To View CRAF's Newsletter: http://conta.cc/2b84ccx
Upcoming Lecture by Dr. Alan Garfinkel Gold
Myth, Ritual and Rock Art: Decorated Animal People
and Animal Masters of the Coso Range
One of the more spectacular expressions of prehistoric rock art in all of North America is the petroglyph concentration in the Coso Range of eastern California. These glyphs have played a prominent role in attempts to understand forager religious iconography. Four decades ago, Heizer and Baumhoff (1962) concluded that Great Basin petroglyphs were associated with hunting large game and were intended to supernaturally increase success in the hunt. Similarly, in their seminal work Grant et al. (1968) concluded that the mountain sheep drawings of the Coso region bolstered the hunting magic hypothesis. However, this hypothesis has become increasingly marginalized by a prevailing view that considers most rock art as an expression of individual shamanistic endeavor (cf. Lewis-Williams and Dowson, 1988; Whitley, 1994; Whitley and Loendorf, 1994). This presentation explores comparative ethnologic and archaeological evidence supporting (in a fashion) the hunting magic hypothesis. Garfinkel places this explanatory framework in a larger context based on a contemporary understanding of comparative religion and the complexity of forager symbolism.
Garfinkel concludes that Great Basin rock art drawings may simultaneously represent both the source of supernatural power and the dream and trance world that gave access to it: the Master of the Game Animals. He attempts to develop a multilayered structure of interpretation tailored to the representations of what a shaman (ritualist, trancer) experiences and describes and what he or she has been socialised to expect, in terms of Native cosmology and one that models; mythology, ritual and religious tenets providing the material for understanding the altered state experience and the rock drawing pictures.
Friday, November 4, 7:00 p.m.
Madelyn Helling Library Community Room, County Governmental Center
Highway 49, Nevada City, CA.
For more information, contact Jane York at 530-575-2230
and Animal Masters of the Coso Range
One of the more spectacular expressions of prehistoric rock art in all of North America is the petroglyph concentration in the Coso Range of eastern California. These glyphs have played a prominent role in attempts to understand forager religious iconography. Four decades ago, Heizer and Baumhoff (1962) concluded that Great Basin petroglyphs were associated with hunting large game and were intended to supernaturally increase success in the hunt. Similarly, in their seminal work Grant et al. (1968) concluded that the mountain sheep drawings of the Coso region bolstered the hunting magic hypothesis. However, this hypothesis has become increasingly marginalized by a prevailing view that considers most rock art as an expression of individual shamanistic endeavor (cf. Lewis-Williams and Dowson, 1988; Whitley, 1994; Whitley and Loendorf, 1994). This presentation explores comparative ethnologic and archaeological evidence supporting (in a fashion) the hunting magic hypothesis. Garfinkel places this explanatory framework in a larger context based on a contemporary understanding of comparative religion and the complexity of forager symbolism.
Garfinkel concludes that Great Basin rock art drawings may simultaneously represent both the source of supernatural power and the dream and trance world that gave access to it: the Master of the Game Animals. He attempts to develop a multilayered structure of interpretation tailored to the representations of what a shaman (ritualist, trancer) experiences and describes and what he or she has been socialised to expect, in terms of Native cosmology and one that models; mythology, ritual and religious tenets providing the material for understanding the altered state experience and the rock drawing pictures.
Friday, November 4, 7:00 p.m.
Madelyn Helling Library Community Room, County Governmental Center
Highway 49, Nevada City, CA.
For more information, contact Jane York at 530-575-2230
Upcoming CRAF Events
Rock Art 101
October 22-23, 2016
Field Trip to Little Petroglyph Canyon
November 12, 2016
Click on our events page for more info or to register.
October 22-23, 2016
Field Trip to Little Petroglyph Canyon
November 12, 2016
Click on our events page for more info or to register.
African Rock Art Management and the Case of Birnin Kudu Rock Art Center Jigawa, Nigeria
by Salisu Aminu Musa,
Senior Antiquity Protection Officer
Click here for article.
PROJECTILE POINT PETROGLYPHS
OF THE COSO RANGE: CHRONOLOGY
AND FUNCTION
by Alan P. Garfinkel and J. Kenneth Pringle
Click here for article.
Forthcoming Rock Art Publications
Garfinkel, Alan P., Donald Austin, Paul Goldsmith, Adella Schroth and Ernest Siva
2016 Newberry Cave: Ritual, Ceremony and Symbolism of the Mojave Desert Bighorn Hunters. Rock Art Research, in press.
Schwed, Alex and Alan P. Garfinkel
2016 Berlin’s Ethnological Museum: The California Indian Collection. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, in press.
Mukhopadhyay, Tirtha Prasad, Alan P. Garfinkel
2016 Patterned Body Anthropomorphs of the Cosos: How Might Concentric Circle Psychograms Function in Ethnographic Schemes? Expression Number 13. Quarterly e-journal of Atelier in cooperation with UISPP-CISNEP, international scientific commission on the intellectual and spiritual expressions of non-literate people.
2016 Newberry Cave: Ritual, Ceremony and Symbolism of the Mojave Desert Bighorn Hunters. Rock Art Research, in press.
Schwed, Alex and Alan P. Garfinkel
2016 Berlin’s Ethnological Museum: The California Indian Collection. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, in press.
Mukhopadhyay, Tirtha Prasad, Alan P. Garfinkel
2016 Patterned Body Anthropomorphs of the Cosos: How Might Concentric Circle Psychograms Function in Ethnographic Schemes? Expression Number 13. Quarterly e-journal of Atelier in cooperation with UISPP-CISNEP, international scientific commission on the intellectual and spiritual expressions of non-literate people.
Keynote Speaking Engagement
Myth, Ritual and Rock Art: Decorated Animal People
and Animal Masters of the Coso Range
by Dr. Alan Garfinkel Gold
Sunday, October 2, 8:10 a.m.
Utah Rock Art Research Association, Annual Symposium
Delta, Utah
Civic Center, 305 W Main St
September 30 - October 3, 2016
and Animal Masters of the Coso Range
by Dr. Alan Garfinkel Gold
Sunday, October 2, 8:10 a.m.
Utah Rock Art Research Association, Annual Symposium
Delta, Utah
Civic Center, 305 W Main St
September 30 - October 3, 2016
Recent News
Mono County doctor pleads guilty to looting Native American artifacts from public lands.
Click here for article.
Click here for article.
CRAF is Looking for Board Members
CRAF is seeking new Board members for positions as Treasurer and for someone who specializes in grants.
We are developing a business plan for our department on Cultural Resource Management of rock art and Traditional Cultural Properties. Open to new members with Alta or Baja California rock art interests. We are especially interested in developing stronger ties to Baja California studies.
Contact Christine Grimaldi Clarkson or Dr. Alan Garfinkel Gold if you would like to help with these or other CRAF efforts.
We are developing a business plan for our department on Cultural Resource Management of rock art and Traditional Cultural Properties. Open to new members with Alta or Baja California rock art interests. We are especially interested in developing stronger ties to Baja California studies.
Contact Christine Grimaldi Clarkson or Dr. Alan Garfinkel Gold if you would like to help with these or other CRAF efforts.
