A prehistoric Native American pictograph that signals the summer solstice

Abstract

The current article examines a 90 cm. tall, prehistoric Native American pictograph painted in red ochre which depicts a red Anthropomorph wearing a “V”-shaped headdress. For a seven-day period at the summer solstice the face and headdress of the red Anthropomorph are illuminated with sunlight. The authors proffer photographic, archaeological, and iconographic evidence confirming that the pictograph was made by the prehistoric, agriculturally-reliant Fremont culture of Utah (USA) circa AD 1100 – 1300, and that it was indeed a summer solstice indicator. Because genetic and cultural data verify that some Fremont people were ancestors to the Native Americans that occupy the modern pueblos in Arizona and New Mexico, we gather late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century ethnography from the latter pueblos to show that the summer solstice marked a major shift in agrarian practices—from field preparation and sowing to rain-making and crop fruition. Additional rock art iconography associates the red “Anthropomorph-with-V-shaped-headdress” motif with headhunting, a practice that, according to Pueblo Indian ethnography, was necessary for rain-making and abundant harvests. We then trace this historic Pueblo Indian conception to prehistoric head-taking pictographs aligned with the summer solstice and the seasonal shift it signaled towards rain-making through ritualized headhunting.

Keywords

• archaeoastronomy
• fremont culture
• solar
• calendar
• rock art
• pictograph