Distribution of Pictographic Rock Art Sites in Alaska and a Map of Their Decipherment as Astronomy by Location

The distribution of rock art sites in Alaska, U.S.A. is shown in a map at http://www.nps.gov/archeology/sites/npsites/images/noatakMap.gif
linked to the article
High Alpine Lakeside Villages and Associated Rock Art in the Brooks Range, Alaska by Scott Shirar, Jeff Rasic, and Eric Carlson at the government NPS (National Park Service) Archeology Program.

We have redrawn that map for our decipherment purposes as follows. In Map 1  we show the sites and in Map 2 we add the decipherment information.

Map 1: Rock Art Sites in Alaska

The rock sites in that map according to our decipherments represent stars in the following groups of stars, going clockwise: Draco and the stars at the center of heaven, Cepheus (above it Cassiopeia), Cygnus with Lyra, Pegasus, Pisces and Cetus. We have marked the appropriate star groups on the map below.

The decipherments are by Andis Kaulins who is not affiliated with the National Park Service (NPS).  Individual sites in Alaska follow in subsequent postings.

Map 2 shows the general decipherment of Alaska rock art sites by location:

 Map 2: Rock Art Sites in Alaska Deciphered by Location

We go to decipherment of individual sites in subsequent postings.

For general information.... The name "Alaska" is said to come from the Russian version of the Aleutian viz. Aleut Indian word "Alakshak" viz. "Alaxsxaq" meaning "mainland", "great lands", "shore" or "peninsula" in various versions of alleged meaning said to apply in ancient days to the continental North American land mass from the Aleutians to present day Yukon Territory. See:

• Origin of "Alaska": Alaska State Name Origin, State Symbols USA 
• eRD, eReferenceDesk

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 125 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Distribution of Pictographic Rock Art Sites in Alaska and a Map of Their Decipherment as Astronomy by Location

Medicine Wheel Locations in Alberta, Canada Collectively Mark the Stars of Sagittarius, Corona Australis and Telescopium

Medicine wheel locations in Alberta, Canada collectively mark the stars of Sagittarius, Corona Australis and Telescopium as follows:

The medicine wheels are concentrated in Alberta, Canada, based on a map by Don Perry at http://www.geocities.ws/donperry44111/medicinewheelmap.gif, which covers a much larger area of both current Canada as well as the USA.

The upper part of the image shows the medicine wheel locations as black dots and the thick red lines show the star correspondences to the stars of Sagittarius, Corona Australis and Telescopium, as shown in a sky map via Starry Night Pro, http://astronomy.starrynight.com/ to which comparable thick red lines have been added for explanatory purposes.

The above decipherment was made by Andis Kaulins who is unaffiliated with the above sources.

Considering the large area of territory the medicine wheels cover in Alberta, the geographic match with the stars of Sagittarius and Corona Australis is quite good.

Telescopium specifically on the other hand is uncertain because it is simply unclear which stars there the ancients would have used.

The map by Perry also shows that there are a number of medicine wheels in Saskatechewan. These could be interpreted to mark stars of Scorpio -- recall that we previously sited Scorpio in Saskatchewan in the ancient land survey of Native America by astronomy -- but there are simply too few medicine wheels in Saskatchewan to say that Scorpio was also marked by them.

Other scattered medicine wheels elsewhere in Perry's map provide no probative basis for identification as specific stars or star groups.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 124 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Medicine Wheel Locations in Alberta, Canada Collectively Mark the Stars of Sagittarius, Corona Australis and Telescopium

Pictograph Cave State Park Montana Giant Cliff Wall "Cupules" viz. Cupmarks (Holes and Indentations) and Carved Figures Mark Stars in the Sky ca. 3000 B.C.

Pictograph Cave State Park near Billings, Montana is one the most spectacular ancient sites in the United States, but not because of its pictographs.

Pictograph Cave State Park (photos and videos at that link) because of the similar gigantic dimensions could be viewed as the comparable in North America to Lascaux in France (see https://books.google.de/books?id=A7MKwOWT0zgC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14), Saqsaywaman in Peru, and the Extern Stones (Externsteine) in Germany.

Pictograph Cave State Park has caves -- more properly "overhangs", petroglyphs and sandstone cliffs, the latter, as we have discovered, marked with gigantic figures and cupules, all -- we allege -- marking stars of the heavens.

Because of sandstone erosion, "see it while you can" might be the motto of this site as regards the giant wall "cupules" viz. holes and indentations of Pictograph Cave State Park near Billings, Montana, which according to our decipherment mark stars in the sky ca. 3000 B.C. Luckily for our work, what is outside the caves appears more important than what is inside. Pictographs are later in time.

Earlier this year, as reported by Brett French in the Billings Gazette in Pictograph Cave park assessed for rock repairs, the Pictograph Caves were closed for public viewing when a giant car-sized slab of overhanging sandstone in the normal process of erosion fell down and shattered the concrete viewing area below it. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Sandstone is subject to erosion, so that the rock stability problem is known to officials but difficult to secure.

The outer cupule wall locations at Pictograph Cave State Park have been drawn and subjectively interpreted here by Andis Kaulins based on online photographs found via Google Image Search, especially photos and videos by Scott at AllAroundTheWest.com and by Elliot Stahl at Flickr (commercial set of copyrighted photographs of Pictograph Cave State Park).

To avoid copyright issues we have had to make our own drawings, creating a panorama view divided into two sections. It is a very time-consuming process, but then we do not have to worry about intellectual property problems, as these illustrations are our own work, and rely on numerous sources.

The decipherment drawings below are thus our cupmark selections (cupules, "holes"). The same applies to the alleged figures sculpted in the stone. Such identifications here are quite speculative and we make no warranty of accuracy that our selection is right. We think it could be, that is all.
 

The Giant Wall "Cupules" (Holes and Indentations)

of Pictograph Cave State Park, Billings, Montana

Mark Stars in the Sky ca. 3000 B.C. at Cave 1
This wall is at Cave 1, "the Pictograph Cave"

The Giant Wall "Cupules" (Holes and Indentations)

of Pictograph Cave State Park, Billings, Montana

Mark Stars in the Sky ca. 3000 B.C. at Cave 3
This wall is at Cave 3, "the Ghost Cave"

Please note that until the archaeological community produces an "official" map of the wall cupmarks viz. holes in the cliffs, and until professional artists verify the figures carved in the cliffs, our decipherments here must remain highly speculative in nature.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 123 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Pictograph Cave State Park Montana Giant Cliff Wall "Cupules" viz. Cupmarks (Holes and Indentations) and Carved Figures Mark Stars in the Sky ca. 3000 B.C.

The Rock Formation at Big Butte Montana Marks the Stars of Boötes, whence (speculatively) perhaps the Name Butte, but Did Humans Have a Hand in It?

Notice: The previously posted decipherment is a cinch. Here the situation is just the reverse. There is no way presently to prove any of the following, so this can only be regarded as speculative fun, until and unless more evidence turns up. We know of no evidence that the Big Butte landform has been humanly "worked", so until such evidence turns up, perhaps  via research instigated through this posting, it remains an interesting "coincidence" of forms.

The Big Butte landform, the eroded neck of an ancient volcano, is the most significant landmark of Butte, Montana and gave the city its name. See Walter Harvey Weed, Geology and ore deposits of the Butte district, Montana, Government Printing Office, 1912.

In a paper by Carrie K. Boetgger, The Legacy of Butte Mining, GEO 422 Winter Term, Ronald Doel, 22 March 2001, http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/geo422/butte.pdf, we find written:

"Settlers named a distinctive volcanic cone in the valley’s northwest corner “Big Butte” and a granitic, thousand-foot rise to its east “the Hill.”  The hill was a treasure trove worth billions of dollars in gold, silver, zinc, lead, manganese, and above all, copper."

The assumption that one reads in the literature that the original name of Big Butte came from the French-origin term "butte" meaning "small hill" appears to be shaky. The name of "Big Butte" could trace back to a similar Indian word adapted by settlers to the known French-origin term.

We suggest "Big Butte" could have come from Boötes. The region has been inhabited since prehistorical times. That the rock formation of Big Butte represented the stars of Boötes in the ancient land survey of Native America by astronomy can be theorized after viewing the art of Buddy Bunting, who has created several art works that incorporate Big Butte's rock formations. We find the match that we suggest with the stars of Boötes to be to close for all of it to match naturally, the same argument we made previously about Virgo and La Piedra Pintada, viz. Carisa Rock as the Painted Rock of California. Obviously, the main rock formations are naturally made, but has there been "tweaking" by human hand? We think it possible.

See http://www.buddybunting.com/files/gimgs/16_buntingbutte2.jpg.

We work a lot with images and that linked piece of art is a beauty, showing the artist's great powers of observation, and perhaps suggesting some essential man-made carvings on the rocks.

Below is our decipherment of the Big Butte landmark, a landform likely selected by the ancients for its natural resemblance in shape to the stars of Boötes, and equally likely tweaked here and there by human hand to finish the rock picture. There also appear to be some figures carved on the rocks, but this is unclear.

Big Butte Montana as the Stars of Boötes

The numbers assigned to various rocks in the Big Butte landmark formation in the top half of the above image correspond to the number assigned to the stars of Boötes in the lower half of the image. We see the large stone (number "0") at the bottom as Arcturus, and the remainder of the numbers as marking groups of stars in Boötes.

It could be that we are right. It could be that we are wrong. It is one of our most fun theories but one least supported by probative evidence.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 122 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

The Rock Formation at Big Butte Montana Marks the Stars of Boötes, whence (speculatively) perhaps the Name Butte, but Did Humans Have a Hand in It?

The "Lost" Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs of Eel River California are a Sky Map ca. 3400 B.C. and Perhaps an Ancient Map of the Northern Pacific Northwest Including Alaska

This posting presents an astronomical decipherment of the once "lost" Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs ("Slakaiya Rock") of California.

The previously "lost" Slakaiya Rock petroglyphs are located near Eel River, Trinity County, in northern California and exist in two major "panels". Slakaiya Rock "was rediscovered by an archaeologically trained DF forester" a few miles north of the present Mendocino County line, two hours from Garberville in rough country and with the last 20 miles on private roads, near Moose Peak and only 1/2 mile from Little Moose Peak. The site had in fact already been found 80 years previously but-- as admitted in the various writings -- had been lost by the "archaeological system" in the interim.

The Slakaiya Rock of Northern California is pictured and analyzed in Daniel G. Foster and John W. Foster, Slakaiya Rock (CA-TRI-1): A Rediscovered Petroglyph Site Near the Eel River, Trinity County, California Essays in California Archaeology: A Memorial to Franklin Fenenga, editors Silliam J. Wallace and Francis A. Riddell, Number 60, Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility, Berkeley, 2002. For images see also:

• http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/arf060-001.pdf
• http://www.dstretch.com/Eel/others/Slakaiya.pdf
  (Jon Harman at DStretch)

The Slakaiya are one of the three major "tribelets" of the Wailaki tribe, who themselves were the northern-most of the so-called Athebascan peoples, also called "Ko'il" by the Yuki who referred to the Wailaki as the "north people". Indeed, Wailaki is a Wintun word meaning "north language".

Eel River is significant in reconstructing ancient California tribes and cultures. Alfred Louis Kroeber in his Handbook of the Indians of California writes that:

"The southern limit of the redwood canoe can therefore be set definitely at Cape Mendocino on the coast, and near the confluence of Eel River with its South Fork in the interior."

This is not only a boundary of cultural and tribal significance, but Cape Mendocino across from Sugarloaf Island is the geographically westernmost point of present California. This area was thus locationally significant to the ancients.

See on various related topics:

• CAL FIRE Archaeology Program: A Tribute to Mark Gary: Mark Gary obituary  
• Difference between the sequoia and the redwood

The Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs exist in two panels. As one can see from the decipherments of those panels below, the Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs are so clearly astronomical that it was a relatively easy task to decipher them.

The decipherment drawings below are of a different size than found in original sources and no warranty can thus be made for accuracy. See original drawings of the petroglyphs at the sources cited above.

All the colored elements and explanations have been added by the decipherer Andis Kaulins, who is unafilliated with the above authors and sources. Star positions are presented via Starry Night Pro astronomy software, see: http://astronomy.starrynight.com.

Panel 1  covers 3/4 of the sky and Panel 2 covers the other 1/4 of the sky, with Panel 1 extending from the Winter Solstice at the top left, to the Autumn Equinox at the bottom left and the Summer Solstice at the right. The position of the Vernal Equinox is empty, but is then covered in Panel 2, which is located across from Panel 1 at Slakaiya Rock.

Panel 1, Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs, Eel River, Trinity County, California

Winter Solstice, Autumn Equinox, Summer Solstice ca. 3400 B.C.

Panel 2, Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs, Eel River, Trinity County, California

Vernal Equinox ca. 3400 B.C.

Important: Note at the Panel 1 Slakaiya Rock decipherment image that the shape of all the petroglyphs taken together appears to be similar in some respects to a map of the northern Pacific Northwest, including Alaska, with e.g. the Alaskan Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands marked by Pegasus. Rightly or wrongly in terms of analysis, that similarity was instrumental in our decipherment of ancient sites in Alaska, upcoming soon in our postings, meaning that this map was a "localized" map independent of the larger survey of Native America by astronomy and thus surely predating it.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 121 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

The "Lost" Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs of Eel River California are a Sky Map ca. 3400 B.C. and Perhaps an Ancient Map of the Northern Pacific Northwest Including Alaska

Roosevelt Washington Columbia River Rock Inscriptions at Horsethief Lake State Park are a Marvelous Sky Map ca. 750 B.C. in the Shape of a Dog-like Animal's Head Reminiscent of Machu Picchu

A rock inscription found on the Columbia River at Roosevelt, Washington (State) is now housed at Horsethief Lake State Park because of the building of a dam on the river. See VirtualTourist.com in a writing by glabah for a nice history of the Horsethief Park Ancient Stone Carvings: petroglyphs.


Rock Art Oregon quotes ethnologist Herbert Krieger in 1927 during a Smithsonian survey that: "Rock inscriptions at Roosevelt, Washington, except for one maze-like inscription covering several square feet of rock surface, are nondescript and have apparently little value as an archeological key."

The rock inscription maze referred to there is one of the most spectacular sky maps of ancient Native America which we date to ca. 750 B.C. based on the positions of the Solstices and Equinoxes in that era.

The Roosevelt Washington maze-like inscription "maps" the full circle of the sky as a dog-like head shape with the eye at Draco's mid heaven. We have colored the cupmarks and line markings for easier understanding.

We decipher that petroglyph inscription below, relying on an image at Rock Art Oregon at http://rockartoregon.com/ with which we have no affiliation. 

The Roosevelt, Washington, Columbia River Petroglyph Inscription

Deciphered by Andis Kaulins as a Sky Map of the Stars ca. 750 B.C.

The above decipherment by Andis Kaulins, July, 2015, in Traben-Trarbach, is based on online materials, in particular a photograph at Rock Art Oregon, http://rockartoregon.com/to-become-visible/category/Motif.

As written at Rock Art Oregon (paragraphed by us into smaller paragraphs for easier reading):

"In the early 1920s an Oregon newspaper announced discovery of “Picture Writings” near Roosevelt, Washington, on the Columbia River. A popular 1921 volume, Oregon [1], provided drawings of petroglyphs from the site. The Oregon State Motor Association promoted the location as destination for vacationers, via ferry from Arlington, Oregon.

Thus began “Glyphland” and nine decades [of] speculation, promotion, displacement, and documentation. 

The John Day Dam project in the 1950s and 1960s sparked relocation of 27 of the riverside basalt boulders to a civic park near Roosevelt.

After forty years and visits by thousands, neglect motivated a 2003 move under the auspices of the Army Corps of Engineers, in consultation with tribal and park representatives, to [2].

In 2012 these 27 boulders joined other petroglyphs displaced by The Dalles Dam in the 1950s to become part of the Temani Pesh-wa Trail.

Today this display, along with the nearby Tsagiglalal [3] petroglyph, is a popular heritage attraction."

Read more there.

It is interesting to see how the dog-like head used as a shape to mark the starry sky here finds its later sky-marking corresponding animal head theme in our previously published decipherment of Machu Picchu.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 120 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Roosevelt Washington Columbia River Rock Inscriptions at Horsethief Lake State Park are a Marvelous Sky Map ca. 750 B.C. in the Shape of a Dog-like Animal's Head Reminiscent of Machu Picchu

A Possible Fertility Origin of the Name of Oregon in a Similar Native American Term

As written at the Wikipedia under Oregon Country:

"Oregon Country consisted of the land north of 42°N latitude, south of 54°40′N latitude, and west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The area now forms part of the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, all of the US states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming."

Amazingly, the origin of the name Oregon is no longer known at all with certainty and several explanations have been attempted in the literature. The Wikipedia at Oregon (toponym) writes:

"The origin of the name of the U.S. state of Oregon is unknown,^[1] and a subject of some dispute."

The name "Oregon" is said to be "distinctly" American in origin ... i.e. it will surely go back to a Native American root as many State names do ... since the British called the area "the Columbia District". As written at the Wikipedia:

"The origin of the word Oregon is not known for certain. One theory is that French Canadian fur company employees called the Columbia River "hurricane river" le fleuve d'ouragan, because of the strong winds of the Columbia Gorge. George R. Stewart argued in a 1944 article in American Speech that the name came from an engraver's error in a French map published in the early 18th century, on which the Ouisiconsink (Wisconsin River) was spelled "Ouaricon-sint", broken on two lines with the -sint below, so that there appeared to be a river flowing to the west named "Ouaricon". This theory was endorsed in Oregon Geographic Names as "the most plausible explanation"."

Oregon (toponym) at the Wikipedia adds:

"Other theories suggest that Rogers appropriated the Abenaki name for the Ohio River, Waregan, or found the name Ourican on a highly-speculative 1715 French map.^[6]"

We think that the Ourican found on that French map is the right connection. It is the subsequent interpretations which are faulty.

What people fail to realize is that the later Ouragon was merely a French spelling of an Indian word, writing that word as close as possible to a word they knew in their own language. As written at the Wikipedia, Oregon (toponym):

"Most scholarship ascribes the earliest known use of the name "Oregon" to a 1765 petition by Major Robert Rogers to the Kingdom of Great Britain, seeking money to finance an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage. The petition read "the rout[e] . . . is from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the Indians Ouragon...." [emphasis added]

So Ouragon viz. Ourican therefore have nothing to do with the French word for "hurricane" as regards the origin of the Indian term. We are not seeking a later French word adaptation, we are seeking an original INDIAN word and that word is never going to mean "hurricane" but rather something else.

In fact, it is likely in our opinion that Oregon takes its name from an Indian term for the greater northwest Pacific area of "Oregon Country" as representing the stars of Virgo in the ancient land survey of Native America.

This theory is supported by the unexplained prevalence of ancient fertility figures throughout this entire region, including Pomo Indian practices which venerate the so-called megalithic "baby rocks" as fertility symbols.

Why here, in this region?

The Eastern Pomo Indian region (which seems to include the Mendocino Shasta) has 'qa-ra-ya-qa-wikh as the term for "girl" (hence extrapolated "young woman, virgin"). See in this regard a Brief World List of Eastern Pomo via http://cimcc.org/education-center/pomo-language-resource/, as prepared by Sally McLendon of Hunter College of the City University of New York.

We suggest that  'qa-ra-ya-qa could have anciently given the name of the region of Oregon (Country) as anciently marking the stars of Virgo, a similar term. The term was later written Ourican on the earliest known French map.

Indeed, one could even raise the idea that Oregon took its name not from Virgo but equally from the fertility name for Boötes, depicted as a man, whereby "father" in Eastern Pomo is "hárik", and the "address term" for son or father is "hárika", perhaps even more similar to Oregon and Virgo than 'qa-ra-ya-qa.

Harika is found in the Wikipedia and here is what we read:

"In India, Harika is a Hindu name, associated with the goddess Parvati."

and Parvati, quoting the Wikipedia again, is "the goddess of fertility":

"Parvati (Devanagari: पार्वती, IAST: Pārvatī) is the Hindu goddess of love, fertility and devotion. She is the gentle and nurturing aspect of Hindu goddess Shakti. She is the mother goddess in Hinduism and has many attributes and aspects."

So it is a nice "coincidental" (?) match with the Pomo Indian terms, is it not?

The possible Sanskrit viz. Hindu connection is also interesting in view of what Richard Hinckley Allen writes in Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning about ancient sea navigators:

"Before the observations of the navigators of the 15th and 16th centuries the singular belief prevailed that the southern heavens contained a constellation near the pole similar to our Bear or Wain; indeed, it is said to have been represented on an early map or globe. Manilius wrote:

The lower Pole resemblance bears

To this Above, and shines with equal stars;

With Bears averse, round which the Draco twines;

and Al Birūni repeated the Sanskrit legend that at one time in the history of the Creation an attempt was made by Visvāmitra to form a southern heavenly home for the body of the dead king, the pious Somadatta; and this work was not abandoned till a southern pole and another Bear had been located in positions corresponding to the northern, this pole passing through the island Lunka, or Vadavāmukha (Ceylon). The Anglo-Saxon Manual made distinct mention of this duplicate constellation "which we can never see." Towards our day Eden, describing the "pole Antartike," said:

     Aloysius Cadamustus¹ wryteth in this effecte: We saw also syxe cleare bryght and great starres very lowe above the sea. And consyderynge theyr stations with our coompasse, we found them to stande ryght south, fygured in this maner, .:...,. We judged them to bee the chariotte or wayne of the south: But we saw not the principall starre, as we coulde not by good reason, except we shuld first lose the syght of the north pole."

Who were these ancient sea voyagers referred to in Sanskrit legend and when and where did their travels take them? Was this the Old World - New World haplotype connection found in modern genetic research? An ancient voyage by land-surveying viz. Earth-surveying ancient navigators that has come down to us as the legend of Jason and the Argonauts?

As for the connection between the Pomo Indians and fertility symbols in rocks, Kelley A. Hays-Gilpin in Ambiguous Images: Gender and Rock Art, AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, California, 2004, writes of:

"...Pomo "baby rock" rituals whenever pit-and-groove marks -- or even just pits, called "cupules" -- are found in California.... Lee and McCarthy ... report on a site ... with pit-and groove marks and "horseshoe shaped" petroglyphs.... They cite ethnographers Barrett ... and Loeb ...: "Among the Pomo these rocks were known as 'baby rocks' and were used to cure sterility." ... the authors argue that the presence of vulva-forms and ... tribes' use of vulvaforms as fertility symbols support their view that this site had fertility associations.... They conclude that the petroglyphs represent "intangible remains of the rituals and beliefs of the people" ... and are a priceless, nonrenewable heritage...."

We may never find overall agreement on the origin of the term "Oregon", but it is an interesting study, particularly since the practice of these fertility rites and rituals in this form, as connected to cupmarked rocks, is limited to this region.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 119 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

A Possible Fertility Origin of the Name of Oregon in a Similar Native American Term

The Klamath River Petroglyph Boulder viz. Megalith Found on the Oregon and California Border aka Shasta Rain Rock or Gottville Boulder is a Sky Map ca. 3000 B.C.

The Klamath River Petroglyph Boulder viz. megalith is also known as the Shasta Rain Rock, but as we shall show it had nothing to do with rain. It was first called the Gottville Boulder, a location near to which it was found on the Klamath River in the border area of southwest Oregon and northern California. The megalith is today located in the nearby Fort Jones Museum.

The Klamath River Petroglyph Boulder is deciphered below by us as a sky map of the stars ca. 3000 B.C. with the ends of the boulder marking the Summer and Winter Solstices respectively and the middles of the sides marking the Vernal and Autumn Equinoxes respectively. We think this boulder is one of the oldest of this type of marked megalith in Native America.

The Klamath River megalith marks stars via figures and cupmarks viz. cupules.

The erroneous Shasta Rain Rock label came from somebody's idea somewhere along the line that all the many cupules on the top of the stone were meant to collect rain for some kind of rain ritual or similar, but of course, there are also cupules on the sides of the rock as well, where no rain can be collected. 

Decipherment of the Klamath River Petroglyph Boulder viz. Megalith

(aka as the Shasta Rain Rock, originally called the Gottville Boulder)

As one can see from the above decipherment of opposite sides of the Klamath River Petroglyph Boulder, the figures and cupules viz. cupmarks mark stars of the heavens, indeed, in such a manner that the Solstices in ca. 3000 B.C. are located at the longer ends of the megalith and the Equinoxes in the middle of the sides.

One side of the megalith marks the stars from Hydra and Leo at the Summer Solstice ca. 3000 B.C. to the elongated end stars of Pegasus at the Winter Solstice point at ca. the star Enif.

The other side of the megalith marks the stars from Corvus and Crater below the Leo and just above Hydra, to Aquila just after Pegasus.

In other words, the figures and cupmarks "circulate" around the stone marking the stars of the sky.

The top of the Klamath River Petroglyph Boulder viz. Megalith marks stars toward and at the center of the northern sky, clearly including the North Celestial Pole, the North Ecliptic Pole and perhaps also the North Galactic Pole, though this latter is speculative.

The Vernal Equinox side of the Klamath River megalith shows a man and a woman at that Spring Equinox, one on each side, with another figure -- apparently a shaman in appropriate dress as Gemini -- to the left of the female figure, plus a smaller figure at Aries, perhaps a child, to the right of the male figure.

The shaman's headgear reminds of Scandinavian shaman styles, with the two-eared hat presumably originating via the ancient shamans wearing headgear made of the fur of small animals.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 118 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America 

The Klamath River Petroglyph Boulder viz. Megalith Found on the Oregon and California Border aka Shasta Rain Rock or Gottville Boulder is a Sky Map ca. 3000 B.C.

Spyrock (Spy Rock) Petroglyphs Mendocino County California Mark Stars of the Sky ca. 3000 B.C. from the Autumn Equinox to Vernal Equinox

Mark Gary and Dan Foster in Mendocino County and Rock Art Conservation, Society for California Archaeology NEWSLETTER, Volume 24, Number 3, May 1990, show an image of the Spyrock (also found spelled as Spy Rock) Petroglyphs (MEN-1912). The Keystone Petroglyph Boulder (MEN-2200), which we have just deciphered in the previous posting, is also covered. One basis for our decipherment is a copyrighted drawing of Spy Rock by John Betts published there, together with online photographs and other materials.

As Gary and Foster write, the Spyrock Petroglyphs (deciphered by us now in this posting) are regarded to be:

"[A]n example of the complexity of rock art motifs found in Mendocino County ... concentric circle figures could date to 100 BC and are though to be the oldest style known for the northwest coast".

Yes, they are indeed old, and much older than 100 B.C. In our book, Stars Stones and Scholars we noted already in 2003 that concentric circle figures on megaliths in Europe marked areas of the sky with few or no visible stars, i.e. stars not visible to the naked eye, viz. heavenly "voids" as it were. Such whorls are among the oldest megalithic markings in Europe.

The Glas Ghu cupmarked stone of the  Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, which we photographed personally some years ago, is a good example. Take a look at that link.

The Spy Rock whorls similarly mark such heavenly "voids", which have been misinterpreted as marking "objects", whereas they mark "no objects".

Our decipherment of Spyrock viz. Spy Rock is shown below:

Spy Rock Petroglyphs, Mendocino County, California

Deciphered as Astronomy ca. 3000 B.C.

Marking Stars from the Autumn Equinox to the Vernal Equinox

The figures drawn on the Spy Rock are very, very old and point to an Old World origin of the megalithic makers, with Ophiuchus, for example, represented as a Hippopotamus, and mounted by several birds at Hercules and Serpens Caput. Corona Borealis seems to be represented as a coiled serpent above Boötes, a man, with Virgo depicted further below as a woman, and with the star Spica marking the Ecliptic. High above, Draco is represented as a flying serpent and to its right are found both Ursa Major and Ursa Minor depicted as birds of prey, with Leo below them marked by two lions, i.e. a lion and lioness. Cancer appears to be marked as a bird of some kind.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 117 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Spyrock (Spy Rock) Petroglyphs Mendocino County California Mark Stars of the Sky ca. 3000 B.C. from the Autumn Equinox to Vernal Equinox

Keystone Petroglyph Boulder viz. Megalith, Mendocino County, California, Marks Principally the Stars of Virgo at the Autumn Equinox ca. 500 B.C.

We now move to the decipherment of various California sites that continue to mark Virgo as we move northward along the Pacific Coast of the present USA.

Mark Gary and Dan Foster in Mendocino County and Rock Art Conservation, Society for California Archaeology NEWSLETTER, Volume 24, Number 3, May 1990, show an image of the Keystone Petroglyph Boulder (MEN-2200), writing that it is:

"[P]erhaps the most complex boulder in the northwest coast region and also one of tremendous archeological significance ... [with analysis showing that] at least three distinctive "styles" are present, one superimposed upon the other."

The basis for the underlying drawing of the megalithic stone boulder shown here is copyright by John Betts and we have used it as our basis to decipher that Keystone Petroglyph Boulder viz. Megalith as follows:

Decipherment of the Keystone Boulder of Mendocino County, California

as Representing Principally the Stars of Virgo ca. 500 B.C., but also showing stars of Corvus, Crater, Sextans, Hydra and Leo

The underlying drawing used as the basis for the decipherment is copyright by John Betts

though this is not the original drawing, but only an adaptation for which we make no warranty of correctness. Please consult the original drawing at the source cited above.

The decipherment is by Andis Kaulins, who is unaffiliated

and who has added the red marks and texts for purposes of explanation.

Using Starry Night Pro (http://astronomy.starrynight.com) as the background

The Stars Represented by the Cupmarks viz. Cupules and Lines

on the Keystone Boulder, Mendocino County, California

(explanatory red lines and circles added by Andis Kaulins,

who is not affiliated with Starry Night Pro)

Crystal clear, really.

There is little doubt about the general correctness of this particular decipherment. Perhaps some details may prove incorrect down the road, but the essential astronomical nature and the general sky area depicted are obvious.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 116 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Keystone Petroglyph Boulder viz. Megalith, Mendocino County, California, Marks Principally the Stars of Virgo at the Autumn Equinox ca. 500 B.C.

Painted Rock, La Piedra Pintada, Carisa Rock viz. Carrol Rock on Carrizo Plain, San Luis Obispo County, Largest Pictograph Site in California, Marks the Stars of Virgo in the Ancient Land Survey of Native America

In our ancient land survey of Native America by astronomy we now leave the stellar realm of Leo and examine the area today known as California and northward as "Oregon Country" viz. "Oregon Territory", thus entering the representational domain of the stars of Virgo "the virgin, viz. female" in that land survey by astronomy. Those who dislike the idea of a "land survey" in the ancient era can substitute terms like "system of territorial tribal landmarks by the stars". It is the same.

San Luis Obispo County contains "The Painted Rock of California", known as La Piedra Pintada viz. Carisa Rock or Carrol Rock on Carrizo Plain -- as written at the National Historic Landmark Nomination, Carrizo Plain Archaeological District, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, page 8:

"The most famous of the district sites is Painted Rock, CA-SLO-79, also known as Piedra Pintada or Corral Rock. Located on an isolated outcrop, this is the largest pictograph site in California and, potentially, in the far western United States (in terms of numbers and complexity of motifs), with paintings in red, black and white covering the inside and outside of this horseshoe-shaped sandstone prominence.... While these paintings alone are impressive enough, the site also contains petroglyphs (rock engravings), cupules, bedrock mortars, and a massive midden (i.e., habitation) deposit that covers the inside and skirts the outside of the amphitheater-shaped outcrop." [emphasis added]

Virgo is quite an extended group of stars and is marked substantially all the way up the Pacific West Coast from California clear into what used to be called "Oregon [Virgo] Country". We will have more on that later.

As written about La Piedra Pintada viz. Carisa Rock on Carrizo Plain at "the Painted Rock of California", which is located about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles at Carrizo Plain National Monument, California 93453, USA.:

"The rock formation itself resembles the shape of a vulva and it is believed that Chumash female coming of age rites may have taken place here." [emphasis added]

This large "natural" so-called "Rock Cove" rock formation, which is covered with many petroglyphs viz. pictographs inside and out, was either used intentionally for its suggestive shape or was "helpfully" -- as we allege -- sculpted here and there by the ancients to shape the "Virgo-shape" that it still has, which is described as a "horseshoe-shape" in the literature and at Wikipedia.

At https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/RockCove-CarrizoPlain.jpg the Wikipedia at Painted Rock .... has an "Aerial view of Painted Rock looking south, January 26, 2007, Carrizo Plain National Monument, San Luis Obispo County, California, USA.... [near ]Taft, California ... Coordinates: 35°8′46.02″N 119°51′42.27″W, Governing body: United States Bureau of Land Management". For aerial photos of the rock see a full overhead photo at Painted Rock (San Luis Obispo County, California), Carrizo Plain National Monument, California, and aerial view of Painted Rock looking south.

A USGS-Photo of Painted Rock in the plain with Soda Lake in the left background is found at the link http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/carrizo/html2/a083.htm.

We have deciphered the aerial photos referred to above -- showing them to be massively sculpted representations of stars, surely adapted to the existing outcrops of course, but also using large boulder remnants of "sculpting" to portray certain figures in the periphery. Those decipherments are shown in the image below, although they must be viewed as being extremely provisional, given the paucity of cupules and other corroborating evidence. We may be seeing some things that are not there when examined in greater detail. All of these stars may not be marked, but some surely are.

As we have deciphered them, the left side marks the Autumn Equinox and the right side the Vernal Equinox ca. 1750 B.C., representing the stars in between:

• in the aerial image surrounding Virgo as the "cove area", we see Hercules, Draco, Serpens Cauda, Ophiuchus, Serpens Caput, Centaurus, Corona Borealis, Boötes, Virgo, Corvus, Crater, Hydra, and Leo, and
• in the right side view, i.e. more or less to the right of Virgo, we see from the bottom left Lupus, Centaurus, Crux, Corvus, Crater, Hydra, Leo, Ursa Major, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Canis Minor, Monoceros, Canis Major, Auriga, Orion, Lepus and Columba.

Click the graphic to obtain a larger image view.

Aerial View (looking south = upper image)) of Painted Rock, San Luis Obispo County, California, known as La Piedra Pintada viz. Carisa Rock on Carrizo Plain - plus the Right Side View (lower image)

Deciphered as Astronomy ca. 1750 B.C.

The Special Collection Department of the Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 2014 ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award Winners, reproduces four India ink drawings of petroglyphs at the site, drawings made by Mary Brumley Noyes in the 1870s. See http://lib.calpoly.edu/support/findingaids/ms041-painted-rock/. The Abstract thereto writes:

"This collection contains four India ink drawings from tracings made of the original pictographs found on the formation known as the Painted Rock (La Piedra Pintada; also called the Carisa Rock), located on the Carrizo Plain in eastern San Luis Obispo County, California. Native Americans—primarily Chumash Indians—drew the original drawings on the sacred, ceremonial site. The pictographs were sketched in the 1870s by pioneer Carrizo Plain resident Mary Brumley Noyes, who spent part of her youth on the nearby El Saucito Rancho with her family. Painted Rock is a local landmark, rising dramatically from the surrounding flat plains. In the intervening years since her sketches were made, the rock art has been vandalized and has deteriorated due to human use and weather conditions. The collection was donated by her descendents in 1990. An additional donation to the collection is a short, unpublished radio script depicting the Brumley family’s life on the Carrizo Plain, circa 1950s. Nothing is known about its author, L. Munson of Los Angeles. An additional donation traces the family’s history and includes vintage prints of Painted Rock."

We have deciphered those petroglyphs as astronomy in our own drawing as follows below, showing that this particular group of petroglyphs arguably dates to ca. 800 B.C., marking stars at the left from the Summer Solstice at Cancer to the stars at the right of the Winter Solstice point at Triangulum and Aries, marked by the crossing of the Celestial Equator and the Ecliptic:

Petroglyph Group on the Painted Rock, La Piedra Pintada

Deciphered as Astronomy ca. 800 B.C.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 115 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Painted Rock, La Piedra Pintada, Carisa Rock viz. Carrol Rock on Carrizo Plain, San Luis Obispo County, Largest Pictograph Site in California, Marks the Stars of Virgo in the Ancient Land Survey of Native America

Blythe Intaglios on California and Arizona Border as Tribal Landmarks Sited by Astronomy and Involving Environmental Suits by Colorado River Indian Tribes against the Bureau of Land Management and Planned Solar Power Projects in the Desert

The ancient Blythe Intaglios of California ("intaglio" means "incised image") are also called the Blythe Geoglyphs or simply Blythe Glyphs. Although otherwise not so well known, they are modernly involved in environmental lawsuits due to large planned solar power projects in the desert of their site location.

In December 2014, the the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (hereafter "BLM") was sued by Colorado River Indian Tribes ("CRIT"). See Zachary Matson at the Palo Verde Valley Times in Colorado River Indian Tribes sue feds over Blythe's Solar Power Project. The suit alleged that the Blythe Solar Power Project would entail cultural and environmental damage to the Blythe geoglyphs such as:

"Kokopilli, Cicimitl, El Tosco, the 16 layer Temple, and other features.... La Cuna de Aztlan Sacred Sites Protection Circle, a Native American cultural protection group, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, of California, challenging the [BLM] permitting processes regarding six large solar facilities planned for the Mohave, Sonoran and Colorado deserts of Southern California (Case No.10CV2664 WQH WVG), including Imperial Valley...."

An injunction was not granted. As written at Parker Pioneer News:

"In the BLM lawsuit, a federal judge earlier this summer rejected the tribes’ request to grant an injunction against the solar project from moving forward and will hear oral arguments on the merits of the case later this month, said Sara Clark , an attorney with San Francisco-based firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, which represents the tribes.

In June 2015 a second suit was filed. See CBS Los Angeles in Native American Tribes Sue To Block Solar Plant In Mojave Desert.

Parker Pioneer News covers the matter at CRIT pushes back on “fast-tracked” solar projects and writes:

"We are always behind the eight ball, we aren't listened to, our concerns aren't taken into consideration," said CRIT Tribal Council-
woman Amanda Barrera, of Parker, during a Wednesday interview. "These have always been and will always be our land; we are always going to be here, listen to us, pay heed to us."

CRIT is a group of four distinct tribes – Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo – with a council of nine members. Barrera is a Chemehuevi. She said she has seen the impact of solar projects first hand, joining a delegation that visited a San Diego warehouse housing around 3,500 tribal artifacts turned up during work on a solar development in 2012.

"What hurts the most is when you go out with solar companies that don’t know this area, and they say there is nothing in the desert..." Barrera said." [emphasis added]

There is indeed something in the desert, and that includes the Blythe Intaglios, which have already been seen correctly by others to be astronomy of some kind. See the video at this link as a courageous -- if in our view incorrect -- try at astronomical identification of the glyphs in a nicely done presentation.

As we have seen from the ancient system of astronomical land survey of North America revealed in previous postings, rock art sites in southwestern Native American Arizona marked the stars of Leo. See in this regard http://ancientworldblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/rock-art-sites-in-southwestern-arizona.html.

Similar to the shape of Leo is the pattern formed by the southern California and Arizona sites at the Megalithic Map at Megalithic.co.uk at http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=25211. However, not all of the locations marked there have to do with ancient sites of Native America, so one can not be sure about that particular figure and we do not rely upon it.

The southern California Blythe Intaglios are so named because of their location near Blythe, California, on the Colorado River, which even today is a natural border between California and Arizona. As written at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM):

"There are a total of six distinct figures in three locations, including a human figure at each location and an animal figure at two locations. The largest human figure measures 171 feet from head to toe. Geoglyphs are difficult to date, so archaeologists have no way of knowing their age. According to Mohave and Quechan tribes of the lower Colorado River area, the human figures represent Mastamho, the Creator of Earth and all life. The animal figures represent Hatakulya, one of two mountain lions/persons who helped in the Creation. In ancient times, sacred ceremonial dances were held in the area to honor the Creator of life. These intaglios are best viewed from the air."[emphasis added]

The  Wikipedia writes about the Blythe Intaglios as follows, citing to Amy J. Gilreath, California Prehistory: Rock Art in the Golden State. In Colonization, Culture, and Complexity, edited by Terry L. Jones and Kathryn A. Klar, pp. 273-290, Lanham, MD, Rowman Altamira, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7591-1960-4:

"One of the notable mythic figures is a 20- to 25- meter long humanoid figure located next to a second glyph, this of a quadruped resembling a mountain lion.^[4] Additionally, 18-foot (5.5 m)-tall figures bearing a likeness to Mastamho and Kataar, the "hero twins of the creation myth," can be seen near Fort Mojave in Arizona."

In our decipherment below, based upon the geoglyph locations in Google Earth, one instance of the Blythe Intaglios thought to resemble a mountain lion does in fact represent the heavenly lion Leo, marked as the front stars of Leo with a serpent below, i.e. Hydra, and a human figure, surely representing the stars of Ursa Major, above them. Click the graphic for a larger image.

The stars represented by the Blythe Intaglios are shown in the following graphic clipped from Starry Night Pro, to which thick red-colored lines, circles, figures and text have been added by Andis Kaulins, not affiliated with Starry Night Pro, to show the stellar correspondences.

In the other group of glyphs we see a similar four-legged animal glyph, which, because of the three stars prominently marked on the ground, we think can only be a larger animal figure formed by Centaurus with Virgo marked above them as a human figure. Three prominent stars toward the back of Centaurus are the stars Theta Centauri (Menkent), Iota Centauri and Nu Centauri (plus other bright stars right nearby) and appear to be marked on the ground near the Geoglyph.

To the right of that triumvirate of three stars we see an additional fletched arrow-shaped figure, presumably representing the right line of stars at Gamma Centauri, Delta Centauri etc., that we have marked in red, and below that we see a cross-like figure that we identify as Crux, the Southern Cross.

The middle of the three stars of Centaurus marked the Celestial Meridian at the Autumn Equinox in ca. 1 A.D. while Spica in Virgo marked the Celestial Meridian at the Autumn Equinox in ca. 350 A.D. In that general time period the star Alphard in Hydra virtually marks the Celestial Equator. Regulus in Leo always marks the Ecliptic.

Further above all those glyphs is then a lone human figure geoglyph which we suggest could have marked the stars of Boötes (here locally only and not in the earlier and broader Native America land survey).

Between Boötes and Leo we find the North Galactic Pole, of which the ancients appear to have been aware, perhaps marked here as a round area on the ground, forming the eye of the head of a goose, whose neck extends to the left. This is in the area we today assign to Coma Berenices and Canes Venatici.

Other figures marked on the ground are possible, probably from earlier eras, but they are by no means certain, and we have marked them accordingly.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 114 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Blythe Intaglios on California and Arizona Border as Tribal Landmarks Sited by Astronomy and Involving Environmental Suits by Colorado River Indian Tribes against the Bureau of Land Management and Planned Solar Power Projects in the Desert

An Addition to the Decipherment of the Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs as Astronomy: New Petroglyphs Covering the Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox ca. 1750 B.C.

Our initial decipherment of the Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs showed that they are a sky map of the heavens and covered the area from Ophiuchus to Perseus.

Since then, our research of the Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs has led us to find additional sources, which have now enabled us to make an additional but here provisional decipherment covering that portion of the starry heavens that runs from ca. Perseus to Aquila, just prior to Ophiuchus, thus completing one round of the starry sky, which started with the previous decipherment.

This decipherment must be regarded as provisional for two reasons:

• first, we do not know exactly where these petroglyphs are located in the cave in terms of the location of the petroglyphs of the previous decipherment, but the stars they represent do seem to follow logically in terms of the seasons they portray,
      and
• second, this panel portion of the cave is somewhat more difficult to assess in terms of the intended stars, so that much on the panel remains uncertain, even though the basic plan we see is surely correct, covering the stars from Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox ca. 1750 B.C.
  
  The key figures are Cygnus and Aquila, which are quite clear, as are Andromeda and Cassiopeia. The stars of Cepheus may be portrayed, but this is unclear. Pegasus as a bull with horns pointing down and to the right -- as in the most ancient Pharaonic Egyptian portrayal on the Narmer Palette -- is also clear, as is also the horned mountain goat head of Capricorn. We note here as an aside that our identification at that link of the bull as Aquarius below Pegasus must now be viewed as incorrect, since clearly Pegasus itself is intended, with horns pointing at the lower stars of Capricorn. The Old World and New World portrayals of the bull are thus clearly related.

Decipherment of the Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs

Panel of the Sky Showing Perseus (left) to Aquila (right)

Covering the portion of the Sky

from Vernal Equinox to Winter Solstice ca. 1750 B.C.

(click the graphic to obtain a larger image)

Our illustration above is our own and we make no warranties of accuracy. As always we do the best we can with very ancient petroglyphs, but the figures are in part so indistinct that errors are pre-programmed. We have added the colors to make the various figures that we see easier for the reader to see. Some of the figures we have drawn surely will not withstand ultimate scrutiny, but the most important ones surely will withstand such scrutiny.

Our decipherment above is based on various online materials, including two photographs of this section of the Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs, as found at:

• The blog My Backyard at srleebackyard.blogspot.com has extensive material on this part of New Mexico, including an April 17, 2008 posting on Mortandad Canyon, including a photograph of this section of the Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs. See that blog for the photo and for much information.
  
• A photo by a different photographer, Efraín M. Padró, made in May, 2007, is found at Padró Images at http://www.padroimages.com/?search=Los%20Alamos. That image is a commercial one and subject to license, so we can not reproduce it here at all, nor do we link to it directly. Go to that site to view the photograph of this section of the Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs. Perhaps our posting will make that photo better known so that it is used in books and articles by the archaeological community.

For background, we also found the following source:

Zora O'Neill, Moon Santa Fe, Taos & Albuquerque, Ancient Travel, 2012, writes:

"The canyons below Los Alamos are filled with some excellent hiking trails, in addition to those at Bandelier National Monument, farther west. Although the view along Highway 4 looks bleak following the 2011 wildfire, most trails at lower elevations are intact. One short route is Mortendad Cave Trail, an out-and-back (1.6 miles round-trip) that takes you to an ancestral Puebloan site consisting of an old kiva set among a cluster of cave dwellings; the ceiling of the kiva cave is carved with very well-preserved petroglyphs. You can do the route year-round."

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 113 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America


An Addition to the Decipherment of the Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs as Astronomy: New Petroglyphs Covering  the Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox ca. 1750 B.C.

Kokopelli Update as Kokopetiyot (koko-petiyot): Boötes the Herdsman with Flute or Horn as a Name Originating in the Concept of Breath and Blowing an Instrument

Kokopelli Update as Kokopetiyot 

We noticed that an alternative name to Kokopelli is Kokopetiyot, where the word element Koko at All About Kokopelli is thought to be cognate with the Zuni term koko meaning "god". In such a case the word element petiyot then looks like Boötes in terms of word similarity, thus, as the heavenly "god" Petiyot.

Indeed, Boötes was known in the ancient world as the "herdsman", an occupation even today portrayed in sculpture online as the herdsman (viz. shepherd) with his flute (or horn) to call the flock, later portrayed as his staff.

This correspondence of terms appears significant in view of comparable ancient Indo-European terms,  e.g. in Latvian, which would seem to point to the origin of the term Boötes as "the blower" of the flute or horn to summon the herd or flock, and thus "the ancient herdsman" in this sense. The Latvian terms are:

• pūtējs "the blower" (pronounced Pootehs, arguably cognate with Boötes)
• pūst "to blow"
• pūte "breath"
• pūta "breath"

where the latter two actually always apply to the "outward" exhaled breath
as opposed to ancient Indo-European e.g. Latvian

• elpa "(the inward, inhaled) breath", i.e. taking in oxygen

which, so we allege, came down to us in the alpha of the first alphabet.

The current etymological analysis of the origin of Boötes in the Greek form Βοώτης is that it meant "herdsman" or "plowman" and originated in his heavenly role as the "ox-driver" of Ursa Major, the oxcart, thus a word conveniently alleged to derive from Greek βοῦς bous meaning “cow”, which is not really an "ox word", and which is also hardly supported in the oldest known Greek source, which is the Odyssey of Homer (we quote from the Wikipedia, omitting the footnotes):

"The name Boötes was first used by Homer in his Odyssey as a celestial reference point for navigation, described as "late-setting" or "slow to set", translated as the "Plowman". Exactly whom Boötes is supposed to represent in Greek mythology is not clear. According to one version, he was a son of Demeter, Philomenus, twin brother of Plutus, a ploughman who drove the oxen in the constellation Ursa Major. This is corroborated by the constellation's name, which itself means "ox-driver" or "herdsman." The [later] Greeks saw the asterism now called the "Big Dipper" or "Plough" as a cart with oxen. This influenced the name's etymology, derived from the Greek for "noisy" or "ox-driver". Another myth associated with Boötes tells that he invented the plow and was memorialized for his ingenuity as a constellation." [emphasis added]

What is the possible connection of the ancient New World to the Old World?

Perhaps the tale of Jason and the Argonauts contains the essence of an actual ancient voyage involving land survey by the stars, a voyage made by voyagers who might so have passed their astronomical system on to the indigenous inhabitants of the lands they visited.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 112 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Kokopelli Update as Kokopetiyot (koko-petiyot): Boötes the Herdsman with Flute or Horn as a Name Originating in the Concept of Breath and Blowing an Instrument

Identifying Kokopelli as Boötes with a Flute Extending to Ursa Major: Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs Near Los Alamos New Mexico USA Deciphered as Astronomy Marking Stars of the Heavens ca. 1750 B.C.

Please note: our decipherment of the Blythe Geoglyphs is now found in the next posting. We moved the present decipherment forward because it identifies here for the first time -- and clearly -- the stars represented by the fertility deity Kokopelli, i.e. the stars of Boötes, with the flute extending to Ursa Major. We had initially thought that Kokopelli represented Virgo, and needed to clear that up before proceeding to Blythe.

In the ancient land survey of Native America by astronomy, the area we know today as New Mexico marked an area of the sky we would today assign to Cancer.

Indeed, as deciphered below by us, the Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs near Los Alamos, New Mexico mark stars in the sky ca. 1750 B.C., with the Autumn Equinox at the left at Libra, the Summer Solstice marked in the middle at Cancer viz. the stars Kappa and Lambda Leonis, and the Spring Equinox at the right at Perseus (and Taurus).

The decipherment is straightforward and was one of the simpler tasks we have confronted in this series of postings, once we got the petroglyphs together, which on the other was difficult, since there is no such photograph or drawing online, this being a more or less composite illustration constructed from us by viewing numerous photographs.

The idea found in the literature that these petroglyphs date to some time A.D. is of course rather nonsensical since the battle axe armed figures hardly come from that era, but are known from petroglyphs of a much earlier time.

Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs Deciphered as Astronomy by Andis Kaulins
(click the graphic to see the larger, original decipherment image)

 

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 111 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Identifying Kokopelli as Boötes with a Flute Extending to Ursa Major: Mortendad Cave Petroglyphs Near Los Alamos New Mexico USA Deciphered as Astronomy Marking Stars of the Heavens ca. 1750 B.C.

Petroglyph Boulders viz. Petroglyphic Megaliths as Former Tribal Boundaries in Native America

Further postings about the ancient land survey of Native America by astronomy are in the works. In coming postings we decipher sites in California and Oregon Country viz. the Pacific Northwest, clear to Alaska.

In this connection, we read at MendoNews about the Spy Rock Petroglyph Boulder in northern California as follows regarding the importance of such megalithic petroglyph boulders to mark tribal boundaries in Native America:

"In aboriginal California, territorial boundaries and natural resources might have been marked for various reasons. It is a habit that we continue even today. Writing about California Indians in the early 1870s, Stephen Powers noted that ". . . the boundaries of all tribes are marked out with the greatest precision, being defined by certain creeks, canyons, boulders, conspicuous trees, springs, etc., each of which has its individual name" (Heizer and Elsasser 1980:204). The use of boulders as markers is recorded in the ethnography of several northern and southern California Indian tribes. Such markers were used by the Luiseiio of southern California (Minor 1975:15). Songs in the migration legends of these people mention the travels of their ancestors and the landmarks left by them....

In northern California, territory boundary markers are often thought of as "cornerstones."

The Spyrock Road petroglyph boulder (MEN-1912) is still used by the Cahto as a cornerstone marking their interior boundary (Foster 1983:51). The Bell Springs petroglyph boulder (MEN-433) probably represents a similar site. Both boulders are covered with petroglyphs, including numerous cupules. Among the Pomo, such cornerstones are thought of as “mountain baby rocks” (Peri et al. 1978:204)...."

Accordingly, it is undisputed that megaliths served as territorial landmarks. That recognition is not our discovery.

What we claim in addition -- as our principle hypothesis -- is that these territorial landmarks were placed in Native America via land survey techniques guided by the stars, a technology which, frankly, should have been expected by the archaeological community. How otherwise could ancient land survey have been conducted, if not by the stars?

Indeed, as for the above mentioned "baby rocks", as we shall see in coming postings, the Pomo "baby rocks" and the many signs relating to fertility in the region relate to what we presume to be the origin of the name of Oregon Country (the name origin of Oregon is otherwise unknown), which marked Virgo in the ancient land survey of Native America by astronomy.

Our next posting looks at the Blythe Intaglios in California on the Colorado River, which builds a natural border even today between California and Arizona.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 110 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

Petroglyph Boulders viz. Petroglyphic Megaliths as Former Tribal Boundaries in Native America

Weather Forecast Pioneer Admiral Robert FitzRoy and What His Fate Tells Us About Politics Science Humankind and the Survival of the Fittest

Survival of the fittest? We are not sure.

How misled can your average politician or scientist be in thinking what is right?
today and yesterday?

Consider the story of the fate of weather forecast pioneer
Admiral Robert FitzRoy,
captain of the HMS Beagle for Charles Darwin's famous voyage.

Peter Moore at BBC News relates that story to us in
The Birth of the Weather Forecast
where we read informatively that:

"When one MP suggested in the [House of] Commons in 1854 that recent advances in scientific theory might soon allow them to know the weather in London "twenty-four hours beforehand", the House roared with laughter."

As amazing as it may appear to us in our modern world today, the idea of the possibility of "weather forecasting" was considered a lunacy by most people in mainstream politics and science as late as the 19th century.

Indeed, weather forecast pioneer Admiral Robert FitzRoy, "the father of weather forecasting", met with vast resistance in his era, but as Moore tells us:

"[T]oday his vision of a public forecasting service, funded by government for the benefit of all, is fundamental to our way of life. 

His department, which began with a staff of three, now employs more than 1,500 people and has an annual budget of more than £80m.... 

Dame Julia Slingo, the Met Office's current chief scientist explains: "FitzRoy was really ahead of his time. He was not mistaken or eccentric, he was just at the start of a very long journey, one that continues today in the Met Office."

Little has changed in people, politics or science in the intervening 161 years.

Mankind remains as difficult to teach to rise above its biases, ignorance and superstitions as it was in the Commons of 1854 where weather forecasting was literally laughed out of the House -- by the unfit.

Paradoxically, Darwin is famous
but who knows about FitzRoy?

And yet we all should daily thank FitzRoy, and not Darwin.

FitzRoy was right -- weather can be forecasted.
Not perfectly, but enough to be of a very big help to mankind.

Darwin on the other hand told us that the "fittest" survive.
When we view the daily news, however, we are not sure about that.

Things appear to be more chance than merit,
and probabilities seem to guide survival outcomes more than fitness.