The Comparative Study Of Hoof Print Petroglyph At Kansas Rock Art Site 14EW405 and the Ethnographic Ledger Books of the Late 19th Century Introduction The study of the rock art in North America is a vast milieu of differing peoples and times. Some areas, and traditions, are well studied, with the understanding of the people who created the works are more defined in their source. Kansas, with the exception to a few sites, is not one of those areas. With a slow trickle, the expansion of understanding, and possible sourcing of some works are coming into archaeological light (Mitchell 2004, 12). Kansas rock art sites present several difficulties, natural and man-made. Not only is the “rock” that the works are on being weathered by time, moisture,
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First, nature itself is fighting against the sites. As previously stated, the Smoky Hills region is made up of Dakota sandstone, sandstone, as a porous, sedimentary rock, has many inherent qualities that leads to the destruction of the stone. Being porous, water will cause flaking off sheets when “face-bedded”, this moisture damage can also be seen in splitting of the stone due to freezing then thawing, and erosion (). This inherent quality of the sandstone is only one of the natural challenges that archaeologist face when working in the region. Without proper management, this area is naturally designed to make rock art temporally fleeting. Efforts to preserve rock art in neighboring Faris Cave site have shown promising results in the use of ethyl silicate and silane that may enable the lengthening of time for archaeological research, and maintain a link to the past (Grisafe 1996, 373). Next is the historical, and modern, vandalism of sites within Kansas. From the movement of “pioneers” and settlers of into the area leaving their marks on the stones, to modern inhabitants marking up, etching out, using the works as target practice, the works themselves are now harder to observe, if left at …show more content…
Along with Paleoindian and Archaic peoples, in the 1981 work O’Neill concludes that there are ten possible tribes to which rock art can possibly attributed to in specific ranges: Various Plains Apache groups, Comanche, Kiowa, Kiowa Apache bands, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Wichita, Pawnee, Osage, and Kanza. He also suggests that the sites “… could be measured in hundreds of years rather than thousands” (O’Neill 1981, 26). This is a broad range of traditions and peoples to filter through at any given site. Finally, it is in archaeology itself that makes the narrowing down of the creators of each work difficult. The overlapping and possible multiple use of the sites makes the dating and assigning source of tradition close to impossible. While artifacts may be found near or in conjunction of the sites, their presence does not necessarily ascribe the artifacts with the works in context. Association is lost.
General History of Plains Indian’s Ledger Art The tradition of Ledger Art is an extension of earlier portable art and decoration found in the Plains Indian’s buffalo robe, tipi art, and winter counts. These works are a combination of biopic art, symbolism, and heraldry. Accounts and insights to the heraldry can be found in works such as James Mooney’s 2013 In the Sun’s Likeness & Power Vol. 1., where the meaning and ascription of shield and tipi art is explained from the collective memory of the Cheyenne people
First, nature itself is fighting against the sites. As previously stated, the Smoky Hills region is made up of Dakota sandstone, sandstone, as a porous, sedimentary rock, has many inherent qualities that leads to the destruction of the stone. Being porous, water will cause flaking off sheets when “face-bedded”, this moisture damage can also be seen in splitting of the stone due to freezing then thawing, and erosion (). This inherent quality of the sandstone is only one of the natural challenges that archaeologist face when working in the region. Without proper management, this area is naturally designed to make rock art temporally fleeting. Efforts to preserve rock art in neighboring Faris Cave site have shown promising results in the use of ethyl silicate and silane that may enable the lengthening of time for archaeological research, and maintain a link to the past (Grisafe 1996, 373). Next is the historical, and modern, vandalism of sites within Kansas. From the movement of “pioneers” and settlers of into the area leaving their marks on the stones, to modern inhabitants marking up, etching out, using the works as target practice, the works themselves are now harder to observe, if left at …show more content…
Along with Paleoindian and Archaic peoples, in the 1981 work O’Neill concludes that there are ten possible tribes to which rock art can possibly attributed to in specific ranges: Various Plains Apache groups, Comanche, Kiowa, Kiowa Apache bands, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Wichita, Pawnee, Osage, and Kanza. He also suggests that the sites “… could be measured in hundreds of years rather than thousands” (O’Neill 1981, 26). This is a broad range of traditions and peoples to filter through at any given site. Finally, it is in archaeology itself that makes the narrowing down of the creators of each work difficult. The overlapping and possible multiple use of the sites makes the dating and assigning source of tradition close to impossible. While artifacts may be found near or in conjunction of the sites, their presence does not necessarily ascribe the artifacts with the works in context. Association is lost.
General History of Plains Indian’s Ledger Art The tradition of Ledger Art is an extension of earlier portable art and decoration found in the Plains Indian’s buffalo robe, tipi art, and winter counts. These works are a combination of biopic art, symbolism, and heraldry. Accounts and insights to the heraldry can be found in works such as James Mooney’s 2013 In the Sun’s Likeness & Power Vol. 1., where the meaning and ascription of shield and tipi art is explained from the collective memory of the Cheyenne people