UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Landscape of Klamath Basin Rock Art Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5dc549gc Author David, Robert James Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California The Landscape of Klamath Basin Rock Art By Robert James David A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology in the Graduate Division Of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Margaret W. Conkey, Chair Professor Kent Lightfoot Professor Tom Biolsi Spring 2012 Abstract The Landscape of Klamath Basin Rock Art by Robert James David Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Berkeley Professor Margaret Conkey, Chair For the past three decades, efforts to interpret Klamath Basin rock art symbols using ethnographic literature and concepts of sacred landscapes have advanced our understanding of the art. This approach, however, is limited by the assumption that the rock art symbols meant the same thing in every social and land use context. From my research of the past decade I have inferred that rock art designs are not distributed randomly across the landscape. Instead, rock art displays appear to vary predicatively across three archaeologically-defined contexts that I have identified as settlement sites, frequently used areas and special use areas. In the research presented here, I use this apparent pattern to propose a context model for the rock art of the Klamath Basin and suggest that Klamath Basin shamans situated their varied repertoire of sacred symbols within these distinctive contexts in order to structure the way people encountered and experienced them. Understanding how rock art is patterned on the landscape has led to refined interpretations in an area where relatively little rock art research has been done. 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two: Setting ................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 5 Climate ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Geological History ...................................................................................................................... 7 Habitat ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Klamath and Modoc Cultural Subdivisions ................................................................................ 9 Gambling and Trade Fair .......................................................................................................... 11 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter Three: Klamath and Modoc Spirituality ................................................................... 14 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 14 Shamanism ................................................................................................................................ 14 Klamath and Modoc Shamanism .............................................................................................. 15 Spirits, Souls, Ghosts ................................................................................................................ 18 Acquisition of Supernatural Power ........................................................................................... 20 Shaman’s Initiation ................................................................................................................... 22 Sickness and Curing .................................................................................................................. 23 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 25 Chapter Four: Literature Review and Previous Research ..................................................... 27 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 27 Landscape Approaches to Rock Art Research .......................................................................... 27 Ethnographic Approaches to Rock Art Research ...................................................................... 31 Previous Research in the Klamath Basin .................................................................................. 34 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter Five: Methods ............................................................................................................... 40 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 40 Field Methods ............................................................................................................................ 41 Laboratory Methods .................................................................................................................. 43 Interpretive Methods ................................................................................................................. 44 i Neuropsychological Model ....................................................................................................... 46 Site Descriptions ....................................................................................................................... 51 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 54 Chapter Six: Settlement Sites .................................................................................................... 55 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 55 The Rock Art Sites .................................................................................................................... 58 Analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 72 Interpretation ............................................................................................................................. 77 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter Seven: Frequently Used Areas .................................................................................... 86 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 86 QzM-1 AS-KCM ....................................................................................................................... 89 35LK1516.................................................................................................................................. 94 35KL58...................................................................................................................................... 99 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 102 Chapter Eight: Special Use Areas ........................................................................................... 105 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 105 CA-Mod-17 ............................................................................................................................. 107 30-10-23-8P ............................................................................................................................. 112 31-09-16-3P ............................................................................................................................. 117 39-13-20-P2 ............................................................................................................................. 119 FHC-3 ...................................................................................................................................... 121 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 130 Chapter Nine: Conclusions Outline ........................................................................................ 135 The Goals of the Dissertation .................................................................................................. 135 Limitations and Future Research............................................................................................. 136 The Significances of this research ..........................................................................................