PETROGLYPHS— STEWARD 413 



area and tribe had its distinctive complex of beliefs and objective 

 representations of these beliefs. Even a particular form often con- 

 veyed very different meaning to different tribes. Thus, a triangle 

 stood for an arrowpoint, mountain, house, or a dozen other things 

 depending upon local fancy and tradition. This is why mere sim- 

 ilarity of petroglyphs to known symbols does not necessarily reveal 

 their meaning. 



In a few fortunate instances the religious meaning of petroglyphs 

 is remembered by modern tribes. Some of these were made in con- 

 nection with puberty rites which were important ceremonies to most 

 North American tribes, for through them youths were inducted to the 

 status of adulthood. Among the Quinault Indians of Washington 

 the young boys painted mythical water monsters seen during their 

 puberty visions. Somewhat similarly, girls among the Nez Perce 

 Indians of Idaho painted objects seen in dreams or otherwise in- 

 volved in their ceremonies. In southern California Luiseiio and 

 Cupeiio girls underwent an elaborate puberty ritual, after which 

 they raced to a certain rock where each received red iron oxide paint 

 from her parents and painted a zigzag or chain of diamonds sym- 

 bolizing the rattlesnake (pi. 2, A). 



Another semireligious purpose is that of many petroglyphs in the 

 Southwest. Around the cliffs and mesas of the Hopi Indian villages 

 in Arizona there are many familiar designs, such as rain-cloud sym- 

 bols, clan marks, and others made in the distinctive Hopi art style. 

 In the Great Lakes region there are occasional bird and animal 

 designs, which were probably clan totems, and other realistic and 

 conventionalized jQgures which may have been pictographic records 

 of religious beliefs, similar to those made on birch bark. Throughout 

 the Colorado River drainage of Utah, there are hundreds of extraor- 

 dinarily elaborate anthropomorphic figures, made perhaps 1,000 

 years ago, which seemingly portray either masked dancers or deities 

 (pis. 3, 4, 5). It is also possible that some of the animal pictures 

 and hunting scenes found in various places were part of magic for 

 increasing the species which were important for food or for hunting 

 luck, though not a shred of evidence can be offered in any particular 

 instance to prove it. 



Many other petroglyphs, though serious in intent, were nonreli- 

 gious. There are, for example, many geometric designs in the South- 

 west which are clearly taken from textile or pottery decoration 

 (pi. 6, fig. 1). It is certain that the highly developed pictographic 

 writing of the Great Plains was frequently executed on rocks, though 

 it may be questioned that many of them are pre-Caucasian. Some 

 petroglyphs seem to have been trail markers or records of visits. A 

 large stone west of the Hopi villages is covered with clan symbols 



