WHEN IN ALIGNMENT

Atlatl Rock at Valley of Fire in Nevada

Before writing Engaged: Reflections of Rock Art through Photography and Poetry, Bill and Dori asked each other what might happen if an archaeologist's expertise in rock art was combined with a speech language pathologist's expertise in communication and cognition as well as nondenominational divinity to explore deeper meaning?

While writing and producing Engaged, they discovered that blending their knowledge with their photographed images, the poetic cadence of perceptions and interpretative explorations, and academic research enhanced observation and expanded insights. They now consider this process to be a form of multivocality that can generate optimal questions and aggregate evidence regardless of the field of practice. With this in mind, they decided to write a paper that blended academics, image, and poetic explorations. They presented it at the Utah Rock Art Research (URARA) Symposium on October 1, 2016. 

While writing their paper, Ritual and Rock Art in Basketmaker Ceremony: Butler Wash Revisited, Bill and Dori discovered that they were engaged in what Indologists (those who study India and its people) call "rational inquiry." Author Johannes Bronkhorst defines this as including a "system of rational debate, linked to a systematic attempt to make sense of the world and our place it. This primarily involves free and uninhibited discussion of all issues, even in the areas that might encroach upon other sources of authority, such as tradition, revelation, or insight." They decided to present their paper in a freer and more uninhibited manner. Bill voiced their research, theory, and validations and Dori voiced poetic perceptions. They were pleased by how well their approach was received. 

Bill and Dori have come to understand this method of investigation as a form of alignment. This has inspired them to continue exploring what such an alignment might create as they build upon their combined experiences of being engaged with rock art. After the URARA Symposium, they explored additonal rock art sites with the intention to align scientific observation, their professional knowledge and expertise, photography, and poetic voice of contemplation. One of these sites was Atlatl Rock in Nevada. Bill and Dori are hoping to present their next paper at the American Rock Art Research Association Conference in June 2017.

Remembrance 

After what seemed to become hopeless contemplation 

upon the unknowable within these designs, 

a question arose. 

What is it that I am remembering? 

An odd inquiry, because I have never been here before. 

Yet, I suspect the answer resides in the sensations

ignited by this cluster of images. 

It is the same feeling 

of having forgotten a name upon re-encounter. 

It is the same feeling of forgetting what it is I went searching for. 

Like the actual moment of falling asleep,

one is never aware of the act of forgetting.

If it is the act of awakening that reveals slumber,

might it be query

that reveals something haven fallen into unconsciousness?

 I have worked clinically with amnesia

where even the loss of memory is forgotten until there is inquiry.

Struggle with remembrance can become torturous

when truths are irretrievable.

                                             

Maybe, it is not about what was forgotten here,

but that these images are about remembrance.

They spark awareness of the sensations

created by the urge for recollection

and, therefore, of having become forgetful.

In this way, such ancient places become sacred.

Not because of the actual story they tell,

but because the navigation through such images

can open us to something we have in common

that we have long forgotten.

What is it I am remembering?

Maybe, it is the awareness 

of the feeling of forgetfulness,

and that it is the sensation of remembrance

that can unite us regardless of race or culture.

Such can awaken us from a complacency 

that we did not even know existed.

When this awareness returns,

we remember a deeper version of ourselves.

We remember that we are all of one Spirit.

D. Bohntinsky, D.Min.  01/31/2017

The Procession Panel and Big Kachina Panel Revisited

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Scale of the Big Kachina Panel