Panel 1 ("Station 22") Jeffers Petroglyphs as a Sky Map ca. 750 B.C.
from Winter Solstice to Autumn Equinox to Summer Solstice
(click the graphic to obtain a larger image on your screen)
Panel 2 ("Station 21") Jeffers Petroglyphs as a Sky Map ca. 750 B.C.
from Summer Solstice to Vernal Equinox to Winter Solstice
(click the graphic to obtain a larger image on your screen)
Rock Art sites in Minnesota are located via a map at Mark J. Dudzik, Visions in Stone: The Rock Art of Minnesota, The Minnesota Archaeologist, 54, 1995, p. 100, Figure 1. A similar map is found via An Overview of Minnesota Rock Art at http://www.osa.admin.state.mn.us/mnarch/rockart.html, at http://www.osa.admin.state.mn.us/mnarch/rockmap.html.
The locations could be interpreted as stars of Hercules, but at the moment, this is uncertain because the maps are not detailed enough at the individual locations to identify stars with certainty.
That latter map by Matt Kauia appeared originally in the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, March-April, 2005, a bimonthly magazine of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, using the "source maps" by Mark Dudzik, Office of the State Archaeologist. To avoid copyright issues, we have completely redrawn all the maps as one, and including the "petroforms".
Rock Art Sites of Minnesota as Marking the Stars of Hercules
The geographic shape of the State of Minnesota in the United States is nearly identical to the shape of the modern constellation Hercules, whose stars -- according to our analysis -- its petroglyphic and pictographic ancient sites represent. Already in Stars Stones and Scholars we correctly assigned nearby Thunder Bay in this region to the stars of Hercules.
However, if one examines the history of the setting of boundaries for this State, then this similarity of shapes is seen to be simply chance. The shape is guided invariably by the physical topography, with the upper right "wedge-shape" fixed by Lake Superior and the lower right "wedge-shape" fixed by the Mississippi River and tributaries.
For the full history of the Minnesota boundaries, see William E. Lass, How Minnesota got its boundaries at https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2014/06/how-minnesota-got-its-boundaries and William E. Lass, Minnesota State Boundaries, Minnesota State Historical Society at http://www.mnopedia.org/thing/minnesota-state-boundaries.
THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 139 of The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America
Two Major Panels of the Jeffers Petroglyphs of Minnesota Are Sky Maps ca. 750 B.C. Each Representing One-Half of the Heaven of Stars at Night: Minnesota Marks the Stars of Hercules
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