ROCK SCULPTURES 



666 1 



ROCKY MOUNTAINS 



Rocky Mountains. Bow Valley and the Bow River, Alberta. A characteristic scene where the Canadian Pacific Railway 

 traverses the Canadian Rockies. Near the head of the valley is Kicking Horse Pass 



Rock Sculptures. Primitive 

 designs incised upon rock surfaces, 

 megalithic monuments, and other 

 prehistoric stone objects. The 

 simplest neolithic type comprised 

 cup and ring markings. Other de- 

 vices, presumably votive, are found 

 at Gavr'inis, in Brittany, N. Africa, 

 and elsewhere. In the sterile 

 Italian Maritime Alps 7,000 de- 

 signs have been found ploughs, 

 oxen, sickles, ploughmen illus- 

 trating primitive Ligurian agricul- 

 ture, besides conventional signs, 

 perhaps phonetic. Similar scrib- 

 ings are recorded in Finland, Por- 

 tugal, and Switzerland. In Scan- 

 dinavia, later hi date, ploughs are 

 intermingled with boats and sun- 

 symbols (Tegneby). There are sur- 

 vivals in S. Africa, Australia, and 

 elsewhere. See Art, Prehistoric ; 

 Assyria ; Newgrange. 



Rock Springs. City of Wyo- 

 ming, U.S.A., in Sweetwater co. It 

 is 258 m. W. of Laramie on Bitter 

 Creek and the Union Pacific Rly., 

 contains a state hospital, city hall, 

 and public library, and is a centre 

 for a growing trade in cereals and 

 cattle. The neighbouring exten- 

 sive deposits of lignite are being 

 exploited. Pop. (1920) 6,500. 



Rock Temple. Place hewn out 

 of solid rock for religious uses. 

 Four types occur. When denoting 

 an excavation the term is inter- 

 changeable with cave temple. The 

 excavation may be associated with 

 an exposed rock-cut work. Thus 

 the 12th century Gal Vihara at 

 Polonnaruwa, Ceylon, has a re- 

 cumbent Buddha, 46 ft. long, out- 

 side. The cliff side may be cut 

 back, and the central mass sculp- 

 tured into an open-air temple. The 

 finest are the 8th century Kailas 

 temple at Ellora, Hyderabad, a 



richly sculptured pyramidal mass 

 100 ft. high, and a contemporary 

 temple at Dhamnar, Rajputana. 

 An exposed rock may be carved 

 into a monolithic temple. See 

 Cave Temple ; Petra ; Temple. 



Rocky Mountain Goat (Oream- 

 nus or Haploceros montanus). 

 Goat-like mammal, found only in 



Rocky Mountain Goat. White- 

 coated mammal found in the 

 mountain fastnesses of N. America 



W. S, Berridge, F.Z.S. 



N. America. It occupies a doubtful 

 position between the goats and the 

 antelopes. In size it resembles a 

 large sheep, and is covered with 

 long white hair. The horns are 

 black, about eight ins. long, and 

 rise from the forehead with a slight 

 backward curve. It is found only 

 in the most inaccessible parts of 

 the mountains, and lacks the 

 wariness of the true goats. 



Rocky Mountains. Name hi 

 general use for the mountain sys- 

 tem which stretches the whole 



length of N. America from Alaska 

 to the isthmus of Tehuantepec. 

 Strictly, however, the name should 

 be limited to the E. ridge of this 

 complicated Cordillera, to the 

 section of mountains abutting 

 upon the plains which comprise 

 the middle of the continent. In 

 this restricted sense the Rockies 

 vary in width from 20 to 60 m. ; 

 and hi general they divide the 

 Pacific drainage from that flowing 

 over the central plains, although 

 the Peace and Liard, hi Canada, 

 the Missouri and some of its tribu - 

 taries, and the Rio Grande, in the 

 U.S.A., rise to the W. of the ridge 



The range may be considered in 

 four sections : N. of the Peace 

 river, between the Peace and the 

 Missouri, between the Missouri 

 and the Rio Grande, and S. of the 

 Rio Grande. In the N. section the 

 Endicott Range, hi Alaska, lies 

 between the Yukon river and the 

 Arctic Ocean ; farther S. the Mac- 

 kenzie Mts., the Selwyn Mts., and 

 the Logan Range flank the low- 

 lands of the river Mackenzie ; in 

 the Logan Range, Mt. Hunt rises to 

 9,000 ft. ; the peaks in this section 

 are in general below 8,000 ft. 



Between -the Peace and the 

 Missouri lie the S. Canadian 

 Rockies hi a steep ridge N.W.- 

 S.E. parallel to the upper valleys 

 of the Fraser and Columbia rivers ; 

 there are considerable areas over 

 10,000 ft., and many notable peaks. 

 Here are the rly. -traversed Crow's 

 Nest and Kicking Horse passes, 

 4,449 ft. and 5,329 ft. respectively. 

 S. of the Canadian border this sec- 

 tion is continued at a lower eleva- 

 tion as the Kootenay Mts. . 



The mam area of the U.S. 

 Rockies is the broadest part of the 

 system. In N.W. Wyoming is the 



