Tag: Albuquerque

Kissing birds, chalice, Venus. 

This is one of the most intriguing rock art panels I saw at Petroglyph National Monument. For one, it is oddly placed, as though the rock slab was deliberately relocated and oriented away from the main field of volcanic boulders on the mesa’s slope. 

It is tempting to read a left-to-right narrative from the figures, though there is no reason to suppose that the artisan who made these glyphs intended to express any kind of linear idea. The figures are not words, but mnemonic prompts that recall histories or myths or dreams and visions. If there are stories to tell they are oral transmissions, and the glyphs are just reminders and cues.

And I really have no reason to call the central glyph a chalice other than that is what it looks like to me. The four-pointed star is typically described as a representation of Venus (the planet, not the goddess) by descendants of the ancient Puebloans. 

Kissing birds, chalice, Venus. 

This is one of the most intriguing rock art panels I saw at Petroglyph National Monument. For one, it is oddly placed, as though the rock slab was deliberately relocated and oriented away from the main field of volcanic boulders on the mesa’s slope. 

It is tempting to read a left-to-right narrative from the figures, though there is no reason to suppose that the artisan who made these glyphs intended to express any kind of linear idea. The figures are not words, but mnemonic prompts that recall histories or myths or dreams and visions. If there are stories to tell they are oral transmissions, and the glyphs are just reminders and cues.

And I really have no reason to call the central glyph a chalice other than that is what it looks like to me. The four-pointed star is typically described as a representation of Venus (the planet, not the goddess) by descendants of the ancient Puebloans.