UTAH ROCK ART VOLUME XXIV Papers Presented at the Twenty-Fourth Annual Symposium of the Utah Rock Art Research Association Kanab, Utah October 2004 Edited by Carol B. Patterson UTAH ROCK ART VOLUME XXIV Papers Presented at the Twenty-Fourth Annual Symposium of the Utah Rock Art Research Association (URARA) Kanab, Utah October 2004 Edited by Carol B. Patterson Editorial Assistants: Marion Robinson Stephen Robinson Troy Scotter Cover design and graphics by Carol Patterson Published 2005 by the Utah Rock Art Research Association Copyright 2005 by the Utah Rock Art Research Association, Salt Lake City, Utah. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the author and the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. Cottonwood Site, Nucla, Colorado – Carol Patterson CONTENTS Dating BCS Rock Art At The Great Gallery, Canyonlands, Utah Alan Watchman, Carol Patterson, Ann McNichol.....................................................................1 The Travertine Point Sun Shrine Cave Galal Gough.............................................................................................................................13 Waterglyphys: Ancient Cartography Of The Arizona Strip Robert Ford, Dixon Spendlove, Cody Spendlove, David Maxwell, Gordon Hutchings .........29 Archaeoacoustics: A Key Role Of Echoes At Utah Rock Art Sites Steven J. Waller .......................................................................................................................43 Virgin Anasazi Design: Rock Art And Ceramics Laurel Casjens..........................................................................................................................51 Rotations: A Slanted Look At Rock Art Jesse Warner ............................................................................................................................63 Dine’ (Navajo) Ceremonial Paintings In Western Colorado Carol Patterson.........................................................................................................................73 The following individuals did not submit their paper for publication: J.J. Brody: Southwestern Rock Art and the History of Ancestral Pueblo People Ekkehart Malotki: Rock Art and Human Universals David Sucec: From What Tribe Are You? The Green Figure of the San Rafael Swell and a Definition of the Barrier Canyon Style Leigh Marymor: Rock Art Tourism and Public Access – Issues and Examples. James Farmer: Atlatl Warriors of the San Juan Steve Manning: The Salt Creek Faces Farrel Lytle: Determination of the Age of Petroglyphs at a Virgin (branch) Anasazi site by x-ray Fluorescence Analysis Dorde Woodruff: Barrier Canyon Pictographs, A Stone Tool Maker’s Pack and Rock Alignments. Harris Site – Carol Patterson Alan Watchman, Carol Patterson and Ann McNichol DATING BCS ROCK ART AT THE GREAT GALLERY, CANYONLANDS, UTAH ABSTRACT with the exception being the “Holy Ghost” fig- ure, which measures 2.13m. All figures were Dark red paint on a fallen block of sandstone at painted at least 2m above a rock platform which the Great Gallery site was sampled and dated. is much higher than the bottom of the canyon. This test of the age of the Barrier Canyon Style The torsos of the large figures generally taper of rock painting is part of a preliminary analysis towards the ground whereas they are of uniform of the antiquity of the style. Arising from this width in most of the smaller figures. This is study are questions concerning the probable consistent with the general variation of torso ta- subcategories within the broad style because pering seen in this style, which elsewhere rang- age estimates for various motifs range from es from long, thin tapers to broader triangular Early Archaic to the Late Basketmaker periods. forms. None of the larger figures at the Great This paper describes the analysis of the paint Gallery has arms or legs. and rock, and the steps necessary to remove contaminants prior to determining the age of the The figures vary consid- paint. erably in decoration. Most figures are in solid PURPOSE red paint, the typical color of the style, but white and The purpose of this study was to use AMS radi- black are used for details. ocarbon techniques to determine the age of the Intricate lines, stripes and painting on a section of paint from a fallen rock zigzags are painted in the at the Great Gallery panel of Barrier Canyon torsos, which are com- Style rock art in Horseshoe Canyon. The hope pletely filled with red was to obtain a reliable date for the painting of paint or divided into hori- this section of panel, using only small chips of zontal belts of vertical and paint and not the underlying sandstone. horizontal red lines (broad belts), patterns or enclose Polly Schaafsma (1971) classified the Great other motifs (Figure 1). Gallery paintings as belonging to the Barrier Canyon Style, circa 1000- 8000 BP. The domi- Figure 1 Various BCS fig- nant motifs at this site are large, life-size, taper- ures.(drawings after P. Schaafsma 1971). ing anthropomorphic forms lacking appendages Two dog-like animals have been painted on the and facial features, and all of upright orienta- chest of one figure above a series of red vertical tion. The figures at the Great Gallery appear lines and double zigzag lines (Figure 2). front or back-facing, but without eyes and nos- es, and are in static poses. They range in size from approximately 1.7m to 1.1 m in height Watchman, Patterson, McNichol; Dating BCS Rock Art; page 1 or a combination of both in red or white, or bi- chrome. Some heads have what appear to be crowns made up of rows of dots or horizontal bands. Permission was not obtained to remove in situ pigments from any pictograph or pictograph mural. Samples for dating could only be taken from spall and mural fragments that through natural attrition have fallen away from murals and were not located on discrete artifacts. Therefore to investigate the age of the rock painting of the Barrier Canyon Style at the Figure 2. Great Gallery anthropomorphic figures. (pho- Great Gallery the paint on a fallen slab at the to by C. Patterson) floor of the panel was selected (Figures 4 and 5). Small sections of painted rock were re- Another figure has two small, decorated an- moved under permit (#CANY-2002-SCI-0025). thropomorphic shapes within the central part of the torso (Figure 3). White dots, facial lines and linear markings are on some torsos. Verti- cal black bars have been painted on the chest of one of the larger figures. Incised zigzag lines are also observed in several of the large figures. Figure 4. The probable original location of the fallen slab.(photo by C. Patterson). Figure 3. Close up on anthropomorph with smaller fig- FIELD METHODS ures inside torso.(Photo by C. Patterson). The Great Gallery site was visited three times in In the general style the heads of the large fig- order to obtain sufficient paint material for da- ures vary considerably including round, rectan- ting from a fallen slab of painted rock measur- gular, wedge-shape, elongate, and oval shapes. ing 40 x 20 cm (Figure 5). The paint came Facial features are usually restricted to round from a figure, which was on a portion of the eyes, “bug-eyes” or “goggle-eyes”, as in the rock face with other paintings, but it had col- largest figure of the “Holy Ghost” group of lapsed in a major rock fall. The shape and size paintings. Heads are either plain or decorated. of the figure is unknown, but given the size of The decorations range from double line anten- the piece of painted rock the painting would na-like projections at either side of the top of have been large, possibly as large as the other the head, straight lines either horizontal, vertical large anthropomorphic figures on the same rock Utah Rock Art, Volume 24, page 2 face. The remnant painting clearly shows a The configuration of the equipment is an X-ray band or belt of unpainted rock divided by thin tube (copper target) and associated generator, a red lines, and surrounded by red paint. The motorized specimen stage with movement in monochrome red painting is consistent with the XYZ directions mounted on a goniometer other figures nearby as other figures on the pan- system, a Bruker-AXS HI-STARTM area detec- el have broad bands of stripes, both vertical and tor and a laser alignment system. A spot size horizontal. White paint does not seem to have for the X-ray beam of 800 microns was set us- been used to outline or highlight any part of the ing a series of collimators. With guidance from fallen section of painting. the video system the laser beam is used to illu- minate the exact spot on the specimen where the diffraction measurement was obtained. Da- ta acquisition is approximately one minute. The diffracted X-rays are detected by a parabolic se- ries of detectors and the electronic signal aris- ing from the detection is corrected for intensity and spatial aberrations. Integration of the dif- fraction rings produces a conventional XRD pattern. The paint sample and rock was mounted onto a backing plate that forms part of the specimen stage using Blu TacTM. The laser was used to Figure 5. Photograph showing the painted surface of the align the specimen stage to analyze the desired fallen slab of rock, Great Gallery, Horseshoe Canyon part of the red paint. X-ray data were collected (scale bar is 10cm long). (Photo by C. Patterson). over 60 seconds at selected locations on the ar- tifact. The corrected diffraction pattern was The painted sections of rock were removed and then automatically examined for identifying wrapped in aluminum foil before laboratory ex- peaks and mineralogical identifications were amination and preparation for dating. Photo- undertaken using a computerized search-match graphs were taken of the fallen block in the routine. field and details were also noted of the nature of the paint and surface conditions of the paint on The presence of hydrocarbons in the paint and the fallen block and of the remaining paintings rock were tested using combustion and gas on the wall of the cliff.