Chapter IX: Section 2: United States (1)

Drawings or paintings on rocks are distributed generally over the greater part of the territory of the United States.

They are found on bowlders formed by the sea waves or polished by ice of glacial epochs; on the faces of rock ledges adjoining lakes and streams; on the high walls of canyons and cliffs; on the sides and roofs of caves; in short, wherever smooth surfaces of rock appear. Yet, while they are so frequent, there are localities to be distinguished in which they are especially abundant and noticeable. They differ markedly in character of execution and apparent subject-matter.

An obvious division can be made between the glyphs bearing characters carved or pecked and those painted without incision. There is also a third, though small, class in which the characters are both incised and painted. This division seems to coincide to a certain extent with geographic areas and is not fully explained by the influence of materials; it may, therefore, have some relation to the idiosyncrasy or development of the several authors, and consequently to tribal habitat and migrations.

In examining a chart of the United States in use by the Bureau of Ethnology, upon which the distribution of the several varieties of petroglyphs is marked, two facts are noticeable: First, the pecked and incised characters are more numerous in the northern and those expressed in colors more numerous in the southern areas. Second, there are two general groupings, distinguished by typical styles, one in the north Atlantic states and the other in the south Pacific states.

The north Atlantic group is in the priscan habitat of the tribes of the Algonquian linguistic family, and extends from Nova Scotia southward to Pennsylvania, where the sculpturings are frequent, especially on the Susquehanna, Monongahela, and Alleghany rivers, and across Ohio from Lake Erie to the Kanawha river, in West Virginia. Isolated localities bearing the same type are found westward on the Mississippi river and a few of its western tributaries, to and including the Wind river mountains, in Wyoming, the former habitat of the Blackfeet Indians. All of these petroglyphs present typical characters, sometimes undefined and complicated. From their presumed authors, they have been termed the Algonquian type. Upon close study and comparison they show many features in common which are absent in extra-limital areas.

Immediately south of the Kanawha river, in West Virginia, and extending southward into Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, the pecked or sculptured petroglyphs are replaced by painted figures of a style differing from the Algonquian. These are in the area usually designated as Cherokee territory, but there is no evidence that they are the work of that tribe; indeed, there is no indication of their authorship. The absence of pecked characters in this area is certainly not due to an absence of convenient material upon which to record them as the country is as well adapted to the mode of incision as is the northern Atlantic area.

Upon the Pacific slope a few pecked as well as colored petroglyphs occur scattered irregularly throughout the extreme northern area west of the Sierra Nevada, but on the eastern side of that range of mountains petroglyphs appear in Idaho, which have analogues extending south to New Mexico and Arizona, with remarkable groups at intervals between these extremes. All of these show sufficient similarity of form to be considered as belonging to a type which is here designated “Shoshonean.” Tribes of that linguistic family still occupy, and for a long time have occupied, that territory. Most of this Shoshonean group consists of pecked or incised characters, though in the southern area unsculptured paintings predominate.

On the western side of the Sierra Nevada, from Visalia southward, at Tulare agency, and thence westward and southward along the Santa Barbara coast, are other groups of colored petroglyphs showing typical features resembling the Shoshonean. This resemblance may be merely accidental, but it is well known that there was intercourse between the tribes on the two sides of the Sierra Nevada, and the Shoshonean family is also represented on the Pacific slope south of the mountain range extending from San Bernardino west to Point Conception. In this manner the artistic delineation of the Santa Barbara tribes may have been influenced by contact with others.

Petroglyphs have seldom been found in the central area of the United States. In the wooded region of the Great lakes characters have been depicted upon birch bark for at least a century, while in the area between the Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains the skins of buffalo and deer have been used. Large rocks and cliffs favorably situated are not common in that country, which to a great extent is prairie.

In the general area of these typical groups characters are frequently found which appear intrusive, i. e., they have a strong resemblance not only to those found in other American groups, but are nearly identical with characters in other parts of the world. This fact, clearly established, prevents the adoption of any theory as to the authorship of many of the petroglyphs and thwarts attempts to ascertain their signification.

ALASKA.

Ensign Albert P. Niblack, U. S. Navy, (_a_) gives a brief account, with sketches, reproduced here as Fig. 4, of petroglyphs in Alaska, which were taken from rocks from the ancient village of Stikine, near Fort Wrangell. Others were found on rocks just above high-water mark around the sites of ruined and abandoned villages.

In the upper character the Alaskan typical style of human faces is noticeable. The lower gives a representation of the orca or whale killer, which the Haida believe to be a demon called Skana, about which there are many mythic tales. Mr. Niblack remarks:

In their paintings the favorite colors used are black, light
green, and dark red. Whether produced in painting, tattooing, or
relief carving, the designs are somewhat conventional. However rude
the outline, there are for some animals certain conventional signs
that clearly indicate to the initiated what figure is meant. With
the brown bear it is the protruding tongue; with the beaver and wolf
it is the character of the teeth; with the orca, the fin; with the
raven, the sharp beak; with the eagle, the curved beak, etc.

ARIZONA.

Mr. G. K. Gilbert, of the U. S. Geological Survey, gives the following information concerning petroglyphs observed by him in the vicinity of San Francisco mountain, Arizona:

The localities of the sketches Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are about 35
miles east and southeast of San Francisco mountain, the material
being a red sandstone, which stands in low buttes upon the plain.
About these are mealing stones, fragments of pottery and chipped
flints, giving evidence of the residence of sedentary Indians.
So many localities of petroglyphs were seen that I regard it as
probable that a large number could be found by search. The drawings
in every case but one were produced by blows upon the surface of the
rocks, breaking through the film of rock discolored by weathering
so as to reveal (originally) the color of the interior of the rock.
The single exception is the first pattern in Fig. 6, similar to the
patterns on pottery and blankets, produced by painting with a white
pigment on red rock. The original arrangement of the drawings upon
the rock was not as a rule preserved, but they have approximately
the original arrangement. I neglected to record the scale of the
drawings, but the several pictures are drawn on approximately the
same scale.

All of these figures partake of the general type designated as the Shoshonean, and it is notable that close repetitions of some of the characters appear in petroglyphs in Tulare valley and Owens valley, California, which are described and illustrated in this section.

The object resembling a centipede, in Fig. 6, is a common form in various localities in Santa Barbara county, California, as will be observed by comparing the illustrations given in connection with that locality. In other of the Arizona and New Mexican petroglyphs similar outlines are sometimes engraved to signify the maize stalk.

Mr. Paul Holman, of the U. S. Geological Survey, reports that eight miles below Powers butte, on a mesa bordering on the Gila river and rising abruptly to the height of 150 feet, are pictographs covering the entire vertical face. Also on the summit of a spur of Oatman mountain, 200 yards from the Gila and 300 feet above it, are numbers of pictographs. Many of them are almost obliterated where they are on exposed surfaces.

Lieut. Col. Emory (_a_) reports that on a table-land near the Gila bend is a mound of granite bowlders, blackened by augite and covered with unknown characters, the work of human hands. On the ground near by were also traces of some of the figures, showing that some of the pictographs, at least, were the work of modern Indians. Others were of undoubted antiquity. He also reports in the same volume (_b_) that characters upon rocks of questionable antiquity occur on the Gila river at 32° 38′ 13″ N. lat. and 190° 7′ 30″ long. According to the plate, the figures are found upon bowlders and on the face of the cliff to the height of 30 feet.

Lieut. Whipple (_a_) remarks upon petroglyphs at Yampais spring, Williams river, as follows:

The spot is a secluded glen among the mountains. A high shelving
rock forms a cave, within which is a pool of water and a crystal
stream flowing from it. The lower surface of the rock is covered
with pictographs. None of the devices seem to be of recent date.

Many of the country rocks lying on the Colorado plateau of northern Arizona, east of Peach springs, bear petroglyphs of considerable artistic workmanship. Some figures, observed by Dr. W. J. Hoffman in 1872, were rather elaborate and represented the sun, human beings in various styles approaching the grotesque, and other characters not understood. All of those observed were made by pecking the surface of basalt with a harder variety of stone.

Mr. Gilbert also obtained sketches of etchings in November, 1878, on Partridge creek, northern Arizona, at the point where the Beale wagon road comes to it from the east. He says: “The rock is cross-laminated Aubrey sandstone and the surfaces used are faces of the laminæ. All the work is done by blows with a sharp point. (Obsidian is abundant in the vicinity.) Some inscriptions are so fresh as to indicate that the locality is still resorted to. No Indians live in the immediate vicinity, but the region is a hunting ground of the Wallapais and Avasupais (Cosninos).”

Notwithstanding the occasional visits of the above named tribes, the characters submitted more nearly resemble those of other localities known to have been made by the Moki Pueblos.

Rock drawings are of frequent occurrence along the entire extent of the valley of the Rio Verde, from a short distance below Camp Verde to the Gila river.

Mr. Thomas V. Keam reports drawings on the rocks in Canyon Segy, and in Keam’s canyon, northeastern Arizona. Some forms occurring at the latter locality are found also upon Moki pottery.

Petroglyphs are reported by Lieut. Theodore Mosher, Twenty-second Infantry, U. S. Army, to have been discovered by Lieut. Casey’s party in December, 1887, on the Chiulee (or Chilalí) creek, 30 or 40 miles from its confluence with San Juan river, Arizona. A photograph made by the officer in charge of the party shows the characters to have been outlined by pecking, the designs resembling the Shoshonean type of pictographs, and those in Owens valley, California, a description of which is given below.

A figure, consisting of two concentric circles with a straight line running out from the larger circle, occurs, among other carvings, on one of the many sculptured bowlders seen by Mr. J. R. Bartlett (_a_) in the valley of the Gila river in Arizona. His representation of this bowlder is here copied as Fig. 8. His language is as follows:

I found hundreds of these bowlders covered with rude figures of
men, animals, and other objects of grotesque forms, all pecked in
with a sharp instrument. Many of them, however, were so much defaced
by long exposure to the weather and by subsequent markings, that it
was impossible to make them out. Among these rocks I found several
which contained sculptures on the lower side, in such a position
that it would be impossible to cut them where they then lay. Some
weighed many tons each and would have required immense labor to
place them there, and that, too, without an apparent object. The
natural inference was that they had fallen down from the summit of
the mountain after the sculptures were made on them. A few only
seemed recent; the others bore the marks of great antiquity.

In the collections of the Bureau of Ethnology is an album or sketch book, which contains many drawings made by Mr. F. S. Dellenbaugh, from which the following sketches of petroglyphs in Arizona are selected, together with the brief references attached to each sheet.

Fig. 9 is a copy of characters appearing in Shinumo canyon, Arizona. They are painted, the middle and right hand figures being red, the human form having a white mark upon the abdomen; the left-hand figure of a man is painted yellow, the two plumes being red.

The petroglyphs in Fig. 10 are rather indistinct and were copied from the vertical wall of Mound canyon. The most conspicuous forms appear to be serpents.

CALIFORNIA.

In the foothills of California, wherever overhanging and rain-protected rocks occur, they are covered with paintings of various kinds made by Indians. Those on Rocky hill, some 15 miles east of Visalia, are especially interesting. The sheltered rocks are here covered with images of men, animals, and various inanimate objects, as well as curious figures. The paint used is red, black, and white, and wherever protected it has stood the ravages of time remarkably well. In many places the paintings are as vivid as the day they were laid on. Deer, antelope, coyotes, birds, and turtles are figured quite frequently, and may indicate either names of chiefs or tribes, or animals slain in the hunt. Here are also circles, spirals, crowns or bars, etc., signs the meaning of which is yet doubtful.

Mr. H. W. Turner, in a letter dated June 3, 1891, furnishes sketches (Fig. 11) from this locality, and a description of them as follows:

I send herewith a rough sheet of drawings of figures on the
sheltered face of a huge granite cropping in Tulare county,
California. One-half of the cropping had split off, leaving a nearly
plane surface, on which the figures were drawn in red, white, and
black pigments. The locality is known as Rocky point. They are now
quarrying granite at the place. It lies about 12 miles nearly due
east of Visalia, in the first foothills and south of Yokall creek.
The figures appear to have been drawn many years ago, and numbers of
them are now indistinct.

During the summer of 1882 Dr. Hoffman visited the Tule river agency, California, where he found a large rock painting, of which Fig. 983, infra, is a copy made by him. His description of it is as follows:

“The agency is upon the western side of the Sierra Nevada, in the headwater canyons of the branches of the south fork of Tule river. The country is at present occupied by several tribes of the Mariposan linguistic stock, and the only answer made to inquiries respecting the age or origin of the painting was that it was found there when the ancestors of the present tribes arrived. The local migrations of the various Indian tribes of this part of California are not yet known with sufficient certainty to determine to whom the records may be credited, but all appearances with respect to the weathering and disintegration of the rock upon which the record is engraved, the appearance of the coloring matter subsequently applied, and the condition of the small depressions made at the time for mixing the pigments with a viscous substance, indicate that the work was performed about a century ago.

“The Indians now at Tule river have occupied that part of the state for at least one hundred years, and the oldest now living state that the records were found by their ancestors, though whether more than two generations ago could not be ascertained.

“The drawings were outlined by pecking with a piece of quartz or other siliceous rock, the depth varying from a mere visible depression to a third of an inch. Having thus satisfactorily depicted the several ideas, colors were applied which appear to have penetrated the slight interstices between the crystalline particles of the rock, which had been bruised and slightly fractured by hammering with a piece of stone. It appears probable, too, that to insure better results the hammering was repeated after application of the colors.

“Upon a small bowlder, under the natural archway formed by the breaking of the large rock, small depressions were found which had been used as mortars for grinding and mixing the colors. These depressions average 2 inches in diameter and about 1 inch in depth. Traces of color still remain, mixed with a thin layer of a shining substance resembling a coating of varnish and of flinty hardness. This coating is so thin that it can not be removed with a steel instrument, and appears to have become a part of the rock itself.

“From the animals depicted upon the ceiling it seems that both beaver and deer were found in the country, and as the beaver tail and the hoofs of deer and antelope are boiled to procure glue, it is probable that the tribe which made these pictographs was as far advanced in respect to the making of glue and preparing of paints as most other tribes throughout the United States.

“Examination shows that the dull red color is red ocher, found in various places in the valley, while the yellow was an ocherous clay, also found there. The white color was probably obtained there, and is evidently earthy, though of what nature can only be surmised, not sufficient being obtainable from the rock picture to make satisfactory analysis with the blow-pipe. The composition of the black is not known, unless it was made by mixing clay and powdered charcoal. The latter is a preparation common at this day among other tribes.

“An immense granite bowlder, about 20 feet in thickness and 30 in length, is so broken that a lower quarter is removed, leaving a large square passageway through its entire diameter almost northwest and southeast. Upon the western wall of this passageway is a collection of the colored sketches of which Fig. 983 is a reduced copy. The entire face of the rock upon which the pictograph occurs measures about 12 or 15 feet in width and 8 in height. The largest human figure measures 6 feet in height, from the end of the toes to the top of the head, the others being in proportion as represented.

“Upon the ceiling are a number of well executed drawings of the beaver, bear, centipede (Fig. 12), and bald eagle (Fig. 13). Many of the other forms indicated appear to represent some variety of insects, several of which are drawn with exaggerated antennæ, as in Fig. 14. It is curious to note the gradual blending of forms, as, for instance, that of the bear with those resembling the human figure, often found among the Shoshonean types in Arizona and New Mexico, some of which are described and figured infra.

“Fig. 15 embraces a number of characters on the ceiling. The left hand upper figure is in black, with a narrow line of red surrounding it. The drawing is executed neatly and measures about 18 inches in length. The remaining characters are in dull red, probably ocher, though the two on the left hand, beneath the one just mentioned, are more yellowish.

“The first three forms in Fig. 16 are copies of human-like figures painted on the ceiling. They are each about 12 inches in length. The other form in Fig. 16 is white and is on the southern vertical wall of the passageway facing the north. It resembles some of the human forms occurring elsewhere in the same series of petroglyphs.”

OWENS VALLEY.

In the range of mountains forming the northwestern boundary of Owens valley are extensive groups of petroglyphs, apparently dissimilar to those found west of the Sierra Nevada. Dr. Hoffman, of the Bureau of Ethnology, hastily examined them in 1871 and more thoroughly in the autumn of 1884. They are now represented in Pls. I to XI. So large a space is given to these illustrations because of their intrinsic interest, and also because it is desirable to show for one locality what is true of some others, viz, the very large number of petroglyphs still to be found in groups and series. Even with the present illustrations, the petroglyphs in Owens valley are by no means exhaustively shown.

Dr. Hoffman’s report is as follows:

One of the most important series of groups is that in the
northern portion of Owens valley, between the White mountains on the
east and the Benton range on the west. On the western slope of the
latter, at Watterson’s ranch, is a detached low butte or mesa, upon
the blackened basaltic bowlders and cliffs of which are numerous
deeply cut characters, the most interesting of which are reproduced
in Pls. I and II. The illustrations are, approximately, one-twelfth
real size. The designs of footprints, in the lower left-hand corner
of Pl. I, vary in depth from half an inch to 1-1/2 inches. They
appear to have been pecked and finally worked down to a uniform and
smooth surface by rubbing, as if with a piece of stone or with wood
and sand.

In almost all, if not all, instances throughout the entire
series referred to in this description the sculptured surfaces
have assumed the same shining blackened luster as the original and
undisturbed surface of the bowlder, caused by gradual oxidation of
the iron present. This would seem to indicate considerable antiquity
of the petroglyphs.

On the northeast angle of the mesa referred to were found the
remains of an old camp, over which were scattered large quantities
of arrowheads, knives, and flakes of obsidian. This in itself would
be insignificant, but the fact that many of the specimens of this
material have been lying exposed to the elements until the upper
surface has undergone change in color, so as to become bleached
and friable, in some instances to the depth of from one-tenth to
one-fourth of an inch, warrants the inference that the relics may
have been made by the same people who made the petroglyphs, as the
worked relics generally differ from those of the present Indians by
being larger and less elaborately finished.

At the lower end of the southeastern slope of the mesa are a
number of flat rocks bearing mortar holes, which have no doubt been
used in grinding grass seed and other grains.

In general type these petroglyphs correspond very closely to
those of other areas, in which the so-called Shoshonian types
occur, the most common, apart from those presented in Pls. I and
II, consisting of concentric circles, rings, footprints of the bear
and of man, and various outlines of the human form, beside numerous
unintelligible forms.

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

Southeastward of this locality there is a low divide leading
across the Benton range into the broad, arid, sloping sand desert
of Owens valley proper, but it is not until a point 12 miles
south of Benton, along the line of the old stage road, is reached
that petroglyphs of any consequence are met with. From this
point southward, for a distance of 6 miles, large exposures and
bowlders of basalt are scattered, upon which are great numbers of
petroglyphs, pecked into the rock to depths of from half an inch to
1-1/2 inches, and representing circles, footprints, human forms, etc.

The first series of illustrations, selected from numerous
closely-connected bowlders, are here presented on Pls. III to VII.
The designs marked _a_ on Pl. III resemble serpents, while that at
_d_ is obviously such. This device is on the horizontal surface, and
is pecked to the depth of about 1 inch. The scale of the drawing is
one-thirtieth of the original petroglyph. The characters indicating
the human form in _e_, _g_, and _h_ resemble the ordinary Shoshonian
type, and are like those from various localities in Arizona and
southern Utah and Colorado.

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

The upper characters in A on Pl. IV represent the trail of a
grizzly bear--as indicated by the immense claws--followed by a
human footprint. The original sculpturings are clearly cut, the
toes of the man’s foot being cup-like, as if drilled with a blunt
piece of wood and sand. The tracks average 15 inches in length and
vary in depth from half an inch to more than an inch. The course of
direction of the tracks, which are cut upon a horizontal surface, is
from north-northeast to south-southwest.

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

In E is the semblance of an apparently two-headed snake, as also
in _a_ on Pl. VII. It is possible that this was pecked into the
rock to record the finding of such an anomaly. The occurrence of
double-headed serpents is not unique, five or six instances having
been recorded, one of which is from California, and a specimen may
be seen in the collection of the U. S. National Museum.

In Pl. V, _c_, _e_, _g_ are characters resembling some from
the Canary islands [see Figs. 144 and 145], as well as many of the
cupstones and dumb-bell forms from Scotland [see Figs. 149 and 150].

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

An interesting specimen is presented in _d_, on Pl. VI,
resembling the Ojibwa thunder bird, as well as etchings of Innuit
workmanship to denote man [as shown in Fig. 1159]. The figures
presented in Pl. III are the northernmost of the series, of which
those on Pl. VII form the southernmost examples, the distance
between these two points being about 2 miles.

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

For the space of 4 miles southward there are a few scattered
petroglyphs, to which reference will be made below, and the greatest
number of characters are not found until the southernmost extremity
of the entire series is reached. These are over the surface of
immense bowlders lying on the east side of the road where it passes
through a little valley known locally as the Chalk grade, probably
on account of the whitened appearance of the sand and of some
of the embankments. A general view of the faces of the bowlders upon
which the chief sculpturings occur is presented in Fig. 17. The
petroglyphs are represented in Pls. VIII to XI.

The figures presented in Pl. VIII are, with one exception, each
about one-thirtieth the size of the original. The animal character
in _e_ is upon the top of the largest bowlder shown on Fig. 17,
and is pecked to the depth of from one-fourth to one-half an inch.
Portions of it are much defaced through erosion by sand blown by the
strong summer winds. The characters in _g_ are only one-tenth of the
original size, but of depth similar to the preceding.

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

On Pl. IX, _a_ is one-twentieth the size of the original, while
the remaining sculpturings are about one-tenth size. The cross in
_a_ is singularly interesting because of the elaborateness of its
execution. The surface within the circle is pecked out so as to have
the cross stand out bold and level with the original surface. This
is true also of _f_ on Pl. VIII. Pl. IX, _b_, contains some animal
forms like those reported from New Mexico and Arizona, and Brazil
[and presented in this work], especially that character to the right
resembling a guanaco couchant, although, from its relationship
to the figure of an antelope, in the same group, it no doubt is
intended to represent one of the latter species.

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

On Pl. X, as well as on others of this collection, are found
many forms of circles with interior decoration, such as lines
arranged by pairs, threes, etc., zigzag and cross lines, and other
seemingly endless arrangements. They are interesting from the fact
of the occurrence of almost identical forms in remote localities,
as in the Canary islands and in Brazil. [These are figured and
described infra.]

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

It is probable that they are not meaningless, because the
disposition of the Indian, as he is to-day, is such that no time
would be spent upon such laborious work without an object, and only
motives of a religious or ceremonial nature would induce him to
expend the time and labor necessary to accomplish such results as
are still presented. On Pl. XI, _a_, are more footprints and animal
forms of the genus _cervus_ or _antelocapra_. The figures in _b_ and
_d_, having an upright line with two crossing it at right angles,
may signify either a lizard or man, the latter signification being
probably the true one, as similar forms are drawn in petroglyphs of
a Shoshonian type, as in Arizona. [See supra.]

PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]

The country over which these records are scattered is arid
beyond description and destitute of vegetation. Watterson’s ranch
group is more favorably located, there being an abundance of springs
and a stream running northward toward Black lake.

The only Indians found in this vicinity are Pai Utes, but they
are unacquainted with the significance of the characters, and
declare that they have no knowledge of the authors.

As to the age of the sculpturings nothing can be learned. The
external surface of all the bowlders, as well as the surface of the
deepest figures, is a glistening brownish black, due, possibly, to
the presence of iron. The color of a freshly broken surface becomes
lighter in tint as depth is attained, until at about one-half or
three-fourths of an inch from the surface the rock is chocolate
brown. How long it would take the freshly broken surface of this
variety of rock to become thoroughly oxidized and blackened it
is impossible even to conjecture, taking into consideration the
physical conditions of the region and the almost entire absence of
rainfall.

Upon following the most convenient course across the Benton
range to reach Owen valley proper drawings are also found, though in
limited numbers, and seem to partake of the character of indicators
as to course of travel. By this trail the northernmost of the
several groups of drawings above mentioned is the nearest and most
easily reached.

The pictures upon the bowlders at Watterson’s are somewhat
different from those found elsewhere. The number of specific designs
is limited, many of them being reproduced from two to six or seven
times, thus seeming to partake of the character of personal names.

In a communication dated Saratoga Springs, at the lower part of Death valley, California, February 5, 1891, Mr. E. W. Nelson says that about 200 yards from the springs, and on the side of a hill, he found several petroglyphs. He also furnished a sketch as an example of their general type, now presented as Fig. 18. The locality is in the lower end of Death valley. Mr. Nelson says:

The spring here is in a basin some 60 to 80 acres in extent in
which are ponds and tule marsh. Close by is an extensive ancient
Indian camping ground, over which are scattered very many “chips”
made from manufacturing arrow points from quartz crystal, chert,
chalcedony, flint, and other similar material.

The figures in the sketch inclosed are situated relatively,
as to size and location, as they occur on the rock. The latter is
cracked and slopes at different angles, but the figures are all
visible from a single point of view. There are several other figures
in this group that are too indistinct to copy owing to age, or
weather wearing. The group copied is the most extensive one seen,
but many smaller groups and single figures are to be found on the
rocks near by.

The Shoshoni inhabit this region and a few families of Shoshoni
live about the Panamint mountains at present.

Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of the Department of Agriculture, on his return from the exploration of Death valley, kindly furnished a photograph of a ledge in Emigrant canyon, Panamint mountains, which was received too late for insertion in this work. This is much regretted, as a large number of petroglyphs are represented in groups. The characters are of the Shoshonean type. Among them are “Moki goats,” tridents, the Greek Φ, many crosses, and other figures shown in this chapter as found in the same general region.

In the Mojave desert, about 2 miles north of Daggett station, according to the Mining and Scientific Press (_a_) is a small porphyritic butte known as “Rattlesnake rock,” “so named by reason of the immense number of these reptiles that find shelter in this mass of rock.” The accompanying Fig. 19 is a reproduction of that given in the paper quoted. The author states that “the implement used in making these characters was evidently a dull-pointed stone, as the lines are not sharp, and the sides of the indentation show marks of striation.”

Lieut. Whipple reports the discovery of pictographs at Piute creek, about 30 miles west of the Mojave villages. These are carved upon a rock, “are numerous, appear old, and are too confusedly obscured to be easily traceable.” They bear great general resemblance to drawings scattered over northeast Arizona, southern Utah, and western New Mexico.

From information received from Mr. Alphonse Pinart, pictographic records exist in the hills east of San Bernardino, somewhat resembling those at Tule river in the southern spurs of the Sierra Nevada, Kern county.

Mr. Willard J. Whitney, of Elmhurst, Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania, gives information regarding nearly obliterated pecked petroglyphs upon two flat granite rocks, or bowlders, on the summit of a mountain 4 miles directly west of Escondido, San Diego county, California. The designs are not colored, and are not more than one-eighth or one-fourth of an inch in depth. There is a good lookout from the eminence, but there are no indications of either trails or burials in the vicinity.

This may be the locality mentioned by Mr. Barnes, of San Diego, who furnished information relating to petroglyphs in San Diego county.

Dr. Hoffman reports the following additional localities in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties. Fifteen miles west of Santa Barbara, on the northern summit of the Santa Ynez range, and near the San Marcos pass, is a group of paintings in red and black. Fig. 20 resembles a portion of a checker-board in the arrangement of squares.

Serpentine and zigzag lines occur, as also curved lines with serrations on the concave sides; figures of the sun; short lines and groups of short parallel lines, and figures representing types of insect forms also appear, as shown in Figs. 21 and 22.

These paintings are in a cavity near the base of an immense bowlder, over 20 feet in height. A short distance from this is a flat granitic bowlder, containing twenty-one mortar holes, which had evidently been used by visiting Indians during the acorn season. Oaks are very abundant, and their fruit formed one of the sources of subsistence.

Three miles west-northwest of this locality, in the valley near the base of the mountain, are indistinct figures in faded red, painted upon a large rock. The characters appear similar, in general, to those above mentioned.

Forty-three miles west of Santa Barbara, in the Najowe valley, is a promontory, at the base of which is a large shallow cavern, the opening being smaller than the interior, upon the roof and back of which are many designs, some of which are reproduced in Fig. 23, of forms similar to those observed at San Marcos pass. Several characters appear to have been drawn at a later date than others, such as horned cattle, etc. The black used was a manganese compound, while the red pigments consist of ferruginous clays, abundant at numerous localities in the mountain canyons.

Some of the human figures are drawn with the hands and arms in the attitude of making the gestures for _surprise_ or _astonishment_, and _negation_, as in Fig. 24.

The characters in Fig. 25 resemble forms which occur at Tulare valley, and in Owens valley, respectively, and insect forms also occur as in Fig. 26.

Other designs abounding at this locality are shown in Figs. 27 and 28.

One of the most extensive groupings, and probably the most elaborately drawn, is in the Carisa plain, near Mr. Oreña’s ranch, 60 or 70 miles due north of Santa Barbara. The most conspicuous figure is that of the sun, resembling a human face, with ornamental appendages at the cardinal points, and bearing striking resemblance to some Moki masks and pictographic work. Serpentine lines and anomalous forms also abound.

Four miles northeast of Santa Barbara, near the residence of Mr. Stevens, is an isolated sandstone bowlder measuring about 20 feet high and 30 feet in diameter, upon the western side of which is a slight cavity bearing designs shown in Fig. 29, which correspond in general form to others in Santa Barbara county. The gesture for negation appears in the attitude of the human figures.

Half a mile farther east, on Dr. Coe’s farm, is another smaller bowlder, in a cavity of which various engravings appear shown in Fig. 30. Parts of the drawings have disappeared through disintegration of the rock, which is called “Pulpit rock,” on account of the shape of the cavity, its position at the side of the narrow valley, and the echo observed upon speaking a little above the ordinary tone of voice.

Painted rocks also occur in the Azuza canyon, about 30 miles northeast of Los Angeles, of which Fig. 31 gives copies.

Just before his departure from the Santa Barbara region, Dr. Hoffman was informed of the existence of eight or nine painted records in that neighborhood, which up to that time had been observed only by a few sheep-herders and hunters.

Mr. L. L. Frost, of Susanville, California, reports the occurrence of pictographs (undoubtedly petroglyphs) 15 miles south of that town, on Willow creek, and at Milford, in the lower end of the valley. No details were furnished as to their general type and condition.

On Porter creek, 9 miles southwest of Healdsburg, on a large bowlder of hornblende syenite, petroglyphs similar to those found in Arizona and Nevada are to be seen. They are generally oblong circles or ovals, some of which contain crosses.

Figs. 32 and 33 are reduced copies 1/32 of original size of colored petroglyphs found by Dr. Hoffman in September, 1884, 12 miles west-northwest of the city of Santa Barbara, California. The locality is almost at the summit of the Santa Ynez range of mountains; the gray sandstone rock on which they are painted is about 30 feet high and projects from a ridge so as to form a very marked promontory extending into a narrow mountain canyon. At the base of the western side of this bowlder is a rounded cavity, measuring on the inside about 15 feet in width and 8 feet in height. The floor ascends rapidly toward the back of the cave, and the entrance is rather smaller in dimensions than the above measurements of the interior. About 40 yards west of this rock is a fine spring of water. One of the four old Indian trails leading northward across the mountains passes by this locality, and it is probable that this was one of the camping places of the tribe which came south to trade, and that some of its members were the authors of the paintings. The three trails beside the one just mentioned cross the mountains at several points east of this, the most distant being about 15 miles. Other trails were known, but these four were most direct to the immediate vicinity of the Spanish settlement which sprang up shortly after the establishment of the Santa Barbara mission in 1786. The appearance and position of these and other pictographs in the vicinity appear to be connected with the several trails. The colors used in the paintings are red and black.

The circles figured in _b_ and _d_ of Fig. 32, and _c_, _r_, and _w_ of Fig. 33, together with other similar circular marks bearing cross lines upon the interior, were at first unintelligible, as their forms among various tribes have very different signification. The character in Fig. 32, above and projecting from _d_, resembles the human form, with curious lateral bands of black and white, alternately. Two similar characters appear, also, in Fig. 33, _a_, _b_. In _a_ the lines from the head would seem to indicate a superior rank or condition of the person depicted.

At the private ethnologic collection of Mr. A. F. Coronel, of Los Angeles, California, Dr. Hoffman discovered a clue to the general import of the above petroglyphs, as well as the signification of some of their characters. In a collection of colored illustrations of old Mexican costumes he found blankets bearing borders and colors nearly identical with those shown in the circles in Fig. 32, _d_, and Fig. 33, _c_, _r_, _w_. It is probable that the circles represent bales of blankets which early became articles of trade at the Santa Barbara mission. If this supposition is correct, the cross lines would seem to represent the cords used in tying the blankets into bales, which same cross lines appear as cords in _l_, Fig. 33. Mr. Coronel also possesses small figures of Mexicans, of various conditions of life, costumes, trades, and professions, one of which, a painted statuette, is a representation of a Mexican lying down flat upon an outspread serape, similar in color and form to the black and white bands shown in the upper figure of _d_, Fig. 32, and _a_, _b_, of Fig. 33, and instantly suggesting the explanation of those figures. Upon the latter the continuity of the black and white bands is broken, as the human figures are probably intended to be in front, or on top, of the drawings of the blankets.

The small statuette above mentioned is that of a Mexican trader, and if the circles in the petroglyphs are considered to represent bales of blankets, the character in Fig. 32, _d_, is still more interesting, from the union of one of these circles with a character representing the trader, i. e., the man possessing the bales. Bales, or what appear to be bales, are represented to the top and right of the circle in _d_, in that figure. In Fig. 33, _l_, a bale is upon the back of what appears to be a horse, led in an upward direction by an Indian whose headdress and ends of the breechcloth are visible. To the right of the bale are three short lines, evidently showing the knot or ends of the cords used in tying a bale of blankets without colors, therefore of less importance, or of other goods. Other human forms appear in the attitude of making gestures, one also in _j_, Fig. 33, probably carrying a bale of goods. In the same figure _u_ represents a centipede, an insect found occasionally south of the mountains, but reported as extremely rare in the immediate northern regions. For remarks upon _x_ in the same figure see Chapter XX, Section 2, under the heading The Cross.

Mr. Coronel stated that when he first settled in Los Angeles, in 1843, the Indians living north of the San Fernando mountains manufactured blankets of the fur and hair of animals, showing transverse bands of black and white similar to those depicted, which were sold to the inhabitants of the valley of Los Angeles and to Indians who transported them to other tribes.

It is probable that the pictographs are intended to represent the salient features of a trading expedition from the north. The ceiling of the cavity found between the paintings represented in the two figures has disappeared, owing to disintegration, thus leaving a blank about 4 feet long, and 6 feet from the top to the bottom between the paintings as now presented.

COLORADO.

Petroglyphs are reported by Mr. Cyrus F. Newcomb as found upon cliffs on Rock creek, 15 miles from Rio Del Norte, Colorado. Three small photographs, submitted with this statement, indicate the characters to have been pecked; they consist of men on horseback, cross-shaped human figures, animals, and other designs greatly resembling those found in the country of the Shoshonean tribes, examples of which are given infra.

Another notice of the same general locality is made by Capt. E. L. Berthoud (_a_) as follows:

The place is 20 miles southeast of Rio Del Norte, at the
entrance of the canyon of the Piedra Pintada (Painted rock) creek.
The carvings are found on the right of the canyon or valley and
upon volcanic rocks. They bear the marks of age and are cut in, not
painted, as is still done by the Utes everywhere. They are found
for a quarter of a mile along the north wall of the canyon, on
the ranches of W. M. Maguire and F. T. Hudson, and consist of all
manner of pictures, symbols, and hieroglyphics done by artists whose
memory even tradition does not now preserve. The fact that these
are carvings done upon such hard rock invests them with additional
interest, as they are quite distinct from the carvings I saw in
New Mexico and Arizona on soft sandstone. Though some of them
are evidently of much greater antiquity than others, yet all are
ancient, the Utes admitting them to have been old when their fathers
conquered the country.

Mr. Charles D. Wright, of Durango, Colorado, in a communication dated February 20, 1885, gives an account of some “hieroglyphs” on rocks and upon the walls of cliff houses near the boundary line between Colorado and New Mexico. He says:

The following were painted in red and black paints on the wall
(apparently the natural rock wall) of a cliff house: At the head
was a chief on his horse, armed with spear and lance and wearing
a pointed hat and robe; behind this character were some twenty
characters representing people on horses lassoing horses, etc. In
fact the whole scene represented breaking camp and leaving in a
hurry. The whole painting measured about 12 by 16 feet.

Mr. Wright further reports characters on rocks near the San Juan river. Four characters represent men as if in the act of taking an obligation, hands extended, and wearing a “kind of monogram on breast, and at their right are some hieroglyphics written in black paint covering a space 3 by 4 feet.”

The best discussed and probably the most interesting of the petroglyphs in the region are described and illustrated by Mr. W. H. Holmes (_a_), of the Bureau of Ethnology. The illustrations are here reproduced in Figs. 34 to 37, and the remarks of Mr. Holmes, slightly condensed, are as follows:

The forms reproduced in Fig. 34 occur on the Rio Mancos, near
the group of cliff houses. They are chipped into the rock evidently
by some very hard implement and rudely represent the human figure.
They are certainly not attempts to represent nature, but have the
appearance rather of arbitrary forms, designed to symbolize some
imaginary being.

The forms shown in Fig. 35 were found in the same locality, not
engraved, but painted in red and white clay upon the smooth rocks.
These were certainly done by the cliff-builders, and probably while
the houses were in process of construction, since the material used
is identical with the plaster of the houses. The sketches and
notes were made by Mr. Brandegee. The reproduction is approximately
one-twelfth the size of the original.

The examples shown in Fig. 36 occur on the Rio San Juan about
10 miles below the mouth of the Rio La Plata and are actually in
New Mexico. A low line of bluffs, composed of light-colored massive
sandstones that break down in great smooth-faced blocks, rises from
the river level and sweeps around toward the north. Each of these
great blocks has offered a very tempting tablet to the graver of the
primitive artist, and many of them contain curious and interesting
inscriptions. Drawings were made of such of these as the limited
time at my disposal would permit. They are all engraved or cut
into the face of the rock, and the whole body of each figure has
generally been chipped out, frequently to the depth of one-fourth or
one-half of an inch.

The work on some of the larger groups has been one of immense
labor, and must owe its completion to strong and enduring motives.
With a very few exceptions the engraving bears undoubted evidence
of age. Such new figures as occur are quite easily distinguished
both by the freshness of the chipped surfaces and by the designs
themselves. The curious designs given in the final group have a
very perceptible resemblance to many of the figures used in the
embellishment of pottery.

The most striking group observed is given in Fig. 37 A, same
locality. It consists of a great procession of men, birds, beasts,
and fanciful figures. The whole picture as placed upon a rock is
highly spirited and the idea of a general movement toward the right,
skillfully portrayed. A pair of winged figures hover about the train
as if to watch, or direct its movements; behind these are a number
of odd figures, followed by an antlered animal resembling a deer,
which seems to be drawing a notched sledge containing two figures
of men. The figures forming the main body of the procession appear
to be tied together in a continuous line, and in form resemble one
living creature about as little as another. Many of the smaller
figures above and below are certainly intended to represent dogs,
while a number of men are stationed about here and there as if to
keep the procession in order.

As to the importance of the event recorded in this picture,
no conclusions can be drawn; it may represent the migration of a
tribe or family or the trophies of a victory. A number of figures
are wanting in the drawing at the left, while some of those at the
right may not belong properly to the main group. The reduction is,
approximately, to one-twelfth.

Designs B and C of the same figure represent only the more
distinct portions of two other groups. The complication of figures
is so great that a number of hours would have been necessary for
their delineation, and an attempt to analyze them here would be
fruitless.

It will be noticed that the last two petroglyphs are in New Mexico, but they are so near the border of Colorado and so connected with the series in that state that they are presented under the same heading.

CONNECTICUT.

The following account is extracted from Rafn’s Antiquitates Americanæ (_a_):

In the year 1789 Doctor Ezra Stiles, D. D., visited a rock
situated in the Township of Kent in the State of Connecticut, at a
place called Scaticook, by the Indians. He thus describes it: “Over
against Scaticook and about one hundred rods East of Housatonic
River, is an eminence or elevation which is called Cobble Hill.
On the top of this stands the rock charged with antique unknown
characters. This rock is by itself and not a portion of the
Mountains; it is of White Flint; ranges North and South; is from
twelve to fourteen feet long; and from eight to ten wide at base and
top; and of an uneven surface. On the top I did not perceive any
characters; but the sides all around are irregularly charged with
unknown characters, made not indeed with the incision of a chisel,
yet most certainly with an iron tool, and that by pecks or picking,
after the manner of the Dighton Rock. The Lacunae or excavations are
from a quarter to an inch wide; and from one tenth to two tenths of
an inch deep. The engraving did not appear to be recent or new, but
very old.”

GEORGIA.

Charles C. Jones, jr., (_a_) describes a petroglyph in Georgia as follows:

In Forsyth county, Georgia, is a carved or incised bowlder of
fine grained granite, about 9 feet long, 4 feet 6 inches high, and 3
feet broad at its widest point. The figures are cut in the bowlder
from one-half to three-fourths of an inch deep. It is generally
believed that they are the work of the Cherokees.

The illustration given by him is here reproduced in Fig. 38. It will be noted that the characters in it are chiefly circles, including plain, nucleated, and concentric, sometimes two or more being joined by straight lines, forming what is now known as the “spectacle shaped” figure. The illustrations should be compared with the many others presented in this paper under the heading of Cup Sculptures, see Chapter V, infra.

Dr. M. F. Stephenson (_a_) mentions sculptures of human feet, various animals, bear tracks, etc., in Enchanted mountain, Union county, Georgia. The whole number of sculptures is reported as one hundred and forty-six.

Mr. Jones (_b_) gives a different résumé of the objects depicted, as follows: