Turtle Vision: Seeing the World of Turtle Island
by Tim MacSweeney
New England Antiquities Research Association
Turtle Vision: Seeing the World of Turtle Island
by Tim MacSweeney
Notes:
Visions in Stone: The Rock Art of Minnesota by Mark J. Dudzik
Originally published in the Omnibus Issue, 1992â?"95, of The Minnesota Archeologist
Copyright 1997 by the Minnesota Archaeological Society.
"...American Indian rock art, as commonly defined, includes both petroglyphic and pictographic iconography. Petroglyphs are produced by incising, abrading, pecking or otherwise carving designs or figures into non-portable rock surfaces such as rock outcrops, bluff faces, rock shelters, and caves. Pictographic images are produced by applying natural pigments to such surfaces by painting, drawing, or other means. Pictographs and petroglyphs may exist as isolated designs or as large, complex panels, and may co-occur. For purposes of this paper, the definition of rock art is extended to include petroforms, that is, boulder or stone outlines which have been configured directly on the ground surface to resemble a variety of anthropomorphic, zoomorphic or geometric forms; petroforms do not include tipi rings, crive lines, or other such rock alignments. The distribution of each of these types is rather limited to specific areas of the state, with pictographs found almost exclusively in the northeastern part of the state, petroglyphs largely limited to the south, and petroforms recognized only in southwesternmost Minnesota.
A number of site functions do seem plausible, and it is within the context of such functions that one must search for meaning, remembering that, like meaning, site function may also have changed through time. Site functions might reflect, but are not limited to, the following uses and practices:
territory or "presence" markers
archaeoastronomical devices or records
clan symbols
vision quest
hunting magic
documentation of important events or origin myths
mnemonic device for retelling events and myths
aesthetic
graffiti
ground stone tool production (abraded grooves, often characterized as "tool grooves")
(It is evident from the above that characterization of the phenomena known as petroglyphs, pictographs and petroforms as "rock art" is something of a misnomer; indeed, in many quarter this appellation has been discarded in favor of terms such as "rock graphics", "rock painting", etc.)..."
Excerpt of an online article to be found at:http://www.artsconnected.org/artsnetmn/identity/talking_rocks/visbodyo.html
Email Tim MacSweeney: timmacs@earthlink.net
Copyright © 2003 by Tim MacSweeney
New England Antiquities Research Association