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Basketmaker and Archaic Rock Art of the Colorado Plateau: A Reinterpretation of Paleoimagery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jennifer A. Kitchell
Jennifer A. Kitchell*
Affiliation:
5706 Bittersweet Place, Madison, WI 53705 (ethosah@charter.net)
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Abstract

A new cognitive model is proposed and applied to the analysis of the anthropomorphic-dominated paleoimagery or rock art of both the Archaic Barrier Canyon Style and the Basketmaker San Juan Style of the Colorado Plateau, including the attributes of headdresses and messengers. Under the cognitive model, the decision to execute rock art is culturally and historically conditioned; the interaction of narrative language and visual imagery takes precedence over hallucinatory and trance mechanisms. The cognitive model examines the interplay between perceptual imagery and stored mental imagery, both of which occur within the human cognitive system. Such an interplay arguably has been as important in the shaping of human cultures as the role of language. These Archaic and Basketmaker ecologies and cultures also may have developed group ritual, an early adoption not requisitely tied to the transition from a mobile hunter-gatherer ecology to an agricultural ecology. Such interpretations redefine the predominant images of the region's Archaic and Basketmaker anthropomorphic figures, bird-headed imagery, messenger spirits, supplication panels, and processional panels. The model reinstates the praejudico role that visual imagery plays in the construction of culture.

Se propone y utiliza un nuevo modelo cognoscitivo para el análisis de paleoimágenes o arte rupestre dominado por elementos antropomórficos en los estilos del grupo Arcaico de Barrier Canyon y de Basketmaker en la Meseta de Colorado. Estas imágenes incluyen los atributos de los tocados y de los espíritus mensajeros. De acuerdo con el modelo cognoscitivo, la decisión de llevar a cabo arte rupestre es condicionado por aspectos históricos y culturales; la interacción del lenguaje narrativo y las imágenes visuales son más importantes que mecanismos guiados por alucinaciones o estados de trance. El modelo cognoscitivo investiga la interacción entre las imágenes perceptibles y aquellas confinadas a las imágenes mentales, ambas componentes del sistema cognoscitivo humano. Esta interacción puede haber sido tan importante en la formación de culturas humanas como el lenguaje. Las ecologías y culturas Arcaica y Basketmaker pueden haber desarrollado un ritual de grupo; una adopción temprana no necesariamente asociada a la transición de una ecología de recolectores-cazadores a una ecología agrícola. Estas interpretaciones redefinen las imágenes predominantes de Arcaica y de Basketmaker figuras antropomórficas, humanos con cabezas de pájaros, espíritus mensajeros, paneles de súplica, y paneles de procesión. El modelo reinstala en papel praejudico que las imágenes visuales tienen en la construcción de una cultura.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 4 , October 2010 , pp. 819 - 840
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2010

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