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TALKING WITH THE PAST:
THE ETHNOGRAPHY
OF ROCKART
James D. Keyser
George Poetschat
Michael W. Taylor
Editors
@6
Oregon Archaeological Society Publicationwww. oregonarchaeolo gical.ot'g
Portland, Oregon
!g
were, Another thingg the paint from thefhat's finishing it-Luthor of the Hopir chew a linle bit ofid to mak,e it sweet.
arbohydrates, that,s
hen they just firstnake wine at home.:ad of vinergar-was
id that, spritting the.nd the men spittingrt to thaf women's
;, do they share theferent ritual p.laces.
ngs separately, butLere isn't siome oldbacco that only there clouds; but theylges there migtrt bethe year by men.
omen's society inr will come and goes and taking carewoman will spendder man. He's therwho's got t ime towell as thr:ir ritual;echrsion. A Hopi
.E*F
David S. Whit ley 295
CHAPTER 14Rock Art and Rites of Passage in F ar WesternNorth AmericaDavid S, Whitley
That rock aft was sometimes made during pr"rberty initiations iswell known, as demonstrated by over 100 years of ethnoglaphic accountsin far western North America. But despite wide raclcnowledgrnent of thisfact by ethnologists and archaeologists, this type of rock afi has beensomewhat ignored or at least understudied in favor of shamanic all l l].Why this lras occnrred is rincerlain; perhaps because the puberly art isaesthetically less spectacular; perhaps because its common mention inthe ethnographic recold makes it seem somewhat mundane. Regardlessof canse, it is clear that it is deserving of study irL its own right. not leastbecause of recent confusions about.lhis puberty art that some of thoseusing tlie secondary and terliary sources have introduced into theliterature (e.g., Kehoe 2000:74-75). Indeed, jt might be inferred that theethnogr:apl,ic interpretatjon of roc]< art itself is now under attack (e.g.,Quinlan 2000; Hedges 2001) and thus that an airing of the sources andevidence is warranted.
A teview of the ethnographic recor:d fronr far western NofthAmerica-by which I mean California, the Great Basin and theColumbia Plateau-suggests that thele were at least four generaltraditions of puberty rock art. These are: (1) the Takic tradition of SWCalifornia; (2) the Yuman tradition of the Colorado River and Deseftregion; (3) the cupule tradition of sourh-central California and thewestern Great Basin; and (4) the vision qiresting tradition of the Plateau,I discuss each of these, in turn, below. As this rshows, puberty r:ock artwas quite common although its manifestation varied, in some casessubstantially, from tradition to tradition and region to region.
Takic Rock Art of Southwestern CalilbrniaOne ethnographically well documented rock art tradition was
created by speakers of the Takic family of the Uto-Aztecan stock (cailedby Kroeber 11925), using ar1 earlier linguir;tic classification, the"Shoshonean wedge" in southem California). These groups resided fiomthe Los Angeies Basin and Transverse Ranges south to San DiegoCounty, and from the Pacific Ocean eastward l-o about Palm Springs.They include the Gabrielino (Fernandefro/Ton13va), Luiseflo-Juaneio,Cupeflo, Cahuilla and Serrano. The Diegueflo (Ipai-Tipai/Kumeyaal').Yuman-speaking southern neighbors of the Luisr:fio who resided in San
gq!
296 David S. Whirtey
of the general practice in the far west.
Diego county and norlhern Baja california, arso aclopted aspects of &Fr.,Takic fradition, incr'ding puberty initiaie rock art (Kroebe, tgisi-'fri,Wg Shall see hnrrr. .ror rh. i . ^^*^^..^ .^ t- - , : .r . ;we shall see, however,-this appeais to have been grahed onio un. igiI-y,f:':::3:ll.?:.!r?d.rrion,furtherctemonstatin!trr.tiJ.-p*rooa
Ethnographic information about the Takic puberty initiation q;
il1, ;T:ii .x',': TP^l*,i""*'I^ 11; :i+.a, {- -ul
J':r' p,*ic,a q,,DnBoi s ( 1 90 8), Kroeber ( i ?06, 1 908a, 6oai,]y'iZ;, ;;;uffi ',,?#
;;ll::qi' S:1?l sj1:ig, a?!:), qry rnuton (t s3 4,ist d,- ".i.;i, m+rq :i(1e4I), Drucker (1 e3l,^Ihu; f furi
-iriii l"j' r,i.i"fi";Z: (ilffi,*
3:"::::ltinlq),"Iul t1oy.z\^ya' u.n,nu* (n.d.). rhese have bq:,,synthesized by Steward,(tg!g.), r"" li qs+), H;s.;'ijnioj, inffi*,tliltJ, fX:1oT:.'( t e80),,.cor,yil^q eail arrd whitle y (tee2, Ier#.fl2000b, 2003), wittr ox^endine (r gebj- ;;ril;s'*'"r.i*r,.""il"ff::f:1ty"1l1cifi1[1 of Luisefto .o,,r.br. As a number of these tr*authors have noted (e,g., True 1954,; Minor 1975),--while er:*ii"*"':llt:^i.^:":11r,
dirEr. in minor -detail,
the generat patrerus *lsimilar and hence can be read'y synthesi-z-Jj,n.; i.rt#ti?,,.,o.rff.;ialso Strorrg 1929; Diver t9+:11," enJ u, I have showrr irr e r*,ard .sruv ulrwrr* t>L>; urrver lg4 I). And as I have shown in a rcet*summary of these s,y'theses (whitJey 2003), there is s'bsrar*idconcru:rence among the.se secondary sources concerning theorjgin and meaning of this an.
As is co'rmonly the. case, the prirnary sources ur* noll*::flf],::,Jill
-:T:,,.:"phasizing cerrain u,p.",' of the ritual *un-*#omitti'g other details .al1housh, in aggregate, a detaileo a-r.riffii:?::t: ,t:I.*:. T?:: I"prl,ltion is ui,iilu-ur,'r,;*;;;;;il gro,p, qfi;others, due ro cliffe'e'riar hisroricar il;;tl;;
-Jni"],iffii,,
:llnTgl.:1jl:or: -In generat terms, too, the accounrs "r.
qi,ii. rirlfor boys' puberry art in-contrart to tf,. t;i;;ffi;;;ffi;';;iilrffi(see below)' In this last case this may be the result of an earlii(probably mid-19th centr"uy) termination ortn* uoyr; .it*r, *t.r.",girls' ceremony was condtiited into the tAOOs JZ1.In general terms, the Takic initiations were boy or girl _ri'.::,,T*:,:l"r^,"T],"id,(a)
isotation; (b) insrruction, usualty by sharnans,greligious esoterica a'd generar rnoral precepts; (c) so'reti'res 6fi::::*:",1..1:,
o::-:';lo1: sa,nd paintings (which'ro,r,inonrf"G,icosmological maps), b1 tlle shamans, as' part of the inrtru.riln;fasting, the ingestion o.f halrucinog.n.,' ond/o, extreme prrv.i.ur"
"raand (e) at the culminatior of the itiitruiion, u ,.r*ri ,".. i;'-'..k ,",where the initiates made paintings. Kroeber summarized the saliaspects of the girls, ritual, a'd its reiationship to the b;y;;'.il;ff o l l ows ;
- - - - - ^ - " ' r " " r r r v vvJ r Sq
: z : ; - . t . !
"[T]he Luiseflo, having more nearly equated the fgirls,] ceremony 'with that for the boys, make of it almost an initiation cult, with :;'Ff,
\srg
Dav id S . Whi t lev :9 :
sermons over the sand painting, arn ordeal of retaining srvallora,,:cltclbacco, fbot racing, and pai'ting of rocl<s by the cardidate,"(Kroeber 1925:116)
As is clear from a series of recent statements (euinlan 2000;Hedges 2001; Kehoe 2000), confhsion has been jntroclucecl info theliterature concerning a number of issues rclatcd to this puberty art.These confusions include: (a) which groups made the ar-t; (b) whetherboys or lust girls were responsible; (c) whether visionary experiencesoccurred during tlrese initiations; (d) wlrether spirit helpcrs wcre obtainedby tlie initiates; and (e) i.vhat was depicred by the initiates,
The f-rrst issue-which gLoups made puberty rock art?-can beacldressed in two fashions. The first results fionr the fact that the knowng i r l s 'a r t i s s ty l i s t i ca l l y d is t inc t (True 1954; F iedges 1973; Minor '1975) .It corrsists of motifs that are predominately red zig'z,ags, diamond chainsand hand prints (Figure 1). Based on thc distribution of sitescharacterized by thcse conventions, thc gills' pLrbcrty art traclition can beinferred to have extendecl from the Los Angeles Basin and rransverseRanges solrth to San Diego County, and inland fi.orr the coast trt thePalnr Spl ings area (c.g., sce Minor 1915:32, Oxcndine 1980:48 anctCohen 1981:23). Heclges ernphasizes this point with r.espect to theconnection between this style and the non-l'akic speal<ing Diegueiio;:
" [The'Luisei io Rect i l inear Abst lact style, ' cclrresponding lopuberly alt] is a characteristic element of Luisefro culture, and fbr.rt we have substantial ethnographic documentation. pictogr.aphs inthis styie were painted by Luisefro girls, and occasionally by theboys, as part of their puberty cerenronies. .Wlrere this styleappeafs in Diegueflcl territory, its purpose must have been verrysinrilar to Luisefio practice." (Hedges 1970:143-144)
The second approach to the question of participation in thepubefty aft traclitiorr is the examination of the ethnographic recorcl.There is positive documentation for the making o1' girls' puberry amamong the Luisei io and Cupei io (e.g., DuBois 1908:96; Sparkrranlc)08:225; Kroeber 1908b:174-116, 1925:675; Strong 1929:22j, 25'1,299; Hi l l and Nolasqtrcz 1973:35 Halr ington n.d.a). Strong ( 1929:1 1t i ,173) and, following him, Minor (1975:31) infer: that the Cahuilla alsornade gir ls 'pLrberty art , whereas Driver (1941: Table 14) records i t as aknown ritual tr:ait among this group. True ( 1954:69) snggested thzLt theSerrano may l-rave made puberty ar1. A statement in Harrington'slirrgrristic notes sLrpports this sLrpposition: "At un.i.t;tsapa't are tockpaintings of Iinforrlant's] dead sisters and mother" (Hill 199t2:1).Diegueflo pnberty art is documented by Waterman (1910:293).
If we cornpare the distribution of the puberly style rock art withthe ethnographic eviclence, only one Tal<ic group listed above is missingt3l. This is the Gabrielino (Femandeiio/Tongva) of' the Los Angeles
d
ry
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I '
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Putre r'sout l t idenror
in'vollt l tat :
" I frv i1srat'
As ncl inr i teras JlaiOxencproviclby LLrLuiscr-l n r t t l l t r
"Afi:lc,
p a rWeLtt:r'r
"Rth a rl 0 l t
That i ,bo1's rtha l i r r
\ , l s I o t : . :
(200 ' i tto tl.rc :thc i i , .inrp l ' ,( t g l r c r r :
aI[ 1,\ i t i
bovs .conrli lct h e 1 , i l ,isoLr t i cu,h io l l
. { ;
-:
Figure 1" Recl paintecl pictogra;lhs fronr the Pubcrty ltocli site (CA-I{IV-tr l4), outsit{e of Fel'r is in southwestern califbrnia. scts ot'zigzags,, clianlonclchaitts and hanclpl' ints are charactenistic rnotifs frorn sites such as this,r r tadc bv young g i r ls at the conclus ion o1 ' thei r l tubel ' t1 , in i t ia t ions. (photo:D.S. Whi t lev)
i*r;:+li -
-*r;4ci',f +i':.i
I . ,.1' 1.:. i;; ..
, - . , - ! : ' . : . : : - i . i i j
i'r:+r,;Fs*,+, 1'
' . i (
Dar, ' ic l S. \ \ ' i r i t le , . - . . .
The second point of con{trsion corlcerniug Tal:ic pLLbertv al1involves the sex of its authors. Kehoe (2000:75) has statecl, firr example.t l n t :
"IB]oys did not paint vision creatnres on rock; the art associatcciwith boys' initiations, ;rs with the adults who taught the girls, wassanc[ paint ings."
As notccl above, while the evidcncc concenring boys' pubcrty ar.t islinritecl, it nonetheless makes clear that boys in this region macle rock artas part o1' thcir initiations (l{edges 1970:143-144: vlinor 19:5:32:oxcndine 1980; cohen 1987). Posit ivc mentions of boys' pubcrty art arcprovided by Han'ington (n,d.a), who illustrates blacl< pictographs painteclby Luiseiio boys (Figure 2), ancl DuBois, also in ref'erence to theLuiscfio. shc statcs that, {bllowing the ant ordcal c{urrng thc boys'initiation,
"A race was tlten made by the cancliclates. . .and the winner of therace painted the rock in the designated place, wrth re<1 and blacl<pa in t . " (DuBois I 908:92)
Waternlern (1910:293) sirni la l ly states that:"I{ockltaintings exist in the Dicgueiio country, but arc said tohavc becn macle by thc boys in conncction with [thr: boys't o I octch e initiation]."
That is, waterman's point is that Diegueflo pictogrzrphs were rnade byboys rather than by girls. Tlicre is sirnply no qucstion, in other worcls,that boys did rnake puberty art, at least in portions of this rr:gion.
Question has also developed in the literature concerningvisionary cxpcrionces dr"rring thesc pr-rbcrly initiations, with both l(choe(2000) ancl Quinlan (2000) essentially argurng that.these'were restricecl
ar't was made, were integral components of the initiations).The ethnographic record is actually quite clear. on lhe fact that
boys arrd girls both were jnvolved in rnultiple types of activitiesconducive to achieving altered states of conscionsness (,\sc) ancl thatthey in fact did hallucinate. These activities included periods of fasting.isoiation ancl sensory cleprivation, extl-eme physical pairi in the fblnr oiwhipping by sttnging nettles, and/or the ingestion of rohacco. :-ec
(cA-Rrv_, d iamondh as this,s. (photo:
300 David S. Whitley
oo
o oo . oo . O
x +ii
b
t^ir'21-. fr0
@ h
c
harvester ants and/or toroache. Any of trrese circumstances or agentstypically will resurt in hailucinati"*; "rh";
combined trrey can be ah'osrguaranteed to yield ASCs.The hallucinatory effects of toroache need no comment. That
:fl:li'y experiences resulted ao* tofu.ro ingesrion a'd that thesevlslolls were a central part of the pgbefty initiations was established inour earliest detailed eth'ological o..o'it fi.orn california, This was
: :;:: -: '.. : .. : : ; i . : . , : .
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i.r€S@rr"* ".,'- - :. ;.+.-.a--. :1. .]
i , ' .
Dav id S . 'Whi t le r ' - r r ) r
written, about I 822, by F.ay cieronirro Bosca'a, ancl it co'cerued fire.Tuanei io ( i .e. , LLr isefro) resicr ing around Mission san . Iuan calr istrano(v/hi t le, ; , 2003). In descr ibing thc boys' and gir ls, in i t iat ions, Boscanastated that:
"At 1he age of six or seven years, the chirdren rvere given a gocl asprot*ctor ' . This was an animal in which thcy werc told to placcentire confidencc, and whrch, it was believecl, wor-rlcl clefend tlierrfl 'orn all dangers. .They were not, however, to consicler trrisanimal as t l re real god [ i .e. , t l ie cul ture hero Chinigchinich].That they might know the class of anirnai wtrich the gocl,chinigchiniclr, had selecteci fbr their parlicurar ve'eratio', a kinciof drinl< was administeled to them macJe i}om a plant callecl pibtttftobacco], which was reclucecl to a powdcr. a'd inixecl with otherintoxicating ingreclie'ts. s..' aiiei taking this preparatiou, theybecanrc insensible, a'd Ib' th'ee clays were dcpr-ivecl of anysustcnaltcc whatcvcr.
During this period they were attencled by sonre old men orwomen) who were continually exhorting thern to be on the alertand not slccp, fcrr fear tlic coyotc, thc bear, the crow, or 'tcrattlesnal<e might conre; to observe if it were lilrious or- genl.le, anclto inquire of the fir'st that shoLrld corne what were its desir"es. T'hepoor Indian thus intoxicated, without fbod or dlink, sr,rl 'fbr:ing fr-omcleliriLrrn, beheld all kinds of visions; ancl when he macle kr,ur,lthat he had seen any particular being. who explai'ec1 theobservance reqLrircd o1'him, then they gavc hirl to eat ancl drink,and macle a grancl feast; at thc same time advising him to beparticulal in obeying the commands of the rnysterious apparition.',(Boscana 1978:45-46)
Boscana's rcf'crence to elderly male ancl fcrnale attenclants makes clearthe fact that his clescription is of boys and girls both. as rlld men wereinvariably boys' guarclians during these initiations whereas old wonrenwere tirc girls' watchcrs.
clonfirmation clf the occLlrrenoe of visionary exper.iences ciuringthe use of tobacco in the girls' puberty initiations is proviclerl in other.accounts. DLrBois, fbr example, writes that:
"The chief. . . ' fp lacecl] t t . rc t ,at i of tobacco i ' the gi ' l ,s mouth.warm water was then administered in a basket. . .lf s;he shouldvomil-, it r.vas taken as a sign that she had not been viftuous; but ifshe were good shc would not vornit. This was a sevele rr:St.
The tobacc. ind'ced drowsiness, and in this state the girl wasplaced in a large hole that had been previously dug in the ground. .
The girl is placed there for three ciays. Only her mother orthe wif'e of the chief can see her and attend her:. A baslcr:t. , .is or-rt
' . ; ! .
...:i./. l ; 1 ; : ') t
art madedrawings
s drawilgr, Cucupartroglyphs99: I 75).
0r agentsre alrnost
nt. Thatrat thesei ished inihis was
302 David S. Whitiey
over her face. .she can drink only warm water." (DuBois1908:94) :
Here DuBois appears to have confused 'drowsineds' with what mightrnore accurately be described as 'wooziness.' Williarn Duncan Strong(1929:297-8) states this directly by referring to the vertigo that thetobacco induced:
"[The ritual official] gives each girl a dririk of tobacco and waterfiom a clay vessel, . ,The girls then became dizzy and were laid inthe.pit which had been heated with hot rocks,"
That ASCs result in vertigo is well known.'Additional
ethnographic data fi'om Native California confirm theintoxicating effect of native tobacco, even when smoked. Zigmond(1980:9), for example, notes that it is so potent that only about threepuffs of the tobacco are o'enough" for,one night's dosage. Harrington(n.d.b) states that:
"A good gulp of the Inative tobacco] smoke was so strong it made[his informant] for a mornent like drunk."
Moreover, recent pharmacological, clinical and ethnological datademonstrate, conclusively, that the ingestion of native tobacco (whichhas 8 times the nicotine content of modern commercial tobacoos) hasstrong hallucinogenic effects (see Wilbert 1987).
Similarly, the hallucinogenic effects of red harester ants(usually wrapped in eagle down feathel balls and ingested) are also wellknown (see Blackbam 1976). For example, Han'ington records that:
"Once. , . Francisca took lred ants] as a medicine. . ,While she wastaking red ants thus, about 4 or 5 o'clock one bright aftemoon, shelooked up at the sky and saw all the stals, just as olle sees them atnight." (Hanington n.d.b)
In a similar fashion, Zigrnond (1977:77) notes that "After swallowing theants, you fall into a deep sleep at once like being drutrk,"
The cause of the hallucinations is the fonnic acid injected intothe stomach lining. In the case of the boys' initiation the ants were notingested, but were poured on their bodies and allowed to sting them until,"after a time" (DuBois 1908:91), they were brushed off with stingingnettles. The application of stinging nettles likewise was a well knownrnedicinal treatment in Native Califomia and, as with rnany suchtreatments, was believed effective because of the plant's connection tosupematural power - manifest in visions and dreams. Zigmond(1981:68) thus reports that:
"Younger people, to procnre dreams, walked through a growth ofnettles pressing them against the bared chest causing severelacerations."
Although the potency of the ant stings-meaning their ability togenerate hallucinations-was cerlainly greater for the stomach lining
q3Id
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r. II[
: Ji i g
,r tl
!3t!
I
; l
!II..1
,I
Iil
I
rter'." (DuBois
with what mightin Duncan Str.ong
vertigo that the
cco and vlaterLd were laid in
trnia confirm therked. Z,igmgnrJrnly about tlueeage. Harringtou
trong it mtlde
rnoiogical datatobacco (whichrl tobaccors) has
harvester antsd) are also wel lcords that:irile she wasrelnoon, slre;ees thern at
swallowing the
d injected intoants were not
ing thern uintil,with stinging
a weli kl,owni many sluchconnection to;. Zigmond
gfowth 01'ng severe
reir abi l i ty ' tormach lining
Da, . rd S . \ \ h i t l t r . i I
than the body as a whole, the clifference in the cluantity oIpoison itttecte .twas almost certainly substantially greatel' dLrring the atrt ot'deal atrci.when capped with lashings by stinging nettles, can be assut.ned to havegenerated hal lr"rcinations.
That sensory cleprivation t'esults tn hallucinations is also s'ellestabl ishcd (e.g., sec LaBarre 1980:39-40). When cornbined rvi th theweakened physical state resulting fi"our prolonged fasting, thet'e sinlplvcan be no question tl-rat the initiates, whether girl or boy and regaldless ofwhether administered toLocrclte or tobacco, had visions.
The relatecl qircstion cottcerlls wlrether the initiates received
spirit helpers while in ASCs. Such a conclusion is stlaightfbrward given
Boscana's c1r-rote above. John Peabody I{arrington, who annotatedBoscana's ltanuscript, confirmccl this fact, specifically identifying the
observed object or aninral 1s the indiviclual's pat, the stanclard Native
Califbr:nia gloss lbr 'spirit helper' (li 'oebet' 1925 513; Ciayton 1930:368;Applegate l97B'.27):
"T'he object or anitnal which the pummal, initial.e, sees afteldrinlting the toluache [sic], is heeded, its commattcls, if any. are
obcycd, and it catr bc spol<en of as ptt'riuc, his 1ret." (Flart'ington
1 9 7 8 : l 6 l )Note that I larrington her:e assumed that Boscaua meant that the chilclren
hacl ingested toktuche limsonweed) due to the resr"rlting hallucinations,
because Harrington himsclf (like rnany other cthrlologil;ts) assutned that
tobacoo would not have such el'lects; hence I-Iarrington took Boscana's
reference to pibul. as a miuor error. ln lact, Boscana appears to have
spccifically l 'ucantthc use of tobacco in this iustatlcc bnt, regarcllcss, it is
clear from his statement that the initiates halhrcinated and received spirit
helpers.This conclusion was also reached by Dr-rBois, partly based on her
reading of Boscana and in part due to her clwn Luiseilo and Dieguefio
research. She states:,,IHer Luiseflo consultant] l<uows nothing about persoual "totem
faot; ancl at Mesa Gr-ande it was possible to extract enough from
sorne of the old rnen to be sure that the personal totem had long
ago cxisted alnong the Dicguefro lndians." (Dr-rBois 1908:80)
Strong concurred. He notes that:"Boscana makes a posit ive and clear statenrett t cottcerning the
acquisition of pelsonal guardian spirits at this time, and it is Ver)'
probable that the above-menticlned [Cahuilla] antics ale a
reflection of this wide spread belief ," (Strong 1929:3\12)
304 David S. Whittey
Although specif'rcaily concernecl with the boys, initiation, the evidenceled Driver: to conclucle that:"ln southern carifornia fpuberty initiations]. . .the centr.zLl ttemewas the obtaining of contaLct witrr the ,ui.rnutu.ur through themedium of a narcotic pla;nt. .The hallucinations consrstedp'incipally of visions of animars. .Sucrr animals became ilre
__ lifelong spirir helpers of the troys,,, (Driver 1969:350)The centrality of the acqLrisition oi'spirit helpers to the pLrberty initiatio'sis then obvious.
.1 . The final question abourt Takic rock art concerns the rLa.ture ofIne prctographs: that is, their origin and syrnboric rneaning.unfortunately, witrr.the excepti.n of Harringto',s 1n.a.aj qriicr< sketoh,yr \1J. 'o graphic information about the boys; art,' ircir,<fi,rg rheidentification of sites created duri'g the boys' initiation from whicharchaeological infon'ation about the sites rnight be gained. J{edgesnonetheless concludes that:
"[T]he rock aft of fthe Luiseiio and Dieguefio]. . .provides primeexamples of parailels between tire aboriginut ui.t und
-k.,u*r,
clraracteristics of halr'cinatory imagery. pr.eiise *tt.,nogrufni c cratahave not .olne to liglrt, hr:we,r.i, ,ltl,oogh the ."uidlnr" fo,associating this rock art with datura ,,s. l., very persuasi\,e.,,(Hedges 1992:81)
By this statement Hedg,es appare'tly rneaus that ttre boys,art portrayshallucinatory imagery. Inasriuch as visionary i'ragery was taken as theappearance of spirit herpers which, as Driver (1969) contends, was thepurpose of the ritual, it follows that rhe boys; art port.uy, tii. anirnalhelpers they receivecl during their ASC exper_iences.
More i'fb''ation is available coicer'ing the gir.ls, art, ancl onvarious levels. First, there are a series sites histoi.icall/identiliecl as trrepro-duct of girls' ceremonies, pLovicri'g a reaso'able amount of'archaeological info'natio'about the sites. second, as noted above, thisart rs stylistically disti 'ct inasniur;h as it is invariably red, ancl is heavilypreclcrminatedby zigzags, criarnoncr ohains and hancr prints. Thirci, fio'rtlre perspective of depiction (bs opposed to symboric rneaning), zigzagand diamond chain 'rotifs in Native califo'ria were uliiversalryinterpreted as rattlesuake iiesigns, regardless of whether this perlained toimagery on basketry, tattoos, flce painting, or.pictographs, For exampre,Strong, (1929 :299) notes that "infbn,anrs"said- sucli[pictograph] designswere always dia.rond-shaped and representeci the ratiiesna[..;
-
SimilarJy, Steward recorcls that:"After furlher ceremonies in which a grornd painting was used trregirls had a race to a ceftain ror:k. Heie relatives of irre girrs .stoodto give them red paint when they amived, anci thJ paintecl
Ctl€ ! i t l :Ol
:r-rpoth.spirji hrTire iirsil ihe ll
.-ri iitr '...r , ' t s tone l
lc00b )erp(:ileqeneral
:he ,lirt:\ i oc i - l, \ \ -h i i l :\a t i re
:u : i r i s :i:r-ns:
I::t*f.=5:ry, i i ! : - : i , f , . j , : - , ,
li*ffi ffi fur1*--..;:+!:1i.$=t*r=:r.+::=*rer*;r*:3:.r ;
ation, the eviclence
e central Lhemeral through thet ions consistedals becarLc thei 0 )) pLlberty initiations
cems the nature of,,mbolic meaning.r.d.a) qLr ick sketch,art, ir-rcluding theiation from wliiche gained. Hedges
.provides primeart and k.nownhnographic datare evidence fbr:ry persuasive."
r boys' afl portraysl'y wzrs taken as the
) contends, was the:ortrays tlie anitnal
e girls' at't, and onlly identifled as thconable arrount of'rs noted atlove, this, rcd , and is heav i l yprints. Tfrird, firurc rneaning), zigzagL wel'e universallYher t1-ris pettained toaphs. For example,pictograplLl dcsignslesnake."
ing was used thetf tire giris stoodnd they painted
cliantoncl-shape<i clesigns, represellting the ratt|:snalte' otr ilte
rocl<." (Stewald 1929'.22- l) rr l* r .d
Givetr the facts that diamonc{-chain and zigzag were con'slste,l
w ic ie iysa id to represent ra t t lesna lce , theoonf i rmat io r io f th is fac t t r i threspect to the r:o"k art motif-s [5], anti the heavy prepondetance of snclt
*"iift at thc girls' sites, it is clcar that rattlesnakc was the t'nost
commonly clepicted *oiJi'r"*urting lrom llie girls' puberry^initiations (cf.
Stewarci 1929:221. .H.og" '
tc)-70:tot ; oxerrdirrel 1980:48; Colren
1987 24).W h a t r a t t l c s n a k e s y n r b o l i z e d i s o f c o u r s e a s l i g h t l y d i f f e r e n t'pose of the initiation' the obvious
'tnbolic representations of the girls'
of evicletlcc stlppolt this infct'encc'
lolves the general ttatltre. o1't'ock art
in the far west. subi;tzrntial eviclence demotrstrates 1'hat a ma]or pllrllose
of far wcstcrn roclt art was the depict
visionary experiences more general
2000b), That is, interpretation ol'the
roch alt' Sectltrd' this ethnographic
ljli;iJJHl?3;:#j* iiljll,^' )Moclel (Lewis-Williams ancl Dowsotr l98B)' Ar; outiinccl eiservherc
(Whitley 1994b), tftt t.pt"tttion's ol the NP Moclel are sertistled bv mttcir
Natiuc Calilbrnia rock art' T'he g
cxpcctal iot ts tr f thc tnt lc lc l - t t t r i i t t th
br.ri insteacl due to this art's lieavy e
lortns attd pr irrc iplcs olpcrccpt iorr ic
Thrrd, and lnost imPortantl
such a conclusion. For exatnPle
lb l low ing co t icc rn ing t l t c te l r r r ina t io
pcriod cluring which thcy painted pir
"Aud then they eat fsornething L
to know sonxe t4)aY or other thcLt
irl it [i 'c' ' break their fast]' and thetr
they woulcl vomit' Ancl it is saicl that long ago the ones rvho u'et'e
initiatecl *outO^g;t marrieci' bttt I never saw that' this is the encl oi
what I know."'ftitt una Nolasquez 1913"35; emphasis added)
T h e i r r - r p l i c a t r o n i s t h a t t l r e g i r l s a c q u i r e t h e i r p a i n l , i r r g s t h r o r t g h s . . : : . :urrclescribeil cognitive pl'ocess' of which a visionary exlret ie t' ic'- ;s
,b"i
306 David S, Whitley
obvior,rsly a candidate, This is clearly irnplied by park-er (cited in Trueand Baumhoff 1981 :261):
"It is now well established that after thc girls' roasting ceremony,and vthile they were still groggy they were given paint made frorntree pitch and mineral pigments and told to draw on the rocl<s."(Parker 1966:31; emphasis in True ancl Baumhoff 1981 :261) 16l
White then infe's that the iurages are the girls, spirit helpers. Henotes that:
"The meaning of the symbol painted on a large boulder at thetenninus of the race was in each instance known only by theindividual gi.l, but possibly was repr.esentative of some for:m ofbird, animal or other ctyelkri object with which she identified.',(White 1963:141)
Ayelkwi is sacred knowledge,power (White 1963), which is to saysupematural potency that, throughout Native california, was acquiredfiom and manifest in a spirit helper (Bean 1976; Applegate l97B).
Fourth, Boscana's description, quoted above, indicates thatrattlesnake was one of the four spirit animals that the puber.ty initiatesmight receive. The rock art at the girls' sites, as emphasized many timesabove, is heavily predorninated by lattlesnal<e n'iotifs. It therefcrrefollows that these snake motif's were the spilit helpers that the girlsreceived during their visionary experietrces.
lndeed, the imporlance of supematural snake spirits to the girls'initiation is syrnbolicalJy codified in a cahuilla rnyth, tire Fiesta forGrowing Girls (Patencio 1943:40-41). This recounts the fact that DayStar snalce was exclusively singled ow as an impoftant attenclee at theinitiation, and great efforts were made to ensule its presence. But when,due to unfoftunate circumstances, the snake left the celemony earry,flying away "like lightning" (i.e., in a zigzag), the girls ttmlecl to stoneand the initiation was a l'aih"u'e. The syrnbolic irnplications are clear: thepresence of a supernatural snake spirit who moved in a zigz,ag - which isto say a supernatllral rattlesnalce - was required for a successful girls'initiation [7].
Takic pubefty rock art then was minimally created by fourethnolinguistic groups, the Luiseflo-Juaneflo, Cupeflo, Cahr.rilla andDiegueffo (who in fact were not Takic). [t is highly likeiy thar it was arsornade by the Gabrielino and Serrano ancl thus that it was made flom theTransvelse Ranges and LA Basin south to below the Mexican border,and frorn the coast to the Paim springs area. It was rnade by both boysand girls dur:ing puberty initiations which inchrded the irrgestion ofhallucinogens and visionary experiences, and whose prirnary purposewas the acquisition of a spirit helper. The girls' ar1 is predominated byt'attlesnalce motifs and the existing evidence sllpports the conclusicln thatthese were the spiLit helpers of the girls.
'l?re
by par.ker (cited in ,frue
ls' roastin;g ceremony,Irl,en paint rnade fiom) oraw on the rocks.,,rho f f l98 t :261) l6 l: gir ls ' spir i r hc, lpc,r .s. J Ic
large bouider. at the. Kxown oniy by therve,of
-sonre fbr. ln ofn lch she ider r t i l l ec l . , ,
96J) wh ich ls lo s ly: r l r to rn ia . ,was acqr r i l . cc l.ppregate 1978).aDove, indicates fhat
at the puberty initiatesrrphasizccl many timcsrnotifs. It thereforenetpers tirzrt the giris
rke spirits to the girls,rrryth, t l rc. Ficsta frrr
rnts tjre 1.act that Dayortant attenclee at th!presence. But when,tne, cel-elnony early,grils furn(ld to stonecations aro clear: then a zigzag _ which is)r a sLlccci;slirl girls,
Ily createcl by fourlefro, CahLrilia and'kely that it was als<twas made fiom there Mexican bor-der,rnade by troth boysd the ingestron tt.e pnmary purposers predorninated byilre cclnc]u,sion that
Davic l S. \ \ ih i r le i l
T'hc Yuman Puberty,Arf TrarJi t ionYumau-speal<ing tribes occupied thc lower Colorado Rir-er.
Valley and delta, and pofiions of the colorado Deserl and northern BalaCal i lbrnia. They included the Mojave, Quechan (fbmerly ,yuma').
I (amia, Cocopa (Cucapd) and I( i l iwa lB]. Thcse are intcrcst ing ro therock art researcher becaLrse they created two hincls of rock art, both iu avariety o1'dillblent contexts. Shamans, first, madr: rock ar1 portr.ayingthcir rc-expcl icucing o1' thc r lythic cleat iou of thc wol ld, dr-rr ing u, l r ic l rthey obtained supernatural power fi 'om their culture hero Mastamho;alternatively, they metde r:ock art fol purposes of solcery, Pictographsancl/ol pctLoglyphs were also made by boys during thcir pr-rber-tyinitiatron. Second, geoglyphs or earth ligLrlcs urcrc crcatcd to urarh anclcolrutemofate rnythic events, ancl wele usoci in ritrral pilgrimagcs andothct'gloulr ccremonies, br-rt they wcre also macle by sharnans for sorcery(sec Whit ley 1998, 2.000b) l9l .
Despite t l r is c l iversi ty, the Yuman-speaking t l ibcs ale frustrat inglbl thc roch art researchcl becausc, whrle tlieil ethnoglaphic recorcjestabi ishcs thc abovc generaI or igirrs for their rocl< art , i t tc l ls us ahnostnol l r i r rg rr iolc a[rorr l i1.
Tho ploduction of puberty art, nonetheless,, is known to haveoccurred during the boys' nasal septum pier:cing ritural. Dcpending upontribal gror-rp, this ritual variecl in length, intensity and fonlality (seeFolcle [93 1: 150-l 51 ; Gif fort l 1931 3], 54-55, 193' .1:291; Meigs 1939:41 -48; DevcreLx 1949; I(el ly l917:9B-99). In gcneral tcrms i t lnvolvcdfasting ancl isolation, thc piclcing of thc scptllnt for a nose ornautont,tattooing in somc cases aucl, alrvays, a ritual ' ' 'rl ln." According to-f)evereux (1949), the run was more than 60 miles in length across theclesert, other cthnologists record shortcr runs, but all appcar to concurthat it was unclertaken during the srLmmcr. The tattoo and/or tloseolnarncr.rt obtained duling the celernony were lequiled to enter thc landof thc deacj upon c'leath (Cifford 1933:291; Stcwarl. l9'71:l' l). Accoldingto Forde ( 1931 : 15 l ) , the ini t iat ion was zrssociatecl with acquir ing wal l ior 'powe f, a circumstance tvhich is understanderble in terms of the state ofondemic warlarc that cxisted in this rcgion cluring thc protohistoric andhistorical periods.
Alvarez. de Williams provides our urost cclrnplete acconlrt of theplace of rock art in the initiation (see Figure 2):
"Onesimo Gonzalez Saiz, a conter-nllol'ary [19731 leadel of theCucapd people, . . told me that this fs i te] , on the eastern side of t l ieSierra Cucap6, was once used by his people in connectiort rvith thenose piercing cel'emony for their yourrg meu, Lle sarcl that thevcliose this and clne other place, (which has no painting). becausetlrey were spccial, noted for large natural holes ltinujasl in tlicrock. . .The led painting is on one 'wall' of a short natural tunue 1
itE;t
308 David S. Whitley
in a granite outcropping atop a small hill. The painting is for themost paft ver:y faded, some of it obliterated, but solid and lineargeouretrical forms rnay be distinguished, amra.pg them fourtriangles. . ,When I mentioned to Onesimo the faded condition ofsome of the painting, he told me that when someone died, it wasthe custom to rub out the old painting, and paint anew. He didn'tseem to know any details beyond this, but when I asked himwhether the place was used by all the .Cvcap6, or just one f'amily,he told nte,'nadu ntas una.fhmilia' Qust one fanily). By this heprobably meant one shamul, or 'clan."' (Alvarez de Williams1973:44)
hlvarez de Williams' interpretation of Saiz' reference Io una/amilia conflicts with Gifford's eariier and more complete accou.nt of theCocopa boys' ceremony (which unfbrtunately does not mention rock art).Gifford (1933:291) notes instead that "[The initiation] Took place whennumber of boys, regardless of gens ['clans'], attained to about 15 (14-17)years age."
The Cocopa creation of rock art nonetheless is confirmed for theQuechan by Densmore, who writes:
"[W]hen a man reached a ceftain age he 'put his mark on a rockfor future generations.' A11 the men in a fhmily were said to havethe same 'animal mark.' It was also said that a 'kind of record'was kept on rocks, some of which remain near Laguna."(Densmord 1932:8-9)
Creation of boys' puberty art during the nasal septum piercingcetemony is also suggested for the Mojave in Bourke's (1889:175) earlyaccount, which identifies the rnythic location of the first such cerenlony,and illustrates an adiacent rock art panel at this location (Figure 2).
No information exists on this puberty art beyond these shortaccounts. Alvarez de Williams and Densmore's statements might betaken to suggest that the resulting rock art represents a kind of totemicclan symbol. Although not speaking directly to puberly art, a statementby Kroeber argues against snch a possibility:
"The clans do not enter into religious activities, so far as is known.ln fact, the ceremonial scheme of these tribes is such that it isdifficult to see how the natives could have found serious points ofcontact between their clan organization and cult practices if theyhad been so inclined. The impress which this gentile schememakes is that it rests lightly on society and not at all on cults."(Kroeber 1925:741)
Kloeber's contention appears to be supported by the rook art itself.Althouglt there are only two sites that are known or can be inferred tohave resulted florn the ceremony (the Alvarez de Williams and Bourkelocalities respectively), there is little evidence that I know of in the
IEC(rnftirilibtitd
Ebfi
cll$
thID
&d
ilI,*I
hfi
iITq
{tI
1|
4I
I
i t:., I
{i
caintirrg is for ther solid and linearnong them fourbded conilition ofreone died, it wasanew. He didn't
hen i asked himrr just one farnily,mily). By this herez de Williarns
iz' teference to unanplete account oftherot mention rock art).rnl Took place whend to about 15 (14-17)
; is confirrned for the
s mark on a rockwere said to haver 'kind of record'1 near Laguna."
asal septurn piercing<e's (1889:175) earlyfirst such cerefirony,ion (Figurr:2).beyond these short
statements might beIts a kind of totemicrefty art, a statement
o far as is known.is such ttrat it isI serious points ofi practices if theys gentile schemet at all or1 cults."
the rock art itself.)r can be inferred toMiiliams and BourkeIt I know of in the
David S. Whit ley 309
regional corpus suggestive of repeated possible "clan" symbols at sites
(as, for example, can be immediately recognized at Willow Springs.
Ailzona, which was made by Hopi clans during their Salt Pilgrimage; see
Michaelis 1981), Moreovero there is a genelal paucity of iconic imagery
in the regional corpus, Bourke's illustration notwithstanding. (Like
many casgal observers, Bourke apparenttry drew the few recognizable
iconic images at the site, almost certainly ignoring the rnajority of the
others which should be geometric in form.)Densrnore's characterization of the puberty art as 'animal matks'
is theu suggestive of the possibility that the initiates porlrayed spilit
helpers which were taken to be animal in nature but not necessarily
anjmal in visionary fbnn I101. This interpretation is supported
ethnographically on a number of points. Forde (1931:182), flrrst, records
the fact that spirit helpers are animals but that they do not necessarily
appear in animal form. Given his contention that one purpose of the
initiation was the acquisition of rvarfare power, second, he ftrrther
records that war powers were received fiom one of the anirnai spirits in a
clream, but in a "clitl 'er.ent language and set form" (Forde 1931:181). He
also notes, third, that:,,Men when they are olcl become weak and lose their vision, tlteir
power goes from them and they give it up to younger people.''
( F o r d e t 9 3 1 : 1 3 9 )That is, power is passed down fi'om the old to the young' perlraps
reflected in tlie statement that all the men in a family had the sarne
animal matk.The related qllestion of the place of visionary expedences in the
boys' initiations, and thus hallucinations, is unclear in the ethnogrdphic
record, however. Most ethnologist denied that dreaming was an
important element in the ceremony or they stated that any concern with
dreaming was 'no more than usual,' thcltrgh it must be recalied, as
Devereux has noted, that the "major intere5t" oflthe Yuman speakers was
"the acquisition of power thror-rgh subjective dream experiences"
(Devererx 1949:19; see also Devereux 1957; Kroeber 1925,1957), And
ii is hard to imagine that an initiation woLrld not tesult in hallucinations
when, as clesclibecl by Forde (1931:150-151), it involved nasal piercing
without anesthesia and a i0-15 tniles run across the Colorado Desert
clur:ing the summer, fbllowed by four days without sleep, with sustenance
limited to a single bowl of watery gruel'The interpr.etation of Yuman puberty alt, as in all cit'cumstances,
must be based on out existing evidence even though, in this case. our
data are quite limited. Still, a variety of lines of evidence suggest that the
aft may portray the initiates' spirit helpers. First, the rock art
. (partieularly along the river and in the Colorado Desert) hear i11
enrphasizes geometric fbrms and these appear to correspond to conli::]or
310 David S. Whit ley
The Cupirle Tradition
+-- Si*:-:fu.: *x a
j i - - *_ :';?l . ;'Bl. -q!::,r-'.j
+
4V:
r j , i : { :
j i - l :
s.[r" ..
- - IT a l
tr::_': : &
;li€i Ei
" . . . 4 '
a'' -
' i : f ' -
:,s.: :_rii - _
: J . . -
Tl.!:r:: i
- r -
David S. Whit ley a l l
:d during ASCs.fress and exertionI conditions usedrs groups, where)94). Third, oneand this was saide supplicant in aI One case as anandabie in terms
pubefty rock aftr of cupule rocksristoricai villagesn. The existinged, however', bylalifornia, Therck arJ reflectedduring puberty
rd Groove rocks.g., see Goddard:386-387; LoebParkman 1986,er identified tworans for weatherthose rnade by'ocks." The so-erl Calilbrnia,Lons salmon by)3 :100 ;Wh i t i eyhen, served as a)mony and wastly cults in this1 1 1 .i groove rocks"Tett provides a
=rrst a prayerstone, soffte'the gtoovesinto a very
and taken to
+: some seclude(l spot. Here this powder was made into a paste artd
with it the woman's abdomen was painted lvith two lines, one
runnillg from the top of the sternum to the pubes, the other
transver.sely acfoss the middle of the abdornen. Some of this paste
was also inserted in the female. Intercourse at this time positively
assurecl fertility, due to the magic properties of this rocl(." (Barrett
coLrld be enslll'ed.
i '-r:-i
312 Dav id S . Whi t l cy
[,' igure 3. Cupulr:s at thc Yokuts sitc of J{(ocn<y tr [i l l,, sotrth-centralCaNifirrnia" .A. cotttclrlpol"al'y clhnological accoullt inclicates rlhat these wcrcntade lry gir ls c lur ing thcirr l ruberty i rr i { iat ions. (photo: lD.S" V\/hi t ley)
wert: Lrseci by worncn ancl tlre syrnbolisnr of the cupulcs rcllectetl thisccnt lal l 'eurale ar: t iv i ty. Thc ini t iatcs wclc f l 'st isolatr :<J in a smal lror:l<shcltcl Ior a feu, clays lvith farnily membcLs (probably r.r.rrlthcrs or.aunts) and perhaps n shaman, ' fh ir i
sheltcr is about 20 metcrs north o1' thccupulc lock and bcars traces of pigr,rcnt on its wall, suggcsting that itmay havr: oncc had pictoglaphs ancl that thesc rnzry havc playccl sornerole in the gi l ls ' in i t iar ion. A11er this pcr iod of isolat ion, thc gir ls caurcto ther cupulc rock and, using a snal l l i tual pcsl lc (whicl i is le lainecl bythr: consr"r l tant and which was sl iowccl 1o rnc), procccdcci to br ict- ly gr indiv i th in cach o l ' thc ex is t ing c t rps Th is i s sa id to no t on ly syurbo l i ca l l yclupl icatc thc plant gl incl ing that is the ccntral wou'r i in 's lasl i , but atso toconncot each yclung gir l to al l thc prcvior-rs wofncn in thc lLibc who havcconcluctccl the ini t iatron.
The exist i r tg elhnogr-aphic t :cord incluclcs very l i t t l r : iu l i r ln lr t iouon thc pubcf ly inrt iat ions 1br yoLrng Yol<tr ts gir ls, bLr l what clous exislproviclc.s gencral agrcellent r,r,ith this acoount. Fol cxanplc, it was saiclthat "gir ls fol lowecl t l ic n. toon" (Cayton 1948:104), rel t rr ing to the rvayin which they gaugecl thcir mcuslr'ual cycle. ' l 'his
appears to be lcllectcclin thi: namc given to thc cupulc rock: t,ikcwisc a pct.tocl of ritr-ralisolation was wiclcspt'citd in Native Clalifornia, ancl is clocurlentccl for theYokrLts (Gayton 1948: DLjver 193'1:97). (Whi1e in rnany re:gions this was
Hil l , south-central:ates that thcse were),S. Whit ley)
pules reflccted thissolated in a srnal lrobably mothcrs ormeters north of the, suggesting that jthave plal,s6l sorneion, the girls carrehjcir is relained byied to bricfly glindonly synrbol ical ly's task, bLrt also tothe tribe vyho lrave
v little infirlmationrt what does existarnple, it 'was saidlbring to the way:ars to be leflectedr period of litualocuurenter"l for theLy regions this was
David S. \ \ Ih i t ie r
saicl to occur in a walmecl pit, duplicating post-partum lrractices. ior tjreYokuts it was commonly recclrded as isolation in the gill 's lTor-tse rvitlrher mothor'.) But with the exccption of a fcw additional minor detailsabout taboo activities (e.g., eating lreat, scratching with one's finget's).the Yol<uts ethnographic recold is devoid of additional infbrmation ongir ls ' in i t iat ions.
'l-hc limite d ettrnograpliic infbrnration from south-centt alCalifbrnia ancl thc western Great Basin tlay also l>e augmented byinformation fi 'om southr.vestern Califbrnia; that is. fl 'om the area of theTakic pictograph pubcrty tradition. Accorcling to information collectedfi'om a Luisefro consultant abor"tt 1953 by Parket:
"ln a nearby rvash on the understtrfhce of a bottlder was a clustel'of t'ound pccl<ings in the boulcler about thc size of a silver clollar. Iwas told by the Inclians who lived here that these 'wet'e a l<incl ofscore card with cach pcclc representittg atr initiate clf'the c<;retnony.They neglcctcd t<l state whethcr' thc rouncl mat'kcrs rvere for thcboys or the girls." (Parker 19663 | -32, cited in Minor 1 9'l5 : I 6)
Minor ' (1915:16) l i r r ther no tes Dr " rBo is ' (1908:92 ,95 , 115) ment ion o fringing stoncs as accoulpauintcnt for a song cluring thc boys' and girls'initiations, suggesting thzrt these ringing stones tnay also be oupules anclthus that they wcre ct'eatecl by por-rnding (see contrasl.ing vierv by Tr:ueand Baumhol ' f 1981). an ic lea elaborated by Parknran (t993). Al thoughtfris last author's priruary coltcern is tirc possible associaticln of'cttpulcswith rain-nraking. fol lowing I lar"rmhofT (1981) he suggests that cupLrlesfiray rcprcsent a ltind of archaic substrate ol' I lokan r:ttltttre, glven thatHokan speakers are believecl to havc once inhabited all or nluch ofCalifolnia.
The ethnogt'aplic infblrrration on this cttpule making tradition is,thus, scant and, iu solne senscs, confusing. First, cven thotrgh quite
cursory, there are a f-ew consistent suggestions linking cupltles wilh gills'pubelty initiations. Second, on a syllbolic level these at'e also conststentwith thc symbolisnr of cupulc rnalcing in ad.iaccnt parls of nolth-ccntralClalifornia, although the specific funotiot-ts and rituals variecl. Thild, the
distributicln of cr.tpules in Califblnia extends into the Takic region, where
tl-rere is also an ethnographic rcfercnce associatiug them with pttbetl;'
r i tes. Whi le this supports t l ie ol ig in of cupules in gir ls ' pubertr
initiations in general tefms, it is hard to know how to rr:concile it with the
much better documented Takic prctograph tradition (e.g,, sec discussiotlin True and Baumhoff I 981).
With leference to the last issne, Trr-te and Bar"rrnhoff ( I 981 ) far orthe idea tliat cupr,rles in Tahic country predate the movement of this
language brancir into southwestern Clalifornia. While tli is mav Lre tiLr;
for sorne or many of the cupules, Minor 's (1975) cot l tet l t ion ioi . :
archaeological association with protohistoric if not hir;torical village s r;-
;tlk-'".:;r
314 David S. Whit ley
at least sorne of the cupules is, to me. convincing evidence that certain ofthem are quite late dating, Equally to the point, there is increasingarchaeological evidence that thc Takic rnoved into , soutirwesternCalifomia much earlier than the AD 500 datum that Kroetrer (andfollowing him Bauurhoffl originalJy hypothesized. probably as early as1500 BC, rlaking it mr.rch harder to attribute ali of flie cupules to anearlier and historically extinct ethnolinguistic group in this region.
These issues aside, a series of other questions about cupules aisoremain. For example, at least one Yokuts site has painted cupules (redwith white borders), suggesting that sorne roclc painting may also haveoccurued during the girls' initiations in south-central Califomia (Figure4), One region, in Tataviam territory along the Santa Clara River Valleyin nofthern Los Angeles County, lias village sites with uiassiveconcentlaticxrs of'cupules (Figure 5). These imply either an intensity ofritual activity and/or a function that differs ii'om what is archaeologicalvisible elsewhere.
, lt,i,, ,1..'
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Figure 4. Fainted cupules (recl center with rvhite outl ine) in a natural rockalcove at Round Valley, south-central California. The alcoye and thepailtted-engraved line in its center at this Yokuts site are both relt inisceutof the fornr of a quail topknot f 'eather. (photo: D.S. Whitley)
- - , , 1 ' l ;
Dav id S . \Vh i t le r i t 5
dence that certaiu ofthere is increasinglnto southwcstcrnthat l(roeber (anci
rrobably as early asf tlic cupulcs to anr this region.; about culrules alsoarnted cupules (redtlllg lnay lalso havcCalil 'omja (Figure
Clala I l iver Val leyrtcs with ulassivcther an inlensi ty ofrt rs archaeological
in a natura l roekalcove and the
bofh rentitniscent)
I
r?;<
, ..:. lj'
. t , .
t r r ignrre 5. Culxr les (anal; letroglypl ls) on a schrist outcno; l on the [-arrnirnl tanch near ,{gua Dulce in the upper Santa Clar i ta Val lcy (northern Los,{ngeles Count l , ) , soufhern Cal i fbrnia. ' l 'h is I 'egiorr, part of thcethnographic terr i tory, of the'{ 'akic^speal<ing' [ 'ataviarn, corrtains a large butpoorl;' tlocurnented scries of rna.ior cupule sifes. (photo: D.S. Whitley)
Dcspite thc paucity of infbrmation and uncertainty that rcsults,our best intelpretat ion at thrs point is thc cleat iou in south-ccntrzr lCal i fbmia anclthe western Grcat Basin ( i f not the Basin more genelal ly)o1 thcsc cupped rocks in girls'irritiatory rites. 'Ihis pla<;tice may havoalso extcndcd into thc Takic area of southwcstct'n California and servedas a ntinor (ernd hence rarely mentioned) aspect of their pllbefiyini t iat ions. (Al ternat ively, sorne o1' the cupules in this last region r layhave becn made by lithic drumuring.)
The Takic case, however, poirrts to a conchrsion suggesteclearlier', also ilr reI'elence to their pr"rberty art. This is that f-ar westelnNorth Alerican leligiolls were flnclamentally open ancl syrcretic.thereby adopting ancl blending traits arrd beliefs. On one hancl thisenhances oul abilitres to arglle analogically fiom one ethnic gloul) toanother. On the other hand this also means that hard and fast boundariesbotween cultures, cults and l<inds of rock art are unlikely to have exrsted.
Pulberty Vision Questing orl the Columbia FnateauNcl rocl< art tlaclition is better clocumented, anyu'hele ir .i::
worid, than thc puberly alt creatcd by Colunibia Plateau bs-1,q',11'r ' '
316 David S. Whit tey
during their vision q'esting i'itiatio*s. Ethnog'aphic acco.urts of thistradition have been syr:rthesizecl in derail by rJyser: 1troil-,-iann et al.00), Wliitley (2000b), Whitley and1004), eliminating any need ro do soreviously published table (Keyser andlie cvidence for the puberty aLt in thisa few points at tliis tirne.lsizing again is that there is over I 00rary ethnographic documentation on'en the use of elderly informants 100years ago [e'g., Teit 1gg6:2271, this aotuaily suggests continuityextending back for roughly 140-150 years.) This r:ecord demonstrateswidespread similarities in the tradition across trre region, as weil astemporal coutinuity d'ring the recent past. In gener.al Gr*, tn. puberty
:-l,:-ot ttrated by boys and. girrs during individLrar ratrrer trran groupvrslon qlrests, at relrote and isolated spots, u'der the clirection- of afamily member. The youths fastecl, condLicted various vigorous activities(like swim'ring, creating rocr< pires ancr pLilring down iees), and weresent to spots inrbucd with power wrrerc they iecciveo a splrit herper,
I*h might appear as a spark or as a h.rnan befbre revealing its ,,t*Ie,,
rofm.
In light of recent debate about the rerationship of p'berty ar1 tovisio'ary experiences (e.g., Kehoe 2000; Hedges 2001), it is irqportant tonote that the puberty rock art that resurted on the 'plateau
is wicieryack,owledged to have porlrayed the criirdren's dleams, meaning theirvisionary experiences: throughout far westem Norlrr American, visionaryexperiences were glossecl as'clLeaurs.' In part tli is is because nodisti'ction was made between a'REM dream and a waking halluci'atio'(a circumstance, not inciclentally, wliich can 6. supportedneurochemically and neur.opiys.iologically; see Hobson 1gg4). Br.rt onthe Platear-r the link was in fbct d'awn .u.n ,oor" explicitry. Hilr-Tout,for examplc, notes the following about the spirit helpei:
"This guide, proteotor, influence, charm _ for it partakes of thecharacter of all these - the chiliwack cail by the natne ,su,ria orsolia. This is an abstract or nominal fomr of the verb uli.a,,todream'' It is tirus because trrese potencies corne to anclcommunicate with them in clreams and visions.,, (Hill_Tout1978:49).
_. other depictions rrave aiso bee'ideritified in the pubefty art,includi.g red fir brancrres in particular (e.g., Teit rg96). Artrrough thismight see'r to indicate that mundane natLrral obtects *.r. point.o, in factit does.not.. The i'rportance to the girrs' puberty initiation or. ,,rnysticred-f-rr," as it was sornetimes cailecl, is partry exprainerl by Hi[-Tout:
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raphic accolurts of thisser ( i992) , Hann e t a l .(2000b), Whit lcy and
ting any need to do soished tabl; (Keyser andrr thc pubt:r ty aft in thist this tirneis that ther:e is over 100:hic docurrentation onelderly informants 100
1, sLrggests continuityris record detlonstratesthe region, as well asnelal terms the pubeltydual ratlror than grouprder the direct ion of a: ious vigorous activitiesdown trecs), iurcl were
:ccivcd a spi l i t hclpcr,{bre revea,ling its "true"
rnship of ;ruberty art to200i). it is il ipoltant tothe Platerau is widelydreams, mcaning thcir
rth Amer iczrn, visionaryrrt this isr because nr,rI a waking liallr-rciuation
can b': suppoltcdJobson 1994). Bnt one exp l i c i t l y . H i l l -ToLr t .elper:rl it partakes of they the natne ,sttlia orrf the verb uliu, 'to
cies come to andyisions," (Hi l l -ToLrt
jecl in the prtberty alt,t l896). Al thougl i thrslts were painted, in factty initiation ol "mysticr ined by Fl i l l -Tout:
Davir l S. \Vhit ler ' ' : I -
"DLtt'ing the whole periocl of seclr'tsitluthe girl btrsied helself in
vat iot ts ways - by spinning yarn or plcking off needies.f i 'onr f i r
branchcs, by fieqr-reni bathJs ancl scr:r:bbings and by walks.in thc
fo res twhereot . *o rs t tpposec t to t ro lc lco l l ve l ' sewi th thesp i r i t so fthe trees, in particular that of recl-lir, whose bt'anches wefe a
sovercign t'etrtcdy against siclcncss and bad medicincs of all
h inds." ( l { i l1-Totrt l97B: I 12)
Recl 1rr, in other rvorcls, *0, il ',* giris' prel'errecl spirit helper' Other
accounts dentonstrate that rccl flr bianches wefe a central compottetlt in
rnany shauranic ritLrals.There is one final poitrt abottt Plateau puberty rnitiations tfrat
w a t . t . a t t t s m e n t i o n , b e c z r t i s e o f i t s p o t e n t i a l i r r r p l i c a t i o n s l b r . r o c l < a r t t no t h e r p a t . t s o f t l r e t . a r w c s t . T l r i s c o n c e r t l s t h e o r e a t i o n o f r o c l < c a i t r r s ,walls ancl other- structures. It is well docutnentecl ethnographically that
the construcLion o1'rochstructttres occttrted dr-rring I'latcau vision qLlests
(by sharnans, aclults cluring lifc criscs ancl pubr:rty initizrtes)' with
rlLrmefors aLchaeorogicot ,io,-,,'pt*s icre'tifiecr (e.g., spier and sapiL'c'
i, 1963:79; Caldwell ancl Clarlsot'r
r ; Jctt 1986; Winthrop et al ' 1995) '
notes that, alnong the Spokan' girls
ious Points. Pilcd roclcs:
"This was intcnclccl. by snpcrrratnral mcans' to give het' strcngtlr ot
boc1y, anci to arffbrcl the spirit cl.eatufes thc oppoltunity to spealt to
her ancl grant het ' their protect ion'" (CLu't is 1970:75)
Amongt l rc l (a l i spe l ,Cur t i s (1970)s ta tes l t l r t l re r t l ra t . .A t i r r tc rva lsshewoulci bui ld cairns, usual ly o11 mor
appi ' t r cnt in thcsc discussiot is is at t
i m p o r t a n t t a c t : r o c k a r t a n d r o c k s t t . t " t c t u r e s w e f e b o t h c r e a t e d d t r r i r r gvision questing iprt t'ty or othcrwise)' but not always in the same
location. That is, witn ine exccptioil of the visiott clllest strLlctliresl pel'
se ,ca i rnsun. t ro" l tp i t " ' * " ' "apparent tycons t t 'uo tec la td i tTerentp laceslhan the pi.togropli" ot pctrogtypllt'
'lhe result is a ltind of ritual
l-,l,ru"r-,',"ni zlctoss the ian cl scape cluri tr g
lel i r t ively higlr spots (mottntatn
concentiate, to lower ground wher
2004). Hence, as WinthroP et al' (
various kinds are vely cc)mlrlon c)
n r o s t s a c r e d p t o . . u o n t h e P l a t e a t t , t l L r t t h e r e a r e n o r o c l c a r t S i t e s a t t l l ] Slocation to mY knowledge'
The r.eleviur"",if tt,i* well-docurnentecl Plateau pattetr co Cr-r.r'>
tlre fact tlrat creatrng,*t..ui,n, and structt,tt.es was appat.entlr Co ];].. ',
w t l
31 8 David S. Whit ley
Kalcienberg on the Panamint sites, wher.e we have found concentrations
rock art.
Rites of Passage in the Far WestPerhaps the most surprising aspect of this descriptive review of
puberly r:ock alt in the far west is the simple fact that no far westenrNorth American-wide surnmary had, heretofore, been attempted. Asstated at the outset, many of us have cerlainry acknowleclged theexjstence of puber:ty art and studied some of the sites and motifs that itproduced within our regions of inter.est. But it stil l seel"ns to me that this
:s*r
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cnptlve fe,vicw 0fat no far westel-ltl atteutptcd. Aa:i<nowleclged rrnd motift; that itIS to me tl;rat this
David S. \ \zhi t ter
)r-ty rock ar.t implies.
. ethnololgists and
,rhlng at all) new to3gton. But al tothcr.s rntpl icat iorrs f t rr .tr Norlh Arncr.ical
Iiigure 6. Quartz crystar associafed rvifrl a r.ocr< cairll, pa'amint vailt,v,easfcrn calilbrnia. 'tr'rre n)anarnint \/ailey region, irnnrecriatcry eas{ of fheconcentrat ion 0f petroglyphs in t l re Coso I{ .angc, conrlains an u'usualnunrbel.of rock cairns, geoglyphs andl i l ie this cxalnplc, arc associateci wit lcobhles, both of which lvcrc usccl rhulblXowing thc lvcll-rlor:umcntecl Coluand other rock stnrcttlres wcrc creat(rvltich also produccctr fhe pctroglyphs. (;rhoto; D"S. WhifleSz)
type of 'oclc art has ber:n somewhat underst'cliecl ernd uncler.e*phasizecl;this is a lirst atlempt at correcting tli is imbalance.
Bascd on this descriptive review, tr fcw gc'erar co'crrrsr.ns fbr.tlie far'"vest ca, be off'ereil. Th. fl 'st, ancl rnosf rmp.rtant, rs that thecreation of r.clr art of sorlrc l<inc'l ciur.ing pubcriy initiations is arnost astylrical as thc initiations the'rselves. That is, whiic wc know that r:ocl< artwas not created in all putrerty initiatio's (e.g., thcre is n. evitlencc of'thecreat ion o1'rock art of zrny, i<i .d dL,. ing the boys, j imsonweed ini t iat io ' i 'soLrth-central california t13]), pLrlierty ar.r was nonetrreless fairl 'conrmon' ancl probably urore co'rnol- l tha' Driver 's ( i941) summar. l , ofpube rty rite tlaits nright irnply. witl-l the exception of norih-centr.al andnorthwestc'n Califor'ia * a rogion somewhai depauperate in rock a'tgene'ally - so'e type of pLrberty art in fact appu-ars to have been prese'ithroughout Native californra, tire plateaLr and at least into the rr-esre;r-rGrcat Basin, if not cxtencling further east iu Numic ten.itorl,. That is .slong as we includc cupules in our deflnition of rock aft.
320 David S. Whitley
second, there si'rply can be no debate that some of the p'bertyaft portrays visionary irlagery (e.g., on the plateau), while the evidenceis quite good that such was the case in another area (the Takic region),and with such a comection iikely despite minirnal evidence in stillanother tradition (the Yuman), That said, some of the puberty art - thecupule ttadition - is clearly not shamanistic in any direct sense, althoughaspects of the Lrnderlying symbolisrn of the rite (e.g., the rock assupernatrrally potent) are consistent with the wider system ofshamanistic beliefs that suffused far western Native American bultures(see whitley 2000b). This results because symtroric systems arenecessariiy coherent systems.
Perhaps more to the point, not all of the motifs even within ashamanistic tradition necessarily poftray visionary imagery. specificallyhere I refer to the hand prints that are found at many sites in the far west,bt"tt that are parlicularly common at the Takic gills' sites (and, in f'act, arereiatively comr11ol'I, worldwide, including in other shamanic andshamanistic rock art traditions). As nclted elsewhere (whitrey i996),hand prints result partly fiom our inherently tactile nature ancl impulses.In the far west they probably reflect the fact that the rock face wasbelieved a pernieable barrier between the natural and supernatural ancltirat, by tor"rching this face. it was possible to physically interact with tiresupernahrral r:ealm - a per:ception also reflected in the symboJic logic ofthe cupules. Buf they are not depictions of visionary imagely ancl, in asense, they are not "depictions" at all. They recall instead sahtins (1985)contention that symbolisrn is highly empirical. Nothing could be moreernpilical than this material trace of touching the sacreci.
Perhaps tnost irnpofiantly, this review points again to thediversity in rock arI traditions in the far west.
End Notes
[I] Following Taqon (1983), I use shamanic to indicate rock art rnade bya slraman, per se, and shamanistic for aft made lry non-shamans butwithin the context of shamanistic beliefs and practices.I2l An alternative explanation can be suggested for: the relative paucityof infomration on the o'Takic" boys' art, which is lirnited to comments bywaterman (1910) for the Dregueiio, and DuBois (1908) and Harrington(n,d.a) for the Luisef,o, As is discussed subseqr"rently, there is evidencefor a widesplead boys' puberty art tradition among the neighborirrgY'uman speaking groups. It is acknowleclged tliat aspects of the Takicinitiation were adopted by the Diegueffo (Kroeber 1925; Hedges 1970),and it appears that this initiation was grafted onto their existing yurlantraditions, Given the adjacency of the Takic speaking Luiseiio and the
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t solne of the pubertyr), while the eviclenclra (the Takic region),nal evidence in stil lthe puberty art - thelirect sensc, althoughI (e.g., tl ie roclc as
wider. rsystem ofe Anrerican cultru.esnbolic systcms are
rot i fb even within anagery. Specifically-sltes ll.l thr: fhr.west,ites (and, in fbct, ar.eirer shamanic arrcl:re (Whitley 1996),ature anc'l impulses.the rocl< facc was
rd supernatur.al auclly interacl with the: symbol ic; logic of' l ragery ancl, in a:cad Sahl ins (19U5)rng could be ntoreJ .rnts agaiu to the
: rock art rnadc bynon-sharlans but
e reiative paucityJ to comntents byi) and Harringtonthere is erzidencethe neiglibor.ing
:cts of the: Takici; Hedges 1970),existing 'luntau
Luisefro aud the
David S. Whit ier ' - . l l r
acloptecl the Yuman boys' arr.-mal<ing tracrition, wherr:as other. Takicgroups did not. Note that, r .v lr i le this hypothcsis is plausible ancisomewhat appealing, it stil l must be emphasized that our Luiseiioethnographic lecord is, by far, the most comprete with respect to Tal<icrituals. ' l-l ie
apparent restriction of Tal<ic boys' art to the LLriscfjo, in
I4l cultural przrctir:es clo not necessalily corlcspond precisely tcrethnolirrguistic bounclaries, of 0oufse, r'lor are those bounclarie sneccssal i ly as {rxecl as we might I i l<c, with " ' t ransi t ional cul tur-al areas, '
an rni t iat ion.
tSl l{eclges (2001) has contestecl rly interpretation of zigzags asrattlesnake nrotifs, claiming that thele is no etlrnographic sllppofi for this.ln fact thcre is substantial support for such an interpretation. First, asnoted above, there rvas essentially universal agreement that zigzags u,eregraphic images f'ol rattlesnalces, throughor-rt Native california andregardless of medium. second, this rvas conllrmed lbr tfrc girls' pubcr.trinrtiations with respect to their face paintings by strong (1929:298) u'lionoi.es that "wavy, rec1, lrorizclntal lines r,vere put on. This was callecl'therattlesnake' design." 'fhircl, the relevance of f ace painting clesigns to lhelock arf moti fs is direct. as DuBois (1908:96) states "The face of the :r lis painted each month in a different clesign and conesponding nrali,: i:made upon the rocks." T'his is coni l rmed by Sparkman (1908:2i5) ' . : : :_
322 David S. Whit ley
face was pai'ted, and a sirnilar painting was arso made on a rock.,, Trra:is, both the faciar design and pictog.alih *".. rattresnake motif's. (Notethat, while the DuBois comments rnay-be interpreteJa; ii;l+;=rt kincsof motifs were pairrted each month, t"he rock aft dernonstrates otherwiseThat is, the same design was creariy repeatecl, hence DuBois, conlmer:,most likcly sho'ld have been phrased to i'dicate that another [ratrre,-,!?:.!t(r"nrl clesign was painted on rhe girls, face, and rock, eac:.morltn. )[6f rnre and Bau'rhoff (l9g] :261-262) a*empt to use this statenrenr iidemonsirate that parker, a rocar iristorian, was an r"'rreliabre ethnograph::source. Their contention was trrat he hacl confused the gir.Ls; ce'e'oniwith the boys' r.rse ofjimso.weed, clue to tlris .efere,rce 6:;;r"99;;;;.4In fact, they overlookecr the earrier statelnelrts of DuBois (r90g) anistrong (1929) that confirm parker's asseftio' aboi.rt as weil as ri..literature on the effects of tobacco (e.g., Wilbert l9g7).I7l The Takic association bctween iattresna]ce spirits and femaies is ..specific example of much wicrer Uto-Azteoan sy'rbolic associatior:This is most dramaticaily seen in the Mexica (Aztec)goooess boatricLr:'serpe't sl(ift,' with the implication being that rattl6snake suards ri_:,vaginas of wornen.
Note furlher the important fact that a. significant portion of th:girls' puberty motifs are crearry not d,epictions oi spir:it r.,"rp.,=. Here .refer to the hancl prints that are corllmoll at certain sites. Ti..antluopometrics of these have been stucliecl by Freers rioorr fi.om _nurnber of perspectives, inclLrdi'g the possibirity trrat sorne may Lr.adolescent male or adult rathe'than aclolesce't feniale-possibilities th.rare i'teresti^g in light of the ge'erar paucity or. i'ib'natio. on trre bor,-.arl, and statements,i' D'Bois (lgbg) and Kr-oeber (r925')'*rr",";i."chief s wifc" made pictographs at the concrusion of the rzCrunfortunately, given the i^herent subjectivity i' Freers, measuremerii(which he acknowledges), as werl as the clifficurties in distinguishir,_.adolescent 'rale fronr female based on size and inferr.ed t-,.lght ,r-,.n og.cannot be controlied, his only results are that ,,the clata doeJ;si"1 te'cl t,-ratify the notion that a neoadoresce't fernale indoct.inatior] ce.emoi.r..lt.J. !1": at least produced some of tl.re hand p.i,rt i'ougery;; 1f-r=.,.2001 :330), which of course is alreacly wert estabrishecr by rl::etluograplric record.l8l other Yur'an-speaking grolrps, crassifred linguisticaily as tL;Upland Yu'rans o'theT.ai speakers iwarapai, Havas,fiai, etc.), occupie*the upper colo.ado River, whire acrditionar yuman
'rp.uii.r, q..g
Maricopa) resided in portions of ce'trar Arizona. None oirh"r" gro,,p.are consiclered here inasmuch as they fail outside the rirnits of th.hunting-gathering-fi shing far west.[9] For example, Harrington (n.d.c) records t]rat:
-.ffi.'r:
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w:' :
Wtr.,t".1
Ziti l
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a on a rock." Thatrake motifb. (Note,s if differr:nt kinclsitstrates ol.herwise.DLrBois ' ool t l t rent?t ttnol:he,, [rathcr.u', and ror:k, each
: this statenrent tcriable ethnographice girls' c()remonyr ' to " 'grogginess."rBo is (19 i38) andt as well as the
and females is al l ic associat ions,:ddess Coatlicue,;nal<e guards thc
nt port ion o1' thehelpers. Here I
Italu sitel;. Thes (2001) f ioLn at some nray bcpossibi l i t ies rhation on the boys'(1925) that rher of the raoe.; ' nreasufementsn distinguishingheight whr:n ageoes fsic] tencl toatlon cerermonynagely" ( Fre ersrlishecl b:r rhe
stically as 1heetc.), occripicd
speakers (e.g.,of these groups: lirnits of the
Dav id S . \ \ ih r t le r . l l :
"l\ flresli picture or iurage of a person was held to be cloctor busiire.s.capable of causing gr ief or even death. But a pictoglaph or an orrt l inecffigy of a petson made by placing stoltcs on the ground was hcld to har.ethe intent ion o{ 'being everlast ing anci was consiclerecl as goocl as I ie. .for] a rnan las] havirrg an ancestral ni lme as his naure clr as onc of hisnaurcs." Thc usc of Yuman-spcal<crs rocl< art (pctroglyphs, pictographsand earlh figures) for sorcery is confirmed in a nu.mber of additionalsolrrces, inclLrding the lbl lowing eal ly account by Tr ippel (1889:582-)"[T]he bervi tcher gencral ly goes off to a quiet place to nralce his spcl l .I-le draws an irlagc of his victim and witli a sharpcnccl stick picrces theima.ge where the heart is."I t0l hr a paral lel fashion I havc argucd elsewhere (Whit ley 2000b) t l rat ,while thc shantans' alt portrayed thc ntythic creation o1- the wollcl, it isaltnost entirely entoptrc in firrur because it was intencled tcl ciepict tireossence or pattern o1'thc creation, not the narralive sequence of events(which evcryone alrcady l<new), as occllrrcd in the 'shantan's song'whir:h recollnts the creation but by use of nousense syllables.t l l l In my recent synthesis of Cal i fomia rock art (Whit ley 2000b), Iiclcntificd thc gcogralthical distinction bctwcerr thc so-callcd rain rocl<s ofnorthcrn Clalifirmizr aricl the baby rocl<s cl1'the north-central region, anclarguecl that the cupules in othcl parts of tJre state wele pr:oduced c'lunnggir ls ' puberty ini t iat ions. Tn rercading Brccl< Parl<man's (1993) art ic le onlain-nraking t'ituals fol this papcr, I cliscoveled thzrt he hacl r-nadc tliesesame clistiuctions and iriferences in iris fclotnotes, which I llad pleviouslyor,crlooked, and clcdit for thcsc intcrpretations should go to him. I amencouraged, howevcr, by the fact that we both camc to thc sarneconclusions abor,rt the ethnoglaphic evidence.I12l An intrigr-ring bit of potentialll, irnportant inibrrnation on girls'pubctty art is provided by Stoff le ct al. (2001) who rcport thciclentification clf a Filst Mcnses site in southern Nevada by cclntemporaryNumic consultants. This is close to but not at a petroglyph site, but it isnot clcar whether it has cripules. RegaLdlcss, it conflrms at least ageneral relationship betr,veen the Nulric girls' initiatious and rock art.t13l Gayton (1948:118) does desct ibe the fact that Wr.r l<clu-ulni Yokutsmalc initiates were taken on a ritLral run past the Uell l)lr"rff pictographsite (CA-TUL-2), which I have inferled was p:iintecl by the shamanHaiclracha or Jirn FIangton, a Poirot farnily rnember (Whitley 1992'.93).This occurred before the boys were adurinistercd jimsonweed. 1\-otehowevcr that Bell Bluff r,vas also the Wukchunni creation spot, heltcL'the ritual irnportance of this run is not entir:eJy clear. lt nonethelesssuggests that rock al't r11ay have been used, dr.ring tlaie initiatlons, logive the boys an rclea of the appearance of the supelnatural that ihc'tlretnselves were about to visit unclel the influence of lolouc:lte.
324 David S. Whit ley
Table IRel.erences to plateau puberty R.ock Art
1?06 Arnong the Lirlooet, "paintings were made on rocks and trees byadolescent boys and girls as a record-of their fpuberty] olpservances, butalso by men as a r.ecorcl of their clreams.,' (Tei; ig06:;BD-
1908' Nez Percd girls 'rade rock paintings duri'g their vision quesr topoftray objects seen duri'g their clrea'rs of co*ected with tlieceremonies (Spinden 1908:231 _232).
-j1i:,;
. ' . . ; , . . , t .
J*-i: ';.':'l
t
maturity go to-ings to secureieir oflbrirngs,
s and trees by;ervances, but
ision qLresrt to:d with the
: girls meLded. Most.ams, and t,heln's manitou
rm Spring;s,to visit [aand remain
armed lif'e,."
lintings a;rerg vigil anLdrnials whenation of tbe'es on clifllsnportant Ofgs obtained
hey talk towould liverpernatural
(Balbeau
David S. Whit lev 3Zs
Table 1 (Continued)References to Flateau pubertv R.ock.Art
1938 A,rong the Okanagan, to announce his power, a man would"paint symbols of fhis guardian spirits] on a Jarge rock in the hills.,' Aman might "send his child to rock paintings he had made many yearsbefore [to obtain a guardian spirit]. , .for each [spirit] he scored a shortred l ine on the rock surface beside the paintings." (cl ine r93B:r36-13g)
1953 A Kutenai informant said "fthe spiritsl held a big meeting atPainted Rocl<s, . .and one said 'I'm going to give this power to trrernfhuman vision questors]. Ifithey seekme fbr it I will give it to them.,Finally all the lguardian spiritsl put their names fsigns] on the rock."(Malouf and White 1953:30-31)
1954 Okanagan infornrants lepclrted: ooWhen a person has a power hepaints a picture fpictograph] of it." Pictographs were made by childrenon their spirit quest, a painting represents their power. (Lerman 1954:99,142 ,191 )
1959 Pictograph panels were used by the Flathead ahd Pend d'oreilleto.receive their spirits ciuring vision quests (Dusenber:ry. 1,959).
1915 Elderly Spokan infonnants knew of paintings painted by one'sgrandfather, and they identified a pictograph site as a place for a visionquest where one got powel', (CobLrm l975:39:)
1997 'fhe Elmo pictograph site, Montana, is used by the Kutenai andFlathead for vision quests. "There are hundreds of such sites in westernWyoming and neighboring Idaho and Wyoming" (Walker 1991 : 1 10).
326 David S. Whit ley
Rer.eren c el#ii j,lff },iHi.ll Ro ck Arr
l, "during pubertv^training sorne boys ancl girls[:':1 ;i:'.;-',..1x* t [. ilx*:,,, gmn::19 Arnong rhe Norrhern Ot<anasan"lii,'llTe, some aoole';;;';#,$'-j;h"^tl connection wirh pubeftl,bou r deis u.,o.rk il;J,:?;.T" :,l;j:x #:,:,ij:f ni;ilx;i lil,on, ouDiscussion
nly a conrment ataway in vut.o,noTlt
leaving qLtartz on the rocl<s,Lrlz tools on the ,i,n,.u,
bLrt we have iusf this sanle,.
,e. probably they wer:e also used
ft*l1l*li:ilrr,::"'.-'.l.l r:ir rerer ro cup,res on rhe Fraser River as aaway.
-tney rnade trremselves st'ong * ,rr.y'*.r" working
i,l{"lr-,Tt'1i,f,,.,I:',,1. dles (see reit r^!.!o:22.0). Arthoueh r wasn,twicle sp read'.ii'',*r,i"J Jffi ,:; iTilifr ,, il,H;," ; ;' *;"'h"#J' u,,,o..
