For more than 11,000 years people have been living in the Columbia Plateau, an area which stretches across eastern Washington, northern Idaho, western Montana, southern British Columbia, and northern Oregon. This is an area which is bounded on the west by the Cascade Mountains, on the east by the Rocky Mountains, on the north by the Fraser River, and on the south by the Blue Mountains. Evidence of ancient habitation is seen in thousands of archaeological sites, including many rock art sites. The rock art includes both pictographs—images which are painted on the rocks—and petroglyphs—images which are carved or pecked into the rocks.
With regard to petroglyphs, archaeologist James Keyser, in his book Indian Rock Art of the Columbia Plateau, writes:
“Columbia Plateau petroglyphs are most often made on basalt, a hard, dense volcanic stone.”
Carving or pecking the images on basalt results in an image which is lighter than the surrounding rock.
Writing about the Columbia Plateau in NorthAmerica, Keo Boreson, in his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, reports:
“These carved and painted images give an intimate glimpse into the lives of people that other archaeological remains do not, a visual memory that goes a step beyond the everyday necessities of food and shelter.”
Keo Boreson also reports:
“Pictographs are often located in out-of-the way mountainous areas near rivers, lakes, springs, or streams. A few sites are at high elevations with a panoramic view of river valleys. Petroglyphs are frequently found at places near rivers or lakes where people congregated, often where fishing was exceptionally good.”
The rock art in the Columbia Plateau region includes representation art, that is, art which represents people and animals, and abstract art in the form of stylized markings such as lines, spirals, and circles. The rock art is often association with special ceremonies such as the vision quest and hunting and fishing rituals. James Keyser writes:
“Game animal pictographs and the hunting scene probably represent ‘hunting magic,’ conducted either before the hunt to control the animals or afterward to propitiate their spirits. As did many hunting groups around the world, Columbia Plateau tribes thought that animals had spirits controlling their behavior. Certain rituals would appeal to these spirits, convincing them to allow the animals to be killed for the good of the human group. Related ceremonies conducted after a successful hunt, ‘thanked’ the animal spirits for their cooperation.”
The Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center in Wenatchee, Washington, has a display of American Indian petroglyphs in the Columbia Plateau region.
Vision Quest sites
In the Columbia Plateau area, rock art is often found in connection with vision quest sites. According to the museum display:
“Salishan Peoples, living in the Wenatchee area, expected boys and girls to seek out one or more guardian spirit-beings. After the spirit seekers prayed and fasted in isolation, these guardian spirits appeared to them in human-like form. Through special songs and dances, the seekers received power and sacred wisdom from the spirits. Such experiences were regarded as extremely personal not to be shared with others until later in life.”
Following a successful vision question, the individual might make new images at the site to mark the sacred significance of the site.
Shown above are some of the figures found on Rock Island.
According to the museum display:
“The large number of rock art images at Rock Island suggests that the site was important to local natives as a regional fishing ground and as a special place of spiritual power.”
For more about the Plateau Indian vision quest, see: Indians 101: The Plateau Indian vision quest
More Ancient America
Ancient America: Plateau Indian Artifacts (Photo Diary)
Ancient America: The Richey-Roberts Clovis site (museum diary)
Ancient America: Kennewick Man (The Ancient One)
Ancient America: Some Artifacts from the Columbia Plateau (Photo Diary)
Ancient America: Columbia River Pictographs (Photo Diary)
Ancient America: Columbia River Rock Art (Photo Diary)
Ancient America: Stone Artifacts from the Columbia Plateau (Photo Diary)
Ancient America: Carved Stone Figures in the Plateau (Photo Diary)