CANCELLED – Janine Hernbrode – “Patterns in Petroglyphs. Hints of the Hohokam Cosmology on the Landscape”

Fifteen years of rock art recording on four major petroglyph sites in Southern Arizona has enabled assembly of motif details, drawings, and photographs of more than 16,000 glyphs located in landscapes with similar characteristics. By applying the scientific method to the collected and organized data, by working with ethnographic accounts and linguistic analysis by others, and by consulting with indigenous people, we have gained some understanding of, and identified threads of continuity between Native American belief systems and the rock art motifs. This work demonstrates that ethnographic and linguistic information can suggest links to both sacred landscapes and some elements found in rock art. The projects and outreach have been honored statewide by the State Historic Preservation Office and nationally by the Society for American Archaeology.

Recordings began with an AAHS sponsored project on Tumamoc Hill and evolved to include recordings of petroglyphs in cooperation with the Coronado National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management, a private landowner, and Saguaro National Park. AAHS sponsored five years of recordings at Cocoraque Butte and Cocoraque Ranch lead by Janine Hernbrode and Peter Boyle that also included 31 AAHS volunteers. Hernbrode is the Leader of the Rock Band, a group of volunteer rock art recorders continuing this work. Hernbrode and Boyle’s papers are available on the Web: janinehernbrode@academia.edu.

Photo credit: Lance K. Trask