Plains Indian Rock Art

by Keyser, James D.

• ISBN13: 9780295980942
• ISBN10: 029598094X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr

Summary

The Plains region that stretches from northern Colorado to southern Alberta and from the Rockies to the western Dakotas is the land of the Cheyenne and the Blackfeet, the Crow and the Sioux. Its rolling grasslands and river valleys have nurtured human cultures for thousands of years. On cave walls, glacial boulders, and riverside cliffs, native people recorded their ceremonies, vision quests, battles, and daily activities in the petroglyphs and pictographs they incised, pecked, or painted onto the stone surfaces.In this vast landscape, some rock art sites were clearly intended for communal use; others just as clearly mark the occurrence of a private spiritual encounter. Elders often used rock art, such as complex depictions of hunting, to teach traditional knowledge and skills to the young. Other sites document the medicine powers and brave deeds of famous warriors. Some Plains rock art goes back more than 5,000 years; some forms were made continuously over many centuries.Archaeologists James Keyser and Michael Klassen show us the origins, diversity, and beauty of Plains rock art. The seemingly endless variety of images include humans, animals of all kinds, weapons, masks, mazes, handprints, finger lines, geometric and abstract forms, tally marks, hoofprints, and the wavy lines and starbursts that humans universally associate with trancelike states. Plains Indian Rock Art is the ultimate guide to the art form. It covers the natural and archaeological history of the north-western Plains; explains rock art forms, techniques, styles, terminology, and dating; and offers interpretations of images and compositions.

Author Biography

James D. Keyser is Pacific Northwest Regional Archaeologist for the U.S. Forest Service Michael A. Klassen is a consulting archaeologist and researcher in British Columbia

Table of Contents

Authors' Note on Names	vii
Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Part 1. Introduction and Background
Introduction to Rock Art	3	(13)
Dating Rock Art	16	(12)
Interpretation: Superimpositioning at a North Cave Hills Site	26	(2)
Interpreting Rock Art	28	(13)
Interpretation: ``All Kinds of Spirits Dwell Up There''	38	(3)
The Area and Its History	41	(16)
Interpretation: Medicine Rocks	55	(2)
Native Cultures of the Northwestern Plains	57	(18)
Interpretation: War Bridles and Otter Bundles	70	(5)
Part 2. Rock Art Traditions of the Northwestern Plains
Early Hunting Tradition	75	(18)
Columbia Plateau Tradition	93	(14)
Interpretation: The Kokopelli of Grotto Canyon	105	(2)
Dinwoody Tradition	107	(20)
Interpretation: Poha Kahni: Where Spirits Live in the Rocks	125	(2)
En Toto Pecked Tradition	127	(12)
Pecked Abstract Tradition	139	(12)
Foothills Abstract Tradition	151	(26)
Interpretation: Bear Power, Bear Dreamers	174	(3)
Hoofprint Tradition	177	(14)
Ceremonial Tradition	191	(33)
Interpretation: Saahkomappi and the Big Dogs	222	(2)
Biographic Tradition	224	(33)
Interpretation: The Battle Scene	254	(3)
Robe and Ledger Art Tradition	257	(24)
Interpretation: Counting Coup at Crossfield Coulee	279	(2)
Vertical Series Tradition	281	(16)
Interpretation: Grooves and Tallies	295	(2)
Sites Developed for the Public	297	(9)
Summary and Conclusions	306	(8)
Bibliography	314	(13)
Index	327