Picture-Writing of the American Indians: Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1888-89, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1893, pages 3-822Mallery, Garrick
History
Picture-Writing of the American Indians: Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1888-89, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1893, pages 3-822
Mallery, Garrick
Picture-writing, Indian
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.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IV
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].
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. V
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.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VI
PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VII
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--View of Chalk grade petroglyphs, Owens
valley.]
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