Ancient enigmatic images can be found on rocks throughout the desert Southwest—from the Four Corners to Baja, California. They number in the tens of thousands and span many thousands of years in time. They tend to be concentrated in certain special locales and are either painted (pictographs) or pecked (petroglyphs) into solid rock. They are not casual graffiti, but rather representations of subtle meaning to the Indigenous people who made them. They come in many styles and some of the most common subjects are human figures, local animals, shields, stepped clouds, spirals, and abstract lines. This volume asks: “Who created these images and for what reasons? What do they mean? Are they meant to be taken literally or do they stand for something?”
This large-format book consists of stunning black-and-white photographs by William Frej, who draws on 40 years of experience in documenting rock art of the American Southwest as well as around the world. He uses his photographic skill to emphasize the wonder and mystery of these images as seen in the context of their environment.
Frej’s photos are complemented by captions and a thoughtful (and readable) essay, Blurred Boundaries, by noted rock art scholar Polly Schaafsma. Her essay addresses how these images, made for a number of reasons, may have functioned in their landscape. For archaeologists, rock art is a representation of ideas, values, and narratives of their makers. They are inherently ambiguous and subject to different interpretations over long periods of time. The temptation to interpret rock art that may be hundreds if not thousands of years old in light of the viewer’s world view is both a natural phenomenon and a road to misinterpretation.
To assist the reader’s understanding, Schaasfma focuses on three common types of images—human (anthropomorphic) figures, spirals, and stepped clouds. All have many interpretive possibilities. Is the spiral a road marker, an astronomical signal, or something entirely different? Are stepped clouds connected to agriculture and rainfall? Are human figures depicting actual events, like a hunt, or do they portray supernatural interactions?
This is a beautifully produced volume that both pleases the eye and informs the reader of the many mysteries and ambiguities of Southwestern rock art.
