Medicinal and hallucinogenic plants identified in the sediments and pictographs of the Lower Pecos, Texas Archaic

Antiquity ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 70 (268) ◽  
pp. 256-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn E. Boyd ◽  
J. Philip Dering
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
River Region ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Pecos River ◽  
Lower Pecos

The rock-art of the Pecos River region, on the Texas-Mexico border, is deservedly celebrated for its very large and inspiring human depictions, convincingly interpreted as images of shamanism. Study of plant remains in associated middens gives a new aspect to understanding of the images.

scholarly journals Speech-Breath: Mapping the Multisensory Experience in Pecos River Style Pictography

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Carolyn E. Boyd ◽  
Ashley Busby
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The World ◽  
Application Techniques ◽  
Graphic Device ◽  
Pecos River ◽  
Lower Pecos ◽  
Multisensory Experience

Archaic period hunter-gatherers of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas and Coahuila, Mexico, created complex rock art murals containing elaborately painted anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures. These figures are frequently portrayed with dots or lines emanating out of or into their open mouths. In this article, we discuss patterns in shape, color, and arrangement of this pictographic element and propose that artists used this graphic device to denote speech, breath, and the soul. They communicated meaning through the image-making process, alternating brushstroke direction to indicate inhalation versus exhalation or using different paint application techniques to reflect measured versus forceful speech. The choices made by artists in the production of the imagery reflect their cosmology and the framework of ideas and beliefs through which they interpreted and interacted with the world. Bridging the iconographic data with ethnohistoric and ethnographic texts from Mesoamerica, we suggest that speech and breath expressed in the rock art of the Lower Pecos was tied to concepts of the soul, creation, and human origins.

Response to Comments by Harrison

2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-205
Author(s):  
Carolyn E. Boyd ◽  
Amanda M. Castañeda ◽  
Charles W. Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Field Analysis ◽  
Independent Group ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Microscopic Field ◽  
Pecos River ◽  
Lower Pecos

AbstractIn our article “A Reexamination of Red Linear Style in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas,” we presented the results of an analysis of 444 Red Linear style pictographs from 12 sites in the region. Using this greatly expanded data set, we produced a list of diagnostic attributes for the style and documented stratigraphie relationships among pictographs through macro- and microscopic field analysis. We identified 38 examples of Red Linear under Pecos River style, a style previously assumed to be older than Red Linear. No Red Linear figures were identified superimposing Pecos River style. These results were verified by an independent group of archaeologists and chemists engaged in the analysis of Lower Pecos rock art. We concluded that Red Linear style is either older than or contemporaneous with Pecos River style. In Harrison’s comments, he argues that our methods were faulty and the data inadequate to support our conclusions. We address a few of Harrison’s critiques in our response; however, a more careful reading of the original article and supplemental materials is advised.

A Reassessment of Red Linear Pictographs in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas

2013 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 456-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn E. Boyd ◽  
Amanda M. Castañeda ◽  
Charles W. Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Field Analysis ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Artistic Style ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Microscopic Field ◽  
Recording Project ◽  
Pecos River ◽  
Lower Pecos ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractRed Linear is one of four presently defined prehistoric pictograph styles in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas and Coahuila, Mexico. Based on interpretation of images and two experimental radiocarbon dates, the style was presumed to have been brought into the region by intrusive bison hunters around 1280 B.P. This would place production of Red Linear after the large, polychromatic Pecos River style paintings (4200–2750 B.P.). However, during a recent rock art recording project we identified Red Linear overlain by presumed older Pecos River style. This prompted our re-examination of Red Linear through analysis of 444 figures from 12 sites. We produced a list of diagnostic attributes for Red Linear and documented stratigraphie relationships through macro- and microscopic field analysis. We identified 38 examples of Red Linear under Pecos River figures, thus inverting the relative chronology for the two styles and forcing a reconsideration of previous assumptions regarding the culture that produced the art. This paper demonstrates the potential afforded by analysis of rock art assemblages to reveal inter- and intrasite patterning of attributes and provide insight into relative chronologies. Further, it cautions against the use of variation in artistic style as a marker for ethnicity.

Late archaic Mortuary practices Of the Lower pecos River region, Southwest texas

1986 ◽  
Vol 31 (114) ◽  
pp. 295-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Riskind ◽  
Maciej Henneberg ◽  
Solveig A. Turpin
Keyword(s):  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
River Region ◽  
Pecos River ◽  
Lower Pecos

scholarly journals A Black Deer at Black Cave: New Pictograph Radiocarbon Date for the Lower Pecos, Texas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lennon Bates ◽  
Amanda Castañeda ◽  
Carolyn Boyd ◽  
Karen Steelman
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Radiocarbon Date ◽  
Plasma Oxidation ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Pecos River ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Lower Pecos

A Pecos River style painting of a black deer from Black Cave Annex (41VV76a) in southwest Texas was radiocarbon dated. Using plasma oxidation and accelerator mass spectrometry, we obtained an age of 1465 ± 40 RCYBP (2 sigma calibrated age range of A.D. 470-660). This age is younger than the accepted age range for Pecos River style paintings, which is approximately 4000-3000 years B.P. This new measurement in association with other younger dates prompts us to question whether the Pecos River style endured for a longer time period than previously thought. More radiocarbon research is needed in order to understand how this anomalous result might fit within the Lower Pecos Canyonlands rock art chronology.

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