344 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 189 



Although the figures are highly conventionalized, the work is skill- 

 fully executed, and seems to conform to a definite aboriginal art style. 

 One of the figures (pi. 53, c, extreme left, and /) has been 

 painted with a weather-resistant red paint, still visible after many 

 years of exposure to the elements. Three of the incised drawings are 

 anthropomorphic, including the painted figure and the archer men- 

 tioned above. A fourth represents a man mounted on a horse (pi. 

 53, e). In addition, there are pecked representations of cervid (deer 

 and elk) hoofprints (pi. 53, c-e) . 



Details of dress and adormnent do not permit definite identifica- 

 tion of the human figures as to tribal group. The roached hairdress 

 was favored by many tribes which frequented the area, including the 

 Kansa, Osage, and Wichita. The faces of two of the figures, the 

 "painted man" and the "archer," have lines about the eyes and on the 

 chin, and triangular figures on the breast that might represent tattoo 

 marks (pi. 53, a-c, e). This suggests that the Wichita are depicted, 

 since members of this tribe were famous for their facial and body 

 tattooing (Mooney, 1912, p. 947). Moreover, Bienville mentions a 

 tattoo design identical with that of the "painted man" which was used 

 by the Nakasa (a Caddoan group) : "all the savages here have a circle 

 tattooed around the eyes and on the nose and three lines on the chin." 

 (MS. quoted by Swanton, 1942, p. 143.) 



The bow and arrow carried by the "archer" (pi. 53, a^h) indicates 

 that this weapon had not yet been supplanted by the rifle at the time 

 the petroglyphs were made, while the horse indicates a date sometime 

 after about 1750 for the work. 



Numerous grooves, apparently made by sharpening wooden or bone 

 tools on the sandstone, appear at the south end of the slab. Two iso- 

 lated grooves of this sort are also present between two of the anthro- 

 pomorphic petroglyphs, the "painted man" and his neighbor 

 (pl.63,c). 



SPECIMEN DESCRIPTIONS 



Body sherds. — Seven body sherds were recovered from this site. 

 Four are cord marked, with grit tempering ; two are smooth, with shell 

 tempering; and one is smooth with grit tempering. The four cord- 

 marked sherds are typical of Aksarben sites ( pi. 52, e'^g'). They have 

 buff exteriors and dark gray interiors. In thickness they range from 

 5 to 7 mm. Three of these were f omid in the 0-foot to 0.5-foot level, 

 and one in the 0.5-foot to 1.0-foot level. 



The two shell-tempered sherds (pi. 52, f) vary in thickness from 5 

 to 8 mm. They are buff on the exterior surfaces, with interiors of 

 dark gray to buff, flecked with white from the tempering material. 

 In some places the tempering has leached away, leaving a pitted sur- 



