Rock art and archaeology terminology

Abstract

... in rock art refers to non-representational images often attributed to the hunter gatherers of the Great Basin and elsewhere. Abstract motifs consist of various combinations of straight, parallel and wavy lines, dots, circles, zigzags, meanders, and other vague shapeless designs.

Anasazi

... a pueblo people developing from the Basketmakers and represented today by modern groups such as the Hopi and Zuni. The Anasazi occupied the northern third of Arizona and New Mexico, the southern sixth of Utah and Colorado and ranged west to Las Vegas, Nevada and east to the Rio Grande river valley. At the zenith of their development the Anasazi constructed multi storied buildings having 500 rooms or more; the population of their cities numbered in the thousands; trade networks extended to the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and into Central Mexico; they developed agricultural and grew corn, squash and beans; they had a social system and conducted complex (religious?) ceremonies. The Anasazi culture declined in the mid 13th century due to changes in weather patterns leading to a severe, extended drought and other influences. AD 700 - 1540 .

Anthropomorphs

... are human-like figures. They appear as simple solid stick figures and range to elaborately clothed and head dressed representations of shaman, dancers, spirits and etc. Anthropomorphs are a thread of similarity connecting cultures from distant times and places.

Archaic
aka: Western Archaic in the Southwest

... refers to the period following the Paleo, or big game hunters, and prior to communal living/ pueblo people; or the people who lived during those times. The archaic economy was basically hunting and gathering and existed from approximately 6000 BC to 1AD. In some areas of the western Great Basin deserts the archaic never truly ended, that is to say the hunting gathering economy was never replaced by an economy based on agriculture. Archaic rock art may be representational or abstract.

Atlatls

.. or 'throwing sticks' are 18" pieces of flat wood that functioned as an extra arm segment and were used to propel a four foot long stone tipped dart toward the hunters quarry. A hook at the top represents the notch that held the feathered end of the dart and finger grips are sometimes depicted at the opposite end. The disk in the center represents a weight attached to the atlatl to add mass for increased thrust. In the Coso Range, CA, atlatls were replaced by the bow & arrow during the Transitional Period, 200 BC-AD 500. Eastward in the southwest atlatls were replaced up to 500 years later.

Basketmakers

... name given to the early cave dwelling, semi nomadic Anasazi people prior to their sedentary pueblo living periods. The name was given in honor of the beautiful, fully functional baskets they made and were later recovered from abandoned caves. 100 BC - AD 700.

Chronology

... are sequential periods of time that can be defined by unique characteristics in economy, architecture and tool making. There are general chronologies for large areas such as the Pecos Classification for the Southwestern U.S. and local chronologies for smaller areas.

Chronology
Pecos Classification

... established for the Southwest U.S. at the 1928 Pecos Conference.

Time Range	Name
AD 1600 - 2000	Pueblo V
AD 1325 - 1600	Pueblo IV
AD 1100 - 1325	Pueblo III
AD 900 - 1100	Pueblo II
AD 700 - 900	Pueblo I
AD 450 - 700	Basketmaker III
AD - 450	Basketmaker II
BC and earlier	Western Archaic

Chronology
Western Great Basin

Time range	Southwestern Great Basin	Local Phase Names
AD 1000 & later	Late Prehistoric	Early Mohave Death Valley IV Early-Late Cottonwood Marana
AD 1 AD - 1000	Rose Springs/ Eastgate Complex	Amargosa II Death Valley III? Late Rose Springs Haiwee
4200 BC - AD 1	Great Basin Archaic	Early Milling Archaic Tradition Little Lake and Newberry Early-Middle Rose Springs Death Valley II Pinto Basin
6000 - 4200 BC	scanty occupation	none defined
8200 - 6000 BC	Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition	Western Lithic Co-tradition Death Valley I Lake Mohave Complex San Dieguito Complex
10,000 - 8200 BC	Fluted Point Tradition?	Fluted Co-tradition
10,000 BC & earlier	Pre-projectile Point Cultures?
from Hall and Baker, 1975

Coso Painted Style
(pictographs)

article about the
Coso Painted Style
opens a new window

... regional petroglyph style found in the eastern Sierra Nevada and Panamint Ranges, California. Coso Style Pictographs are always found on non-basaltic rocks located in a protected setting - adorning caves, rock shelters or slightly concealed rock faces and at elevations between 3500' to 7000'. Often polychrome in red, yellow, black orange and white. Panels always contain images of bighorn sheep and often historic Euro-american subjects as well as shield-like patterns, stylized anthropomorphs, deer, hunters with bow and arrows, coyotes, mountain lions or dogs, sunburst symbols, dart and atlatl- or arrow- impaled animals, horses, horse and riders, people with broad-brimmed hats, and probably long historic cattle. Individual panels contain elements rendered in a style reminiscent of, but not identical to, the Coso Representational Petroglyphs. (from Garfinkel 2003). View sample of Coso Painted Style Pictographs.

Desert Culture

... is used here to refer to the people who lived primarily in the western section of the Great Basin, an area that we refer to today as the Mojave Desert. This area in California is bordered roughly by Interstate #10 in the south, the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the west and Death Valley in the north. It was (and still is) a tough place to live, and the groups that lived here were largely hunters and gatherers.

Fremont Culture

...people lived in central Utah, and into western Colorado, further north than the Anasazi. The Fremont were a pueblo agricultural people, but utilized hunting to a greater extent than did their neighbors to the south. AD 450 - AD 1350.

Grapevine Style
(petroglyphs)

... the Grapevine Style of the Eastern Mojave Desert of California and Nevada has been defined (by Christensen and Dickey 2000) as symmetrical, balanced rectangular figures with right and left halves identical. Double outlining with fringe and dots; capitol "I" shapes, solid and hollow are often found. View sample of Grapevine Style.

Great Basin Abstract
(petroglyphs)

Great Basin Abstract consists of Curvilinear and Rectilinear Styles are similar to Anasazi and Mogollon geometric designs, but different than the less complex, simple Archaic style.

Curvilinear- a complicated abstract motif consisting of rounded interconnected geometric shapes, spirals, concentric circles, zigzags, meandering lines. This is believed to be the oldest rock art in the southwest and may date to 10,000 BP. The circle in one form or another is the most common element.
Rectilinear- an abstract motif similar to curvilinear except the elements are more square and rectangular, grids, rakes, dots, cross hatches, zigzags, diamonds. Younger than curvilinear to ca. 5000 BP.

Great Basin Painted Style (pictograph)

...graphically related to the Abstract style petroglyphs and characterized by circles & parallel lines done in red or white mineral paint. (Heizer and Baumhoff, 1962). Some researchers argue that stylistic distinctions should not be made on the basis of technique alone and suggest that these paintings are simply another expression of Great Basin Abstract art. McKee and Thomas 1973:12.

Great Basin Pit & Groove Style (petroglyph)

...characterized by random or clustered pits one to two inches in diameter (pits up to twelve inches are known) by one half to one inch in depth, and groves up to one inch in width and less than a quarter inch in depth. Grooves are less common and when present do not lend to composition but merely connect some of the pits. (Baumhoff, Heizer and Elasser, 1958).

Great Basin Scratched Style (petroglyphs)

... were made by a sharp rock used to inscribed lines in a single stroke. The style is distinguished by its limited subject matter consisting of straight lines, sun figures, and cross hatching as well as by technique of manufacture. It usually appears to be of more recent manufacture than pecked glyphs (Heizer and Baumhoff, 1962), and Bettinger and Baumhoff (1982) suggest that scratchings represent the efforts of later, or Numic peoples to obliterate the earlier, or Pre-Numic designs. View sample of Great Basin Scratched.

Great Mural Style
(pictograph)

... colors include black (charcoal), white (a solidified volcanic ash), brick red (crushed lava), orange red (ocher), yellow (ocher?). The paintings were done by outlining the figures in white or black and filling in with red or black. Human figures, sheep and deer are often divided vertically and painted one side red and the other side black. Animals are shown life size or greater while human figures range from a few inches to over 10 feet. Animals are shown in profile and humans frontally without facial features. Circa 500 - 3000 BP. (H. Crosby, 1997). View sample of Great Mural Style pictographs.

Hohokam Culture

... were a non-pueblo, pottery making, agricultural people inhabiting an area from above Phoenix south to the modern Mexican border, west to Gila Bend and east to near the Arizona-New Mexico border. The Hohokam are the oldest agricultural people in the southwest and their chronology spans from 300 BC to 1400 AD.

Intaglios

... are large ground drawings created by removing the pebbles that make up desert pavement. Intaglios are usually in the outline of animals (zoomorphs) or anthropomorphs (human-like figures). Intaglios are found on mesas along the Colorado River more so than in other places.

Jornada Style
(petroglyphs & pictographs)

... petroglyph style found in the deserts of southern New Mexico and northern Chihuahua. Includes highly stylistic animals i.e. humans, birds, horned serpents, with large heads, snouts and eyes; human and animal figures with heads in outline and facial features; faces and masks (katchina), cloud terraces with rainbows; stepped frets and maze like elements resembling textile and pottery designs. Post AD 1000. see Schaafsma, P. 1992. View sample of Jornada Style.

Kiva Art

... are pictograph murals painted on the walls of subterranean pueblo culture chambers. The paintings were used in ceremonial and religious activities, and not for decoration. Kiva art probably comes closer to the common definition of 'art' more so than other forms of 'rock art'.

La Rumerosa Style
(pictograph)

... characterized by polychrome rectangular and curvilinear designs in red, black, yellow, and white. Sunbursts, divided circles and amorphic shapes, bold lines, and simple 'stickman' anthropomorphs are common; two or more colors are often used in one element. This style is associated with the Kumeyaay people post AD 1500, occurs on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and is named by Ken Hedges for the extensive La Rumorosa Pictograph Site in Baja, Mexico.
View sample of La Rumerosa Style pictographs.

Mogollon

... defined by Emil Haury and one of the earliest corn growing cultures in the southwest. By AD 950 the Mogollon occupied southwest New Mexico, southeast Arizona, the part of Texas along the Rio Grande, and most of the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. The Mogollon did not build pueblos as complex as the Anasazi and depended less on agriculture. The Mimbres branch of the Mogollon made the most attractive and sought-after black-on-white pottery.

Numic

... a branch of the Uto-Aztecan family of languages including Northern Paiute, Shoshone, Comanche, Southern Paiute, Ute and other speakers of that language branch. Also used here to refer collectively to the members of those groups.

Paiute

... are two distinct groups of indigenous North Americans speaking languages belonging to the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock. The Northern Paiute ranged over Central and Eastern California, Western Nevada, and Eastern Oregon. The Southern Paiute ranged over Southern Utah, Southern Nevada, NW Arizona and SE California. The Ghost Dance religion, which became of great significance on the western frontier in the 1890s first appeared among the Paiute, circa 1870.

Petroglyphs

... are carved, pecked, chipped or abraded into stone. The outer patina covered surface of the parent rock is removed to expose the usually lighter stone underneath. Some stone is better suited to petroglyph making than other stone. Rock that contains a lot of quartz does not work well for carved stone; however a nice flat desert varnished basalt is usually well suited for petroglyphs.

Petroglyph Replicas

see detailed replicas of petroglyphs carved in stone that you can hang in your home or office

Pictographs

... are painted onto stone and are much more fragile than petroglyphs. The paint is a mineral or vegetal substance combined with some sort of binder like fat residue or blood. If the paint was not properly mixed with a binder it would not adhere well to the stone and the pictograph would quickly flake away. Pictographs were painted in places partially protected from the elements: in caves, alcoves, under rock ledges and overhangs.

Rancho Bernardo Style
(pertoglyphs & pictographs)

... are large scale geometric panels painted in red or in petroglyph form, especially maze-like patterns. Panels are usually rectangular or contained in rectangular borders. Found mainly in eastern Riverside County, California, this style overlaps Northern Diegueno and Luiseno areas with some extension into Cahuilla area. Time depth is unknown, but older than San Luis Rey Style when both are on the same panel. (Hedges and Hamann, 1987)
View sample of Rancho Bernardo Style pictograph.

Renegade Canyon, Petroglyph Canyon, and Sheep Canyon

... are located in the Coso Mountain Range north of Ridgecrest, California and mostly on the China Lake Navy Base. The anthropomorphs and bighorn sheep represented in the Coso Range are the most highly acclaimed in the Southwestern United States. This area is part of the most western extension of the Great Basin Desert Culture. The archaeological chronology of the area can be divided into three general periods.

Early Period - prior to 200 BC
Transitional Period - starting around 200 BC and lasting to AD 500, marked the introduction of the bow and arrow into the area.
Late Period - after 500 AD and ending around 1300 AD marked the decimation of the local sheep herds.

Representational

... rock art that represents real items that may be encountered during everyday activities. These item include anthropomorphs, zoomorphs, insect forms, snakes, birds, four legged animals of all kinds, plants, etc. and they probably exhibit a degree of stylization.

Reserve Style
(petroglyphs)

... named for petroglyphs occurring in the Reserve District (San Francisco and Tularosa river Drainages), New Mexico. Predominant are stick figures of anthropomorphs and zoomorphs in active stances, bear and other tracks including deer, raccoon, human and coati mundi; life forms include snakes, fish, frogs, tadpoles, lizards, rabbits, birds and quadruped that range from unidentifiable to identifiable by species. Abstracts include spirals, sunbursts, spoked circles, concentric circles, long wavy lines, dot rows; outlined crossed are common. Petroglyphs are pecked in hard rock and gouged up to 3" into volcanic tuff. see Schaafsma, P. 1992

Rio Grand Style
(petroglyphs)

... dominates the petroglyphs found in the Rio Grand Drainage of Northern New Mexico south to Soccoro. Includes large box-like body anthropomorphs defined in outline and sometimes filled with decorative detail. Large feet, knobby knees and well developed calves are typical; shield bearers, humpbacked flute players, heads of life forms with facial features; various shaped masks pecked over two rock face angles or in profile are diagnostic; mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, shields, cloud terraces four pointed stars and crosses. Post AD 1300. see Schfaasma, P. 1992.

Rock Art

... commonly used term referring to petroglyphs, pictographs and intaglios collectively. This is also a potentially misleading term since the word "art" implies an certain intent of the rock art maker that does not exist. The technically better general descriptive term of "rock graphics" is proposed by F.A. Barnes; see Canyon Country Prehistoric Rock Art.

Salado Culture

... a pueblo people who occupied an area centered near Roosevelt Lake Arizona. They seemed to have good relations with the Hohokam to the southwest, the Mogollon to the east and the Anasazi to the North.

San Luis Rey Style
(pictograph)

... characterized by rectangular geometric designs in red which include diamonds, diamond chains, zigzags, chevrons, straight lines and dot patterns; often in vertical series; frequently bordered at top and/or bottom; rare representational and curvilinear elements (True, 1954). Associated with late prehistoric and historic Luiseno people. Type site is on the San Luis Rey River, San Diego County, California.
View sample of San Luis Rey Style Pictographs.

Shoshone

... used here refers to the indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan Linguistic Stock. The Shoshone are traditionally divided into four groups: The Comanche of West Texas, the Northern Shoshone of Idaho and Utah, the Western Shoshone of Nevada and California, and the Wind River Shoshone of Wyoming. The Shoshone migrated across the western US from California starting around AD 1000.

Sinagua Culture

... a semi-pueblo people living in the Verde Valley of Arizona above the Hohokam and below the Anasazi, approximately from Phoenix to above Flagstaff. They built small traditional type pueblos and also citadel type structures on rocky crags and under the rims of deep canyons. The name Sinagua if from Spanish, meaning 'without water', referring to their practice of 'dry farming' i.e. crop farming without irrigation systems. AD 700 - AD 1400.

Style

... a potentially misleading term used to describe particular characteristics of rock "art" and the rock art "artist". I use "style" to differentiate between various methods and techniques of rock graphic making and not to imply the artist had any preconceived aesthetic conceptions or intentions in creating their work, nor was the artist part of a larger artistic "movement".

Zoomorphs

... are animal-like figures. Like anthropomorphs they range from simple stick figures to complex depictions exhibiting such detail as hooves and ears.

contact me with additional information to be included here daustin@sandcarveddesigns.com

Products	Mimbres Art	Petroglyphs Unframed	Petroglyphs Framed	Hawaiian Petroglyphs	Kokopelli	Petroglyph Glassware	Southwestern Ceramic Tile
Products	Petroglyph Clocks	Petroglyph Note Cards	Shelf/ Desk Display		Rock Art Books & CDs	Optical Illusions	Custom Awards

Rock Art and Archaeology Terminology
	Sand Carved Designs Rock Art Petroglyphs and Pictographs

SITE MAP