244 



PICTOGRAPHS 



[b. a. e. 



while that of the Kiowa has a summer 

 symbol and a winter symbol, with a 

 picture or device representing some note- 

 worthy event. The origin of the cal- 

 endar, or "winter count," dates back 

 probably only a few 

 generations, and 

 while the method 

 of transcription is 

 purely aboriginal it 

 is to be inferred that 

 contact with the 

 whites had stimu- 

 lated the inventive 

 powers of the In- 

 dian in this direction 

 without prescribing 

 its form, just as Sequoya was stimulated to 

 the invention of the Cherokee syllabary 

 by the observed use of writing. ( In addi- 

 tion to Mallcry, consult Mooney in 17th 

 and 1 9th Reports B. A . E. , and see Sequoya . ) 

 Tattooing (q. v.) is a form of picture- 

 writing more widespread than any other 

 and perhaps more commonly practised. 

 Originating in very ancient times, it per- 

 sists to-day among certain classes of civi- 

 lized peoples. Besides the permanent 



Dakota Pictograph; Drawn 

 I N COLOR ON Paper, 

 (mallery) 



incised, or painted; occasionally they are 

 rendered both permanent and conspicu- 

 ous by being first incised and then painted. 

 They appear on sea-worn bowlders, on 

 glacier-polished rocks, on canyon cliffs, 

 and within caves. Mallery states that 

 petroglyphs of the incised form are more 

 common in the N., while colored ones 

 are more numerous in the S., and that 

 petroglyphs of any kind are less common 

 in the central part of the United States. 

 The general absence in the interior of 

 suitable media uj^on which to inscribe 

 glyphs doubtless explains their general 

 absence there, but the significance of 

 the former facts of distribution is not 

 apparent. 



Our present knowledge of Indian petro- 

 glyphs does not justify the belief that they 

 record events of great importance, and it 

 would seem that the oft-expressed belief 

 that a mine of information respecting the 

 customs, origin, and migrations of ancient 

 peoples is locked up in these generally 

 indecipherable symbols must be aban- 

 doned. In the above connection it is of 

 interest to note that similar and some- 

 times identical pictographic symbols ap- 



□>k 



PETROGLYPHS INCISED ON ROCK SURFACE; NEW MEXICO. (mALLERy) 



marking of the body by means of coloring 

 matter introduced under the skin, tattoo- 

 ing includes scarification and body paint- 

 ing. Whether the practice of tattoo had 

 its origin in a desire for personal adorn- 

 ment or, as concluded by Spencer and 

 others, as a means of tribal marks, its 

 final purposes and significance among 

 our Indians were found by Mallery to be 

 various and to include the following: 

 Tribal, clan, and family marks; to dis- 

 tinguish between free and slave, high 

 and low; as certificates of bravery in 

 passing prescribed ordeals or in war; as 

 religious symbols; as a therapeutic rem- 

 edy or a prophylactic; as a certificate of 

 marriage in the case of women, or of mar- 

 riageable condition; as a personal mark, 

 in distinction to a tribal mark ; as a charm ; 

 to inspire fear in an enemy; to render 

 the skin impervious to weapons; to bring 

 good fortune, and as the design of a secret 

 society. 



The form of picture-writing known as 

 the petroglyph is of world-wide distribu- 

 tion and is common over most of North 

 America. Petroglyphs may be pecked or 



pear in widely remote parts of the world, 

 and Mallery notes that the pictographs 

 of Central and South America show re- 

 markable resemblances to some from New 

 Mexico, Arizona, and California. Bear- 

 ing in mind the racial identity, similar 

 culture status, and, in a general way, the 

 similar environment of their makers, such 

 resemblances, and even identities, in pic- 

 tographic representation are in no wise 

 surprising. Even were it possible to es- 

 tablish for these similar and widely sepa- 

 rated symbols a common significance, 

 which is not the case, such facts are 

 best interpreted as coincident, and as 

 closely analogous to the occurrence of 

 identical words in unrelated languages. 

 Upon this head Col. Mallery pertinently 

 remarks that in attempts to prove rela- 

 tionship identity of symbols is of less 

 importance than general similarity of 

 design and workmanship. His further 

 statement, conservative though it be, 

 that by the latter criteria it is possible, to 

 a limited extent, to infer migrations and 

 priscan habitat is less convincing. It is 

 thought that criteria like these should be 



