Pictographs of the North American Indians. A preliminary paper: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 3-256Mallery, Garrick
History
Pictographs of the North American Indians. A preliminary paper: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 3-256
Mallery, Garrick
Haida Indians; Picture-writing, Indian; Tattooing
Mr. G. K. Gilbert discovered etchings at Oakley Spring, eastern
Arizona, in 1878, relative to which he remarks that an Oraibi chief
explained them to him and said that the “Mokis make excursions to a
locality in the cañon of the Colorado Chiquito to get salt. On their
return they stop at Oakley Spring and each Indian makes a picture on
the rock. Each Indian draws his crest or totem, the symbol of his gens
[(?)]. He draws it once, and once only, at each visit.” Mr. Gilbert
adds, further, that “there are probably some exceptions to this, but
the etchings show its general truth. There are a great many repetitions
of the same sign, and from two to ten will often appear in a row. In
several instances I saw the end drawings of a row quite fresh while the
others were not so. Much of the work seems to have been performed by
pounding with a hard point, but a few pictures are scratched on. Many
drawings are weather-worn beyond recognition, and others are so fresh
that the dust left by the tool has not been washed away by rain. Oakley
Spring is at the base of the Vermillion Cliff, and the etchings are on
fallen blocks of sandstone, a homogeneous, massive, soft sandstone.
Tubi, the Oraibi chief above referred to, says his totem is the rain
cloud but it will be made no more as he is the last survivor of the
gens.”
A group of the Oakley Spring etchings of which Figure 1 is a copy,
measures six feet in length and four feet in height. Interpretations
of many of the separated characters of Figure 1 are presented on page
46 _et seq._, also in Figures 156 _et seq._, page 237.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Petroglyphs at Oakley Springs, Arizona.]
Mr. Gilbert 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. “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 etchings 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 etchings on the rocks in Cañon Segy, and in
Keam’s Cañon, northeastern Arizona. Some forms occurring at the latter
locality are found also upon Moki pottery.
ROCK CARVINGS IN CALIFORNIA.
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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