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ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1936 



It is tempting to speculate about the significance of these drawings, 

 and some very incautious interpretations have been made. That 

 the figures resemble certain clay figurines found in puebloan sites 

 in western Utah, that they are made with remarkable care, that 

 they are reminiscent of the Kachinas or masked god-impersonators of 

 the modern Pueblo Indians, and that some sort of symbolism seems 

 to occur in the headgear strongly suggest a religious purpose. But 



Figure 6. — Petroglyphs near ancient Pueblo cliff houses on the Colorado Kiver in central 

 Utah. These "men with shields" are about three feet tall. 



it is impossible to know whether they are god-images, masked human 

 beings, or simply bedecked ceremonial dancers. 



In this same region there are other, cruder petroglyphs which 

 may belong to a different period (pi. 9). These more or less re- 

 semble those of the Great Basin but tend more toward realism. 

 Animals, birds, and human beings are common, some groups clearly 

 depicting hunting scenes (pi. 9, A). These simple hunting groups 

 and occasional rows of dancing figures (fig. 7) are among the few 

 North American attempts at composition. 



When the Pueblo Indians supplanted the Basket Makers in the 

 Southwest, shortly after the time of Christ, the peculiar style of 

 the former, which reached such excellence in Utah, died out in large 

 measure in Arizona and New Mexico. Occasional anthropomorphic 

 pictures occur on cave walls over or near cliff houses, and there are 

 meanders and other figures resembling Pueblo pottery designs, birds. 



