Animal Ethology Reflected in the Rock Art of Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

This study of the rock art of Nine Mile Canyon, in central eastern Utah, focuses on scenes depicting bighorn sheep and other large game animals, important resources to Great Basin Native American groups. Much of the rock art discussed is thought to have been created by members of the Fremont culture, although some was created by later Numic people. The results of this study suggest that the Native American artists who created the rock art scenes depicting bighorn sheep throughout Nine Mile Canyon had a detailed understanding of bighorn sheep behavior. Joumal of Califomia and Great Basin Anthropology Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 70-103 (1997). Animal Ethology Reflected in the Rock Art of Nine Mile Canyon, Utah R A Y T. M A T H E N Y , Dept. of Anthropology, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT 84602. T H O M A S S. SMITH, Biological Research Division, USGS, Alaska Science Center, 1011 East Tudor Rd., Anchorage, AK 99503-6199. D E A N N E G. M A T H E N Y , Dept. of Anthropology, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT 84602. This study of the rock art of Nine Mile Canyon, in central eastern Utah, focuses on scenes depicting bighorn sheep and other large game animals, important resources to Great Basin Native American groups. Much of the rock art discussed is thought to have been created by members of the Fremont culture, although some was created by later Numic people. The results of this study suggest that the Native American artists who created the rock art scenes depicting bighorn sheep throughout Nine Mile Canyon had a detailed understanding of bighorn sheep behavior. M. HE abundant Native American rock art found in many areas of the western United States presents numerous challenges to archaeologists and other specialists who attempt to investigate it. Few regions have been intensively surveyed for rock art, and at those sites where it has been recorded, illustrations and photographs are often inadequate for study. Dating rock art remains difficult and imprecise. Interpretation of rock art is an even more complex procedure, but recent efforts have begun to produce important results. For example, the identification of summer and winter solstice markers, medicine wheels, and other seasonal markers left by both huntergatherers and agriculturalists demonstrates that Native Americans were keen observers of natural phenomena (e.g., Preston and Preston 1983). In creating rock art for their own purposes (whether related to shamanistic endeavors and/or other matters). Native Americans produced a record of their knowledge in an enduring form. In this article, we suggest that portrayals of animals in rock art reflect the ample knowledge of Native Americans concerning ethology or animal behavior. That basic observation may be carried further in some cases to a discussion of the exploitation of animals by humans as reflected in the rock art. The present study focuses on portrayals of animals, chiefly bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), in the rock art of Nine Mile Canyon in central eastern Utah (Fig. 1). The choice of Nine Mile Canyon as the nucleus of this study was based on its great wealth of rock art and on the authors' familiarity with the canyon and its archaeology. Investigations in the canyon have shown that it was inhabited from at least the Archaic Period, followed by an apparent peak of occupation by Fremont peoples dating from approximately A.D. 700 to 1250, widi a later occupation by Numic groups.' During historical times. Nine Mile Canyon, as well as being setded for farming and ranching, was on the freight road that ran between Price and the Uintah Basin during the final years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century (Geary 1981a, 1981b). Although considerable rock art was produced in the canyon during late prehistoric and historical times, the greatest amount and most famous examples pertain to the period of Fremont occupation. Many Fremont and Numic rock art panROCK ART OF NINE MILE CANYON, UTAH 71