Before you read on, try this, look at the panel belowand ask yourself, what does this look like to me?
This is one of the most intriguing panels. It is unusual for petroglyphs to use the cracks in the rock surface and to make it part of the design. Beginning on the left with the image of the 'man' shaped object with the arms extended, it appears that the object is walking up the crack. The four objects to the right have a crack in the rock at the bottom and at the top. The second crack, in the image, up from the bottom of the right four objects, extends all the way from the right of the four tall objects through to the arms of the small object on the far left. 

The panel is simple and appears to tell a story. There are four objects in this panel:
1 - the smaller image on the far left which appears to be a man bending over doing something or pulling something;
2 - the dot with the three circles around it above the manlike image;
3 - the four tall objects;
4 - the lines which connect the four tall objects and the two lines which 'frame' the tall objects.
The lines which connect the four tall objects are interesting because of where they connect and do not connect. The top connection line appears to be at eye level and connects all four objects. The middle connection appears to be at shoulder level and only connects the first two objects. The last connector seems to be at mid chest level and again connects all four objects. What the significance of the connecting lines and their placement is we can only guess at.
It seems that the small image on the left is male because of the placement of the arms at the shoulders. He appears to be facing us because of the way arms are placed. What he is doing or is being done to him, we cannot really know. Is he pulling the four large objects? The left arm and shoulder are ground into the crack that runs through all four of the large objects. This may be incidental but a connection appears to have been deliberately sought by the author (s) because the crack is ground down in the 'bodies' of all four of the objects.
When all four objects are looked at together, they seem to tell a story. The four elements of the concentric circle object could be the key to understanding the story or event. Whitley suggests that the concentric circles are an 'interpretable entoptic-geometric pattern' which is a visual representation of a whirlwind and is common throughout the Great Basin culture area. (1)
What I have noticed about the concentric circle pattern is that the number of circles around the center varies at different locations. I do not know how this would influence the whirlwind idea. 
As Whitley explains, the whirlwind object is supposed to represent the concentration of supernatural power which is what a whirlwind, to average Great Basin shaman, does. (1)
That might be a good interpretation but it does seem to tell us much about why there are a different number of circles at different sites for the whirlwind object.

What is apparent and real, is the 'number' of objects. The author (s) of this panel knew how to count. They knew how to count when they put a specific number of circles around the center. The four tall objects might each represent something different, but there are four of them. You might ask, do you need a three circle whirlwind in order to effect four tall objects (whatever they are)? (continued below)



The number of each type of object appears to be significant. Many of the petroglyphs that are seen throughout the Valley of Fire do seem to have the characteristics of counting system. At the very least that is what is being done in this panel. Someting is being counted and specific connections are made between objects.

In reference to my first question, "what does it look like to you?", is your interpretation any different now? Sometimes when looking for the meaning in something, the simplest and most obvious answer could be the right one. A child might say it looks like a man is pulling the four tall objects under a hot sun, maybe that is all it's about?


>>Previous Page, Click Here<<

(1) David Whitley, "A Guide To Rock Art Sites", p22

Return to the Valley of Fire Page