Plains Indian Rock Art

by James D. Keyser

Overview

The Plains region that stretches from northern Colorado to southern Alberta and from the Rockies to the western Dakotas is the land of the Cheyenne and the Blackfeet, the Crow and the Sioux. Its rolling grasslands and river valleys have nurtured human cultures for thousands of years. On cave walls, glacial boulders, and riverside cliffs, native people recorded their ceremonies, vision quests, battles, and daily activities in the petroglyphs and pictographs they incised, pecked, or painted onto the stone surfaces.

In this vast landscape, some rock art sites were clearly intended for communal use; others just as clearly mark the occurrence of a private spiritual encounter. Elders often used rock art, such as complex depictions of hunting, to teach traditional knowledge and skills to the young. Other sites document the medicine powers and brave deeds of famous warriors. Some Plains rock art goes back more than 5,000 years; some forms were made continuously over many centuries.

Archaeologists James Keyser and Michael Klassen show us the origins, diversity, and beauty of Plains rock art. The seemingly endless variety of images include humans, animals of all kinds, weapons, masks, mazes, handprints, finger lines, geometric and abstract forms, tally marks, hoofprints, and the wavy lines and starbursts that humans universally associate with trancelike states. Plains Indian Rock Art is the ultimate guide to the art form. It covers the natural and archaeological history of the northwestern Plains; explains rock art forms, techniques, styles, terminology, and dating; and offers interpretations of images and compositions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295980942
Publisher:	University of British Columbia Press
Publication date:	08/27/2001
Series:	Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.72(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James D. Keyser conducts research for the Indigenous Cultures Preservation Society. He has taught anthropology at SUNY Buffalo and the University of Tulsa, and served as Northwest Regional Archaeologist for the USDA Forest Service. He is the author of Clan Crests and Shamans' Masks: Petroglyphs in Southeast Alaska (Indigenous Cultures Preservation society, 2012), Rock Art of the Oregon Country (Oregon Archaeological Society Press, 2010), Indian Rock Art of the Columbia Plateau (University of Washington Press, 1992); and coauthor of Plains Indian Rock Art (University of Washington Press, 2001).

Table of Contents

Contents

Authors' Note

Preface

Part I. Introduction and Background

1. Introduction to Rock Art

2. Dating Rock Art

3. Interpreting Rock Art

4. The Area and Its History

5. Native Cultures of the Northwestern Plains

Part II. Rock Art Traditions of the Northwestern Plains

6. Early Hunting Tradition

7. Columbia Plateau Tradition

8. Dinwoody Tradition

9. En Toto Pecked Tradition

10. Pecked Abstract Tradition

11. Foothills Abstract Tradition

12. Hoofprint Tradition

13. Ceremonial Tradition

14. Biographic Tradition

15. Robe and Ledger Art Tradition

16. Vertical Series Tradition

Summary and Conclusions

Appendix. Sites Developed for the Public

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

H-Net Reviews

An outstanding contribution to rock art studies, of value... to those interested in the prehistory and history of the indigenous inhabitants of the Great Plains.

H-Net Reviews

An outstanding contribution to rock art studies, of value... to those interested in the prehistory and history of the indigenous inhabitants of the Great Plains.

From the Publisher

An outstanding contribution to rock art studies, of value... to those interested in the prehistory and history of the indigenous inhabitants of the Great Plains.

University of Washington Press

Editorial Reviews

"In the empire of rock art (at least on the northwestern plains), Keyser and Klassen reign supreme."

European Review of Native American Studies

"An outstanding study of the rock art of the northern Great Plains from Colorado to Alberta. This area contains some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in the Americas, and there is rock art covering thousands of years."

American Archaeology

"In the empire of rock art (at least on the northwestern plains), Keyser and Klassen reign supreme."—European Review of Native American Studies

"An outstanding study of the rock art of the northern Great Plains from Colorado to Alberta. This area contains some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in the Americas, and there is rock art covering thousands of years."—American Archaeology

From the Publisher