PETROGLYPHS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION

SABRA MOORE DESCRIBES SOME PETROGLYPHS THAT SHE HAS SEEN THROUGH NORTH AMERICA AND CANADA. AT AGAWA ROCK IN LAKE SUPERIOR PROVENCIAL PARK IN ONTARIO THERE IS A FAMOUS RED PICTOGRAPH. IT DEPICTS AN UNDERWATER PANTHER 'MICHIPESHU" AT THE ROCK. IT IS ONE OF 17 PANELS THEREPAINTED IN PINK GRANITE CLIFFS. MOST OF THESE PICTOGRAPHS WERE MADE BY SHAMANS. THIS PANTHER HAS BEEN LAYERED WITH SUCCESSIVE PAINTINGS. THE PANTHER HAS TWO GIANT REPTILES ALONG WITH PEOPLE ROWING A CANOE.



TWO OF THE ARTISTS ARE KNOWN. AN ANTHROPOLOGIST, HENRY ROWE SCHOOLCRAFT, INTERVIEWED OBJIBWAY ARTIST-SHAMAN SHINGWAUK. OTHERS ATTRIBUTE SOME PAINTINGS TO "THE LITTLE WILD MEN".CHIEF NORMA FOX OF THE OJIBWA DESCRIBED THE AS SUPERNATURALS. THE PYGMIES CAN CAPTURE OR KILL THE GIANT SNAKES AND USE ITS BLOOD TO PAINT ON THE CLIFFS. OTHERS ASSOCIATE THE SNAKES WITH COPPER. THE CANOE MIGHT HELP CREATE THE ILLUSION OF WATER. THIS PANTHER IS SPINY WITH A SPINY TAIL.



AT ANOTHER PARK, NANAIMO PETROGLYPH PARK, THERE ARE VERSIONS OF DRAGONS. THE KWAKIUTL SISIUTL IS A DOBLE FACED SERPENT WITH A SNOUT LIKE THE SEA SNAKES. HE CAN TRASNFORM HIMSELF FROM LIGHTNING TOSKY, FROM FISH TO A CANOE. LIKE QUETZALCOATL, HE CAN BE BOTH BIRD AND REPTILE. IN 1791 A SAILOR ON THE COLUMBIA WITNESSED A MONSTROUS REPTILE EMERGING FROM THE WATER.



AT SPROUT LAKE ON VANCOUVER ISLAND, BRISH COLUMBIA THERE ARE PETROGLYPHS OF DOG FACED SALMON. THEY ARE UNDERWATER DURING THE WINTER MONTHS, THET WERE PLACED TO EMERGE AND SUBMERGE ACCORDING TO THE TIDES. NOOTKA SHAMANS MAY HAVE INCISED THESE CREATURES WHILE FASTING IN ICY WATERS. IT COULD BE A SEA SNAKE ?



THESE PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT SALMON WERE PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN A VILLAGE UNDERWATER. EACH YEAR THE SALMON PEOPLE WOULD CONCEAL THEMSELVESAS FISH AND MIGRATE UPSTREAM TO SACRIFICE THEIR FLESH FOR HUMANS . THE SALMON BONES WERE SAVED AND PLACED BACK INTO THE SEA SO THE SALMON PEOPLE COULD BE REBORN. FRANZ BOAS IN 1890 WROTE "THIS CEREMONY ACCOMPANIED BY A PRAYER TO THE FISH TO COME, WILL CAUSE THEM TO ARRIVE AT ONCE."



IF THE FISH RUN WAS LATE THE PECKED IMAGES WERE PAINTED IN RED ORCHE. THE STORY IS THAT SALMON RAN OFF WITH A CHIEF'S DAUGHTER. YOU COULD SEE THE COUPLE RETURNING EACH YEAR AND LEAPING OUT OF THE WATER. THEY WOULD PAINT THESE PICTOGLPHS BEFORE EATING THE FIRST SALMON.


PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN PECOS, TEXAS, FOR 9,000 LIVED IN ROCK SHELTERS AND THEY PAINTED COLORFUL PAINTINGS ON THE CANYON WALLS. THERE WERE VARIOUS CULTURES HERE AND THEY ALL LEFT THEIR MARK - COMANCHE, APACHE, COMANCHE, JUMANO, KIOWA, CIBOLA, AND KICKAPOO. THEY DREW MT. LIONS, POSED ABOVE TALL HUMAN FIGURES FACING THE VIEWER, WAVING THEIR ARMS. THE LARGE MT. LION IS PAINTED IN RED ON THE WALL OF THE SEMUNOLE CANYON SHELTER DATING AFTER 3000 B.C. THESE ARE FELINE DEITIES WITH PRICKLY TAILS.


IN WYOMING THE LAKOTA PAINTED BULL ELK TO ASSIST YOUNG MEN IN COURTSHIP. A MAN WHO DREAMED OF ELK COULD BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ELK DREAMERS SOCIETY.