a Figure 6
secondary theme within the panel, and is simply another
of several attributes of a larger idea. Also, as had been area of the dog is completely enigmatic, but presumably
done with many of the other figures at the Great Gallery, this motif had meaning as well, for it is revisited in other
each of major elements in this compostion had been in- figures in the panel as well.
cised (or ‘darted’) into at some time following the execu- Figure 7 shows what little
tion of the painting. Considering remains of a panel located near
the precise placement of the peck- Figure 6. Though badly exfoliated,
ing, it may well have been that some and thus difficult to discern, we see
special significance was given to the again the ‘classic’ anthropomorph/
head (especially in the area of the canine composition as has been
eyes) and feet of the dog, as well as previously discussed. Though the
in the human figues. The near oblit- quadruped seen here alongside the
eration of these areas poses several vague human form could conceiv-
problems: did early people ‘remove’ ably be interpreted as something
these areas in order to somehow al- other than a canine, comparisons
ter, perhaps to make greater or con- to like panels elsewhere suggest
versely decrease the power inherent this is not the case. Compare, for
in the figures, the ‘magic’? Or did example, the pairing seen here with
they save the bits they removed as the composition that follows.
momentos, as reminders, or as holy Visually similar to several of
relics to be shared with others, and the figures seen at the Great Gallery,
to be revered away from the site? the ‘big shouldered’ solo anthropo-
Each of these is a possibility, in so Figure 7 morph (“The Moqui Queen”) in

63
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

Figure 8 epitomizes the anthro/ca- elements were incised to the right

nine theme encountered within side, but the dog stands alone to
the BC Style. Once again, the ca- the left.
nine element is open to interpreta- The first time I saw the pan-
tion (it has even been described as el in Figure 10, it was in full light,
a ‘legless duck’ by one researcher), and difficult to see. My initial
and though the legs are now all assessment was that it was a fairly
but missing, the ‘head’ is some- typical Fremont era figure, though
what bird-like, and the tail is not I did not invest a great amount
curved in the usual way, compari- of time or thought beyond that.
son with compositions elsewhere Several years later, upon my re-
tend to render the ill-defined turn to the site, the figures were in
figure dog-like. No other elements shade, and I was surprised to find
exist at this site, and it is unlikely the canine figure in attendance to
that any others had been included, the horned anthromorph. While
despite the exfoliation that clearly not completely BCS in appear-
has occurred here. Meaning - as- Figure 8 ance, I have since come to believe
suming there was an iconographic (lacking evidence to the contrary)
value attached to the composition that this composition may have
- is conventionalized, whatever it may have been... been done during an Archaic/late prehistoric transitional
The petroglyphic example in Figure 9 is important phase, and since the classic (as seen on preceeding pages)
in that there is a linking between major anthropomorph canine/anthromorph composition is virtually unseen
and dog by way of the arc-like segments of dots that ‘con- within the rock art of later eras, it may potentially rep-
nects’ the two. The arc motif is often encountered in BCS resent an idiosynchratic BCS panel, an example of a late
panels, and the ‘halo-like’ arrangement as seen here is transitional phase, or the borrowing of an important
almost commonplace in the comparitively rare petroglyph iconographic theme by a painter of a later time.
panels of the style. The dog is given a heightened status
within the ‘statement’ of the composition both by virtue
of its being connected to the anthropomorph as well as its
being found beneath its own arc. Significantly, numerous

Figure 10

A Later Kind Of Canine...

While recently scanning several images of a BCS
panel in the western San Rafael region of central Utah, I
was surprized to find, in association with the older BCS
composition at the site I was primarily concerned with,
the figures illustrated here. Though of Fremont origin,
I was surprised to find, indistinctly, another example of
Figure 9
the naturalisticly sized (relative to the anthropomorph)

64
reprinted by permission from The Curve-Tailed Canine, by Jim Blazik

canine figure not unlike those discussed on the preceed-

ing pages. I am not aware of any other example of this
motif in the immediate region, so the possibility is raised
that whoever had created this composition had perhaps
traveled a considerable distance through extremely dif-
ficult territory, and had gained elsewhere the seeds of an

Figure 11
iconographic idea which were brought to fruition in this
place. The borrowing, re-use and re-adaption of ideas is as Figure 12
old as humanity itself.
Alongside is the full context of the rock art at the diately a parallel is encountered, and several possibilities
site. (Note the tiny [19cm in height] BCS composition arise.
in the right hand corner of the illustration - the so-called Though there is scant evidence within the litera-
“Ascending Sheep” panel.) ture, the elongation of form has been cited by adherents
Each of the panel details in Figures 13, 14 and 15 of the Lewis-Williams psychoanalytical model as being
represent additional examples of the ‘doggie in the picto’, indicative of the entoptic imagery suggestive of shamanic
and each is located a considerable distance from the other. trance. Whether or not torso elongation can ‘prove’ these
The first two are in many ways similar to those already panels were painted as later, perhaps conventionalized,
seen — both are fairly typical compositionally — but the descriptions of the visionary material produced by the
third is something of a departure from the usual, and as altered state of consciousness of a religious specialist, the
such gives rise to considerations of other possibilities in final result is an iconography that promotes the idea of
the iconographic use of the dog. non-ordinariness or other-worldliness. In the instance il-
Though the upward tending ‘movement’ of the lustrated above, there is additionally the suggestion that
canine figure has been previously this ‘dog’ is not a dog at all, but a
considered, this rising articulation transformation into non-ordinary,
in conjunction with an elongation non-naturalistic form. This has
of the body is, at first glance, not considerable basis in the litera-
only rather unusual, but is very ture, and has been often cited as
odd: none of the others so far seen one of the subjectively described
in this article have been quite like somatic experiences of trance,
it. And, that is a primary problem purposefully entered into for
with only taking a first glance and specific reasons by persons knowl-
going no further, not allaying the edgeable in specialized techniques
visual information gained from a — and is the ecstatic trance of the
single place with a wider body of shaman.
comparisons from other sources. One of the inevitable results
Take, for example, what should be of a close study of the Barrier
an easy comparison: a consider- Canyon style is that a great deal
ation of the conventionalized use of the imagery is not meant to
of body elongation seen among represent actual people, animals
BCS anthropomorphs. Imme- Figure 13 or things. True enough, these

65
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

various figures were painted by reality is promoted. In any event,

individuals, and may even have the arms and legs, replete with
been meant to represent the ‘hands’ and ‘feet,’ are not particu-
painter him- or herself, not as larly dog-like, and the appearance
portraits, but as abstractions in is that of a therioanthropomor-
the purest psychological sense. As phic composite of dog/man, and
such, figures become symbols for the attitude, as well as the more
concepts more than they represent human-like configuration of the
the things encountered in nature, extremities, with elbows and
and each element, each morpheme fingers and feet portrayed rather
and each concept in a panel forms than paws and fore- or hind legs,
— or reveals — one or more cohe- so the theme of human transfor-
sive themes. So is the dog we have mation into animal form may be
so far seen actually a dog, or does it supportable. One result is, from
represent more? the point of view of pure specula-
Figure 16 may be the most tion, that this canine figure may
unusual of all BCS canines, and symbolize the shamanic transcen-
may as such provide a means by Figure 14 dence of ordinary reality.
which other sites might be under- The canine above lacks the
stood. The ‘prayerful’ or ‘supplicating’ stance of this ca- up-curved tail; a tail may not even have been included in
nine suggests several things: first, the use of animal figures the original painting sequence. The white outlining that
as messengers or as vehicles of communication between can today be seen is chalk, and this was applied earlier
the natural and the supernatural worlds, and second, the this century in order to render the indistinct figure more
representation of the belief in the celebrant’s ability, in photographically recordable, a practice now recognized
trance, to transform into animal form, both of which are as unnecessary —what with modern films and specialized
common themes in the BC style. techniques—, obfuscating, injurious to the art, and out-
The upright stance as seen in the preceding illustra- right illegal. Apart from this, the figure is unusually larger
tion has been interpreted by some as being suggestive of (again, relative to the accompanying anthropomorph)
dance, a ritual activity in and of itself. One researcher has than the other more or less naturalistically sized dogs that
made the claim that the out- have preceded, and as such it
stretched arms reach out to the hints at the proposition that this
point at which the sun clears canine motif (as well those that
the canyon wall on the sum- have preceded in this article)
mer solstice, and so perhaps a was meant to represent a specific
discernibly seasonal ceremonial thematic concept as opposed
may conceivably have been to being mere portrayals of do-
represented. Within the context mestic ‘friends’ that aided and
of what can be seen in the rock assisted people of the Archaic on
art, however, the enigmatic the upper Colorado Plateau.
stump-like ‘false leg’ gives the We cannot know the
figure an almost animated qual- canine’s precise role — eth-
ity, an upward tending move- nography has its limits — but
ment, perhaps indicating the parallels can safely be made
often described psychological with what is known from other
state experienced in soul flight regions. Their functionality in
(though this is more commonly hunting is well established, as
seen symbolized by birds or well as their usefulness as pack
man/bird composites), and animals for nomadic peoples.
since one neither expects a dog Likewise, doubtlessly, the dog
to dance nor fly, the quality had trade value among individu-
or suggestion of non-ordinary Figure 15 als, and also, in times of duress,

66
reprinted by permission from The Curve-Tailed Canine, by Jim Blazik

Figure 16
was a valuable and necessary food source. They probably
also offered companionship and warmth on a cold night,
but these are practical concerns, and do little to address
the possible ideological functions in ceremonial art. The
(1930) Claflin-Emerson expedition recovered an unfired
clay figurine which was interpreted as being canine in
form from Red Snake Cave (in what is today Glen Can-
yon National Recreation Area), and several of the rare
split twig figurines that have been found also seem to re-
semble canines, so analogous support may conceivably ex-
ist which indicates the other than naturalistic importance
of the canine apart from portrayals in rock art. So conse-
quently, whether used simply as a metaphor for fidelity
or more complexly in visual symbolism as guide to the
upper or lower realms of supernaturalistic existence in the
tripartite universe of the shaman, the canine was clearly
held in high ceremonial regard.

This article has been adapted for print from the original.
It first appeared in the August/September 1999 issue
of 42Gr532: A Rock Art E-’Zine (http://www.42Gr532.
com). © 1999 Jim Blazik.

Reprinted by permission.

67
Suggested Readings

Suggested Readings
Anderson, Duane C.
1983 “Models of Fremont Culture History: An Evaluation.” Journal of Intermountain Archaeology 2(1):1-27. Rock
Springs, Wyoming.

Anton, Ferdinand
1987 Ancient Peruvian Textiles. Thames and Hudson Ltd. London.

Bunzel, Ruth L.
1932 “Zuni Kachinas: An Analytical Study.” Forty-Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1929-1930, pp.
837-1086. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Cole, Sally J.
1984 Analysis of a San Juan (Basketmaker) Style Painted Mask in Grand Gulch, Utah. Southwestern Lore 50(1):1-6.

1985 “Additional Information on Basketmaker Mask or Face Representations in Rock Art of Southeast Utah.” South-
western Lore 51(1):14-18.

1989 “Iconography and Symbolism in Basketmaker Rock Art.” Colorado Archaeological Society Memoir 3. Denver
Museum of Natural History Press.

1990 Legacy on Stone: Rock Art Of the Colorado Plateau and the Four Corners Region. Johnson Books, Boulder.

1993 “Basketmaker Rock Art at the Green Mask Site, Southeastern Utah.” Anasazi Basketmaker: Papers from the Weth-
erill- Grand Gulch Symposium, edited by Victoria M. Atkins, pp. 193-220. Cultural Resource Series No. 24.
Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake City.

D’Azevedo, Warren L.
1986 Washoe. In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume II, Great Basin, edited by Warren L. D’Azevedo, pp.
466-498. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Eliade, Mircea
1964 Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstacy. Bollingen series LXXVI. Princeton University Press.

Ellis, Florence Hawley and Laurens Hammack

1968 “The Inner Sanctum of Feather Cave, a Mogollon Sun and Earth Shrine Linking Mexico and the Southwest.”
American Antiquity 33:25-44.

Ezell, Paul H.
1961 “The Hispanic Acculturation of the Gila River Pimas.” Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association 90,
Vol 63(5), part II. pp. 1-171. Menasha.

69
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

Furst, Peter T.
1977 “The Roots and Continuities of Shamanism.” Stones, Bones, and Skin: Ritual and Shamanic Art, edited by Anne
Trueblood Brodsky, Rose Danesewich, and Nick Johnson, pp. 1-28. An Artscanada Book, Toronto.
1986 “Shamanism, the Ecstatic Experience, and Lower Pecos Art: Reflections on Some Transcultural Phenomena.”
Ancient Texans: Rock Art and Lifeways Along the Lower Pecos by Harry J. Shafer, pp. 210-225. Texas Monthly
Press, Austin.

Gettelman, Nancy Moore

1989 The Himalayan Journey of Buddhism. Procrustes Press, Elm Grove, Wisconsin.

Grant, Campbell
1978 Canyon de Chelly: Its People and Rock Art. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Guernsey, Samuel J. and Alfred Vincent Kidder

1921 “Basket-maker Caves of Northeastern Arizona.” Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Eth-
nology 8(2). Harvard University, Cambridge.

Halifax, Joan
1982 Shaman, the Wounded Healer. Crossroad, New York.

Hedges, Ken
1985 “Rock Art Portrayals of Shamanic Transformation and Magic Flight.” Rock Art Papers 2: 83-94. Museum of
Man, San Diego.

Hitchcock, John T.
1977 “A Nepali Shaman’s Performance as Theater.” Stone, Bones and Skin: Ritual and Shamanic Art, edited by Anne
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Holmer, Richard N.
1986 “Common Projectile Points of the Intermountain West.” Anthropology of the Desert West: Essays in Memory of
Jesse D. Jennings, edited by Carol J. Condie and Don D. Fowler, pp. 89- 115. University of Utah Press, Salt
Lake City.

Hurst, Winston B. and Christy G. Turner II

1993 “Rediscovering the “Great Discovery”: Wetherill’s First Cave 7 and Its Record of Basketmaker Violence.” Ana-
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192. Cultural Resource Series No. 24, Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake City.

Janetski, Joel C.
1993 “The Archaic to Formative Transition North of the Anasazi: A Basketmaker Perspective.” Anasazi Basketmaker:
Papers from the 1990 Wetherill-Grand Gulch Symposium, edited by Victoria Atkins. Cultural Resource Series No.
24, Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake City.

Kidder, Alfred V. and Samuel J. Guernsey

1919 Archaeological Explorations in Northeastern Arizona. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 65. U.S. Govern-
ment Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

Kirkland, Forrest and W W. Newcomb, Jr.

1967 The Rock Art of Texas Indians. University of Texas Press, Austin.

La Barre, Weston
1964 The Peyote Cult. Shoestring Press, Inc., Hamden, Cn.

70
Suggested Readings

Lewis-Williams, J. D.
1982 “The Economic and Social Context of Southern San Rock Art.” Current Anthropology 23(4): 429-449.

1988 The World of Man and the World of Spirit: An Interpretation of the Linton Rock Paintings. Margaret Shaw Lecture
2, South African Museum, the Rustica Press, Capetown.

Lewis-Williams, J. D. and T. Dowson

1988 “The Signs of All Times: Entoptic Phenomena in Upper Paleolithic Art.” Current Anthropology 29:201-45.

Lipe, William D.
1993 “The Basketmaker II Period in the Four Corners Area.” Anasazi Basketmaker. Papers from the 1990 Wetherill-
Grand Gulch Symposium, edited by Victoria M. Atkins, pp. 1-10. Cultural Resource Series No. 24, Bureau of
Land Management, Salt Lake City.

Marwitt, John P.
1986 “Fremont Cultures.” Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basin, edited by Warren L.
D’Azevedo, 161-172. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Matson, R. G.
1991 The Origins of Southwestern Agriculture. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Reed, Alan D.
1990 “Evidence of Arrow Points from Basketmaker II Sites in Southwestern Colorado.” Utah Archaeology 1990
3:139-141.

Schaafsma, Polly, and M. Jane Young

1983 “Early Masks and Faces in Southwest Rock Art.” Collected Papers in Honor of Charlie R. Steen, Jr., edited by
Nancy L. Fox, pp. 11-34. Papers of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico 18. Albuquerque.

Schaafsma, Polly
1971 The Rock Art of Utah. Peabody Museum Papers 65, Harvard University, Cambridge.

1980 Indian Rock Art of the Southwest. School of American Research and the University of New Mexico Press, Santa
Fe and Albuquerque.

1986 “Rock Art.” Handbook of North American Indians, Volume II, Great Basin, edited by Warren D’Azevedo, pp.
215-226. Smithsonian Institution, Washington.

1990 “Shamans’ Gallery: A Grand Canyon Rock Art Site.” Kiva 55(3):213-234. The Arizona Archaeological and His-
torical Society, Tucson.

1992 Rock Art in New Mexico. Revised edition. Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe.

1992 “Imagery and Magic: Petroglyphs at Comanche Gap, Galisteo Basin, New Mexico.” Archaeology, Art, and An-
thropology: Papers in Honor of J. J. Brody, edited by Meliha S. Duran and David T. Kirkpatrick, pp. 157-174.
Papers of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico 18, Albuquerque.

Schele, Linda and David Friedel

1990 A Forest of Kings: the Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. William Morrow and Company, Inc. New York.

Smiley, Frances E.
1993 “Early Farmers in the Northern Southwest: A View from Marsh Pass.” Anasazi Basketmaker: Papers from the
Wetherill-Grand Gulch Symposium, edited by Victoria M. Atkins, pp. 243- 254. Cultural Resource Series No.
24, Salt Lake City.

71
 Archeology of Horseshoe Canyon

Smiley, E E., William J. Parry and George J. Gumerman

1986 “Early Agriculture in the Black Mesa/Marsh Pass Region of Arizona: New Chronometric Data and Recent Ex-
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ology, New Orleans.

States, Jack S.
1990 Mushrooms and Truffles of the Southwest. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Stevenson, Matilda Core

1904 The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies. In Twenty-third Annual Report of the
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1943 “Culture Element Distributions, XXIII: Northern and Gosiute Shoshoni.” University of California Anthropo-
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1969 Tobacco, Pipes, and Cigarettes of the Prehistoric Southwest. Special Report 8. El Paso Archaeological Society.

Tedlock, Dennis
1972 Finding the Center Narrative Poetry of the Zuni Indians. The Dial Press, New York.

Turner, Christy G. II
1963 Petrographs of the Glen Canyon Region. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 38 (Glen Canyon Series 4), Flag-
staff.

Tyler, Hamilton A.
1975 Pueblo Animals and Myths. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

1979 Pueblo Birds and Myths. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Vastokas, Joan M.
1977 “The Shamanic Tree of Life.” Stone, Bones and Skin: Ritual and Shamanic Art, edited by Anne Trueblood Brod-
sky, Rose Danesewich, and Nick Johnson, pp. 93-117. An Artscanada Book, Toronto.

Webber, Alika Podolinsky

1977 “The Healing Vision: Naskapi Natutshikans.” Stones, Bones and Skin: Ritual and Shamanic Art, edited by Anne
Trueblood Brodzky, Rose Danesewich, and Nick Johnson, pp. 118-121. An Artscanada Book. Toronto.
Whiting, Beatrice B.
1950 Paiute Sorcery. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology 15, New York.

Whitley David S.
1982 “Notes on the Coso Petroglyphs, the Etiological Mythology of the Western Shoshone, and the Interpretation of
Rock Art.” Journal of Great Basin and California Anthropology 4(2):132- 146.

1992 “Shamanism and Rock Art in Far Western North America.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 2(1):89-113.

1994 “By the Hunter, For the Gatherer: Art, Social Relations and Subsistence Change in the Prehistoric Great Basin.”
World Archaeology 25(3):356-73.

Zintgraff, Jim and Solveig A. Turpin

1991 Pecos River Rock Art: A Photographic Essay. Sandy McPherson Pecos River Rock Art: Publishing Co., San Anto-
nio.

72
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