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The Mono Craters Petroglyphs, California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Emma Lou Davis
Emma Lou Davis*
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles, Calif.
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Abstract

An unreported group of petroglyphs, all versions of a single "horseshoe" symbol carved in high relief, occur on an isolated volcanic peak. The more realistic ones appear to represent female genitalia and the rest seem to be more abstract versions of the same motif. Archaeological investigation has disclosed similar motifs in Southern California and ethnological research has turned up clues in the literature suggesting that the same "horseshoe" symbol survived until recently as a magical element in the Diegueño girls’ initiation ceremony.

Information

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , October 1961 , pp. 236 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1961

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References

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