Estimating the age of the carvings on this Wyoming cliff from the amount of weathering, archaeologists
think they span the period from 12,000 years ago to the 19th century. Some of the recent examples resemble Hopi art, and there is even a kokopelli. But the cliffs are dominated by these large drawings of strange humanoids. This style is sometimes called the "Dinwoody Tradition," and the figures seem to be about 2,000 years old.
Nobody knows what they mean, precisely, but concentric circles are an old Indian way of depicting the cosmos, and a horned man might be a shaman, so we seem to have here a shaman who somehow carries the whole universe within his chest.
But then what is this? Since the images don't correspond neatly to modern Indian myths, it is hard to say. And maybe that makes them even more wonderful.
Estimating the age of the carvings on this Wyoming cliff from the amount of weathering, archaeologists think they span the period from 12,000 years ago to the 19th century. Some of the recent examples resemble Hopi art, and there is even a kokopelli. But the cliffs are dominated by these large drawings of strange humanoids. This style is sometimes called the "Dinwoody Tradition," and the figures seem to be about 2,000 years old.
Nobody knows what they mean, precisely, but concentric circles are an old Indian way of depicting the cosmos, and a horned man might be a shaman, so we seem to have here a shaman who somehow carries the whole universe within his chest.
But then what is this? Since the images don't correspond neatly to modern Indian myths, it is hard to say. And maybe that makes them even more wonderful.
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