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| Scale of the Procession Panel |
It has taken Bill and Dori two months to gather their thoughts
and now share their reflections after returning from seeing rock art in Utah
and New Mexico. In New Mexico, they also visited the ruins of Chaco Canyon before attending the American Rock
Art Research Association (ARARA) Conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico at the end of
May. Bill returned to places he had researched and believed he would never
visit again, while Dori was taken on an “expedition” like none she had ever
been on before. They waited to share another story about their writing partnership until some new opportunity inspired them to integrate what they had learned at the conference with some the best rock art in
the United States that they had just visited.
The response to their rock art books from ARARA was very positive, so they decided to register for the Utah Rock Art Research Association (URARA) Conference that will be in Delta, Utah in late September. Bill suggested that they write a paper together to present at the conference. This means their writing has been dedicated to developing and defending a new perspective about the relationship
of ritual to rock art using the imagery from two of the grand petroglyph panels
they just visited along Butler Wash near Bluff, Utah: The Procession Panel (by
hiking over land) and the Big Kachina Panel (by taking a raft trip down the San
Juan River). They have been revisiting the past research and conclusions as well as developing new ideas of their own.
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| The hike to the Procession Panel |
The paper is called: “Ritual and Rock Art in Basketmaker
Ceremonies: Butler Wash Revisited.” Bill and Dori are using this paper to
expand on what they accomplished while writing Engaged: Rock Art Reflections in Photography and Poetry. Their
current research involves layering Bill’s expertise in archaeology and
political science with Dori’s expertise in cognition, communication and
multidenominational divinity. This paper is also a continuation of an article Bill
wrote (“Basketmaker Ceremonial Caves of Grand Gulch, Utah”), which was published in Rock Art and Cultural Processes in
2002. There, Bill explored selected Basketmaker sites in Utah’s Grand Gulch through
the lens of Roy A. Rappaport’s theory of ritual in defining what it means to be
human.
Bill and Dori are not writing this paper with any set
agenda, but as an exploration of what can evolve when academic writing that validates facts and theories are layered, or aligned, with free-form poetic
interpretation within a subject that is mysterious: rock art. Bill, as the
archaeologist, strives to better understand what the art communicated originally.
Dori, as the speech language pathologist who is ordained in interfaith
ministry, strives to better understand what it communicates to us now.
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| Close up of Procession Panel |
Maybe, the most important thing they are discovering is the advantage
of having a writing partner. They have come to understand that such a
partnership raises the standards regarding what one writes and then even thinks
about. The importance of being ready to support a new hypothesis or simple
opinion with some supporting evidence becomes essential. It also evolves one’s
ability to listen to differing opinions in a way that can expand the
imagination for what exists even beyond compromise. This is an alignment and
merger of ideas that expand on worthwhile possibilities for exploration while abandoning those that
are not.
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| Additional details of the Procession Panel |
One exquisite panel of rock art that they recently visited,
the Procession Panel, has been on both of their minds. This is not only because
of the paper they are writing, but because of the current interpretations of
the moods in America and even the world. Hostility seems to be the theme. Yet,
regardless of one’s position, division has offered the opportunity to revisit
the values that America is built upon.
And according to poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we
should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all
hostility.” The Procession Panel, created around 700 AD, might just demonstrate
what could happen when people become united through communal ritual. It definitely helps us imagine it.
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| Big Kachina Panel accessed by the San Juan River |
This grand piece of art, called the Big Kachina Panel
(created between 500 BCE and 500 AD), shows elaborate markings that
differentiate each human depicted and may suggest movement. However, the humans
in The Procession Panel are merely stick figures, yet they are clearly engaged
in movement. While the headdresses may designate differences, the overall
gestalt of the design can be imagined as an expression of unity, cooperation,
and celebration because of something that they held in common.
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| Details of the Big Kachina Panel |
As they continue working together on this paper, Bill is researching these panels to understand better what the
indigenous peoples of our country were communicating over a thousand years ago.
Dori is integrating their explorations with her training and experiences to
speculate on what the rock art still holds for us today. They have come to understand this method
of investigation as a form of alignment and a layering of their voices. They will be presenting this paper and retailing their books at the URARA Conference. On this trip, Bill and Dori will be exploring additional rock art sites as part of the research for their next book.
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| Scale of the Big Kachina Panel |
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