Storied Rocks: American Indian Inventory and Interpretation of Rock Art on the Nevada Test Site Item Type Report Authors Zedeno, M. Nieves; Stoffle, Richard W.; Dewey-Hefley, Genevieve; Shaul, David Publisher Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, The University of Arizona in Tucson Download date 08/10/2021 18:26:22 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/272093 DOE/NV/11508-38 UC-702 STORIED ROCKS: AMERICAN INDIAN INVENTORY AND INTERPRETATION OF ROCK ART ON THE NEVADA TEST SITE Final Report January 1999 BUREAU OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN ANTHROPOLOGY The University of Arizona in Tucson !A:. B A R A`,4 14, DOE/NV/11508-38 UC-702 Storied Rocks: American Indian Inventory and Interpretation Of Rock Art on the Nevada Test Site Final Report Prepared by M. Nieves Zedeno Richard Stoffle Genevieve Dewey -Hefley David Shaul Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology The University of Arizona in Tucson Desert Research Institute Technical Report No. 93 Prepared for Desert Research Institute Las Vegas, Nevada and U.S. Department of Energy Nevada Operations Office Las Vegas, Nevada January 15, 1999 The work upon which this report is based was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract # DE- ACO8- 95NV11508 Available to the public from - U. S. Department of Commerce National Technical Information Service 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 (703) 487 -4650 Available electronically at http://www.doe.gov/bridge. Available to U. S. Department of energy and its contractors in paper from - U. S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information P.O. Box 62 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 -0062 (423) 576 -8401 This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, not any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy,completeness, or any third party's use or the results of such use of any information, apparatus,product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer,or otherwise,does not necessarily constitute or implyitsendorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof or its contractors or subcontractors. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof Mr, Clifford Jake of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, at the Power Rock Site, April 1997 [English prologue:] Here it comes out like a miracle. He's the one who knows it. They had regulations and rules in the Indian traditional ways. It shows the chief where the people are. It shows the regulations, the way he dreamed it and visualized it. They are to take care of one another. Uru'a niav puaxantem niavung niavingwam. Exe marapexantem negnwe urapexants urapexantem. Senangwavi paavingw Tevats -- penitikaipexaikung. Senangwavi paavingw penitikaipexaiang, Pianem Tevip. Ungwaisamp niavi penitikapexant. Neni panipan puchxwan. [There was a chief medicine person among their chiefs at this time. Indeed there were a lot of people at that time. That way the Creator's younger brother showed. The Creator's younger brother showed how Mother Earth is. Only to him, to the chief, did he show it. That's how I personally understand (it).] Mr. Clifford Jake, from the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, at the Power Rock site. ACRONYMS AIRFA American Indian Religious Freedom Act BARA Bureau of Applied Research In Anthropology CGTO Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations DOE /NV Department of Energy /Nevada Operations Office Dill Desert Research Institute NTS Nevada Test Site UofA University of Arizona YMSCO Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office YMCRS Yucca Mountain Cultural Resource Study FOREWORD The sites described and interpreted in this report are characterized by the presence of petroglyphs, pictographs, and other rock manipulations generally referred to in popular and scientific literature as rock "art" --a Western expression for cultural aesthetics. The term storied rock, on the other hand, conveys a view of these features that is uniquely Native American. For tribal elders and cultural experts who participated in this study, carvings and paintings on rocks are telling a story, perhaps about someone's experience, or about legends and origin stories; they mark a place, a resource, or a celestial body; and they invite people to approach them or, conversely, warnthem to keep out. Thus, messages Native Americans conveyed or wish to convey in rock carvings and paintings hardly fit in the confines of "art." Yet, the term has been used throughout this report in order to facilitate communication and only to denote the presence of petroglyphs and pictographs at a given site. However, the reader should be aware of the restrictive meaning of the term rock art when it is used to reflect perceptions and cognition held by Indian people. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF FIGURES v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS viii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY x CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1 Regulatory Background 1 Participating American Indian Tribes and Organizations 2 Project Chronology 3 CHAPTER TWO RESEARCH METHODS 6 Government -to- Government Consultation Procedures 6 Research Design and Execution 7 Data Collection Procedures 12 Interview Data Analysis 16 CHAPTER THREE OVERVIEW OF ROCK ART STUDIES 18 What Constitutes a Rock Art Study? 18 Etic and Emic: Two Approaches 19 Etic Rock Art Studies 20 Emic Rock Art Studies 21 Why Did People Make Rock Art? An Etic Perspective 23 Why Did People Make Rock Art? An Emic or Contemporary Native American Perspective 26 i CHAPTER FOUR SITE -BY -SITE DESCRIPTION AND INTERPRETATION 31 Great Basin Rock Art 31 Styles Present at the NTS 34 Buckboard Mesa and Upper Fortymile Canyon 35 Buckboard Mesa 37 Upper Fortymile Canyon 46 "Rice Grass" Village 68 East Cat Canyon and Tippipah Road Sites 74 Power Rock 75 Mushroom Rock 84 Ammonia Tanks 89 Captain Jack Cave and Spring 96 Rock Art Sites in the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office 105 Cot Cave 106 Twin Springs 114 Busted Butte 120 CHAPTER FIVE DATA EVALUATION AND COMMENTARY 127 An Ethnographic Commentary 127 A Linguistic Commentary 134 An Ethnoarchaeological Commentary 152 CHAPTER SIX SITE CONDITION AND PROTECTION RECOMMENDATIONS 157 Buckboard Mesa 157 Upper Fortymile Canyon 158 Rice Grass Village 160 Mushroom Rock 160 Power Rock 161 Ammonia Tanks 162 Captain Jack Cave 163 Cot Cave 164 Twin Springs 165 Busted Butte 166 Conclusions 167 ii References Cited 168 GLOSSARY OF INDIAN TERMS 178 APPENDIX A PROJECT CHRONOLOGY 181 APPENDIX B ROCK ART INTERVIEW FORM 184 APPENDIX C SUMMARY TABLES FOR CHAPTER FOUR 194 APPENDIX D SUMMARY TABLES FOR CHAPTER SIX 215 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Site Visit Schedule and Access Rating 11 Table 2.2 Site Visit Participants 14 Table 5.1 Number of Interviews by Site and Ethnic Group 132 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Rock art sites discussed in this study 4 Figure 2. CGTO representatives visit rock art sites in 1995 8 Figure 3. Subgroup member presents the rock art study design at a professional conference 8 Figure 4. Archaeologist helps an elder hike to Captain Jack Cave 9 Figure 5. Ethnographers and elders in active discussion during a field visit 13 Figure 6. An elder sketches a panel design in her notebook 13 Figure 7. UofA Linguist records native rock art words at Twin Springs 16 Figure 8. Great Basin Curvilinear and Scratched styles 32 Figure 9. Great Basin Rectilinear Style 32 Figure 10. Great Basin Representational Style 33 Figure 11. Great Basin pictographs 33 Figure 12. Buckboard Mesa 36 Figure 13. Upper Fortymile Canyon with Buckboard Mesa to the left 36 Figure 14. Cairns at the edge of Buckboard Mesa 39 Figure 15. Turtle -like petroglyph above staircase 39 Figure 16. Stick figure on the Buckboard Mesa escarpment 40 Figure 17. Parallel line designs on the Buckboard Mesa escarpment 45 Figure 18. W. Shoshone and S. Paiute elders examine panels on the Buckboard Mesa escarpment 45 Figure 19. Map -like petroglyph panel at the Canyon entrance 48 Figure 20. Spring located across from map -like petroglyph 49 Figure 21. Owens Valley Paiute elders study isolated boulder with petroglyphs near the canyon entrance 50 Figure 22. Type of projectile point found at the site 50 Figure 23. Overview of the southwest portion of the site 51 Figure 24. Southern Paiute elders study Geoglyph 2 51 Figure 25. Overview of the west -central portion of the site 52 Figure 26. Owens Valley Paiute representatives study cone basket -like petroglyph 52 Figure 27. Petroglyph boulders above Brushy Canyon 53 Figure 28. Big George Cave 54 Figure 29. Rock ring on the northwest portion of the site 54 Figure 30. Petroglyph boulder at the foot of Buckboard Mesa 55 Figure 31. Map -like petroglyph 60 v Figure 32. Snake symbol 60 Figure 33. Water symbol 61 Figure 34. Sun or spider symbol 61 Figure 35. Hand print peckings 62 Figure 36. Heaven - and -earth representations 62 Figure 37. Count -like marks 64 Figure 38. Dot peckings 64 Figure 39. Death Dancers and concentric semicircles similar to those painted at Captain Jack Cave 65 Figure 40. Bow -and -arrow representation 65 Figure 41. Cone basket representation 66 Figure 42. Vulva glyph 66 Figure 43. Rice Grass Village 68 Figure 44. Cleared area and rock ring on the north end of the site 69 Figure 45. Comb -like designs 71 Figure 46. Curvilinear designs 71 Figure 47. Anthropomorphic and plant or feather -like designs 72 Figure 48.