The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri

355 Pages·2000·20.12 MB·English

by  Carol Diaz-Granados, James R. Duncan

The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri

The Petroglyphs
and Pictographs
of Missouri
Carol Diaz-Granados
and
James R. Duncan
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
Tuscaloosa and London
Copyright © 2000
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 / 07 06 05 04 03 02
Cover design by Laura Lineberry
()()
The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum require
ments of American National Standard for Information Science
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39-48-
1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Diaz-Granados, Carol, 1943-
The petro glyphs and pictographs of Missouri / Carol Diaz-Granados
and
James R. Duncan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8173-0988-8
1. Indians of North America-Missouri-Antiquities. 2.
Petroglyphs-Missouri. 3. Rock paintings-Missouri. 4.
Missouri-Antiquities. I. Duncan, James Richard, 1942- II. Title
E78.M8D53 2000
977·8'01-dC2I
99-006943
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available
Frontispiece: Bird motif (Washington State Park).
Above all, this book is dedicated to Frank P. Magre, who devoted more than
fifty years of his life to recording and preserving Missouri's petroglyphs and
pictographs. Through Frank's kindness and generosity with his time, slides,
photographs, notes, maps, and knowledge, the core data for this book devel
oped.
The past: To the late Frank P. Magre, Klaus Wellmann, and Campbell
Grant, who spent a great deal of their lives in the field, behind a camera, and
at a typewriter to preserve the rock art of North America and to engender in
the public an appreciation of these precious cultural resources. It is dedicated
to the late Carl and Eleanor Chapman, who worked long and hard to record,
interpret, and preserve the Washington State Park petroglyphs.
The present: To Leonard W Blake, without whose encouragement and push
ing to do the project in the first place it might never have happened. It is
dedicated to Robert Elgin and Benedict Ellis, who are responsible for preserv
ing in photographs, notes, and writings a significant portion of the rock art
sites in Missouri.
The future: To the archaeologists, anthropologists, and lay people who con
tinue to record and preserve rock art, realizing that once these unique cultural
resources are gone-through weathering, vandalism, or mismanagement-the
information, iconography, and ideology they embody will also be lost.

Contents
List of Illustrations
IX
Preface
XV
Acknowledgments
XVll
I / Introduction
2 / Background
5
3 / The Natural Environment
23
4 / Methods
34
5 / Analyses of Missouri's Rock Art
79
6 / Interpretation
187
7 Conclusion
241
Appendix A / Glossary of Rock Art Terminology
253
Appendix B / Frank P. Magre and His Research
261
Appendix C / Motif Distribution by Site
265
viii Contents
Notes
275
Bibliography
279
Index
319
Illustrations
Figures, Motif Charts, Motif Distribution
Maps, Plates, and Tables
Frontispiece. Bird motif (Washington State Park)
FIGURES
2.1. Big Manitou pictographs by William Clark 9
2.2. Footprints (St. Louis Riverfront) 12
2.3. Panel (Torbett Spring-Rocheport) 17
3.1. Depictions of wapiti/elk (Rocky Hollow, Willenberg Shelter) 28
3.2. Depiction of wapiti/elk/deer (Paydown Deer) 28
3.3. Long-tailed animals/opossum/underwater spirit (Thousand
Hills State Park) 29
3.4. Bird petroglyphs (Rocky Hollow), tentatively identified 29
3.5. Coiled snake (Washington State Park) 30
3.6. Snake (Rattlesnake Bluff) 31
3.7. Turtle (Dry Fork Creek Shelter) 31
4.1. Comparison of recordings (Rattlesnake Bluff) 38
4.2. Comparison of recordings (White Rock Bluff) 38
4.3. Contextual layers of a rock art site 50
4+ Sites in caves and rock shelters 51
4.5. Sites on land outcrops and in glades 52
4.6. Sites on river bluffs, bluff tops, and boulders 53
4.7. Sites at springs 54
4.8a. Distribution of Missouri petroglyph and pictograph sites 59
4.8b. Density distribution of rock art sites by county 60
4.9. Concentric circles (Frumet) 61
5.1. Structural variations in Missouri rock art 91
Motif Charts
5.2. Bird and animal motifs 92
5·3· Animals (cont'd), tracks, and organic motifs 93
5+ Anthropomorphic motifs 94
5·5· Anthropomorphic (cont'd) and related motifs 95
5.6. Weapons and related motifs 96
5·7· Arrows and related motifs 97
5.8. Geometric and abstract motifs 98