This paper offers a selection of bird petroglyphs recorded at Three Rivers, the largest rock art site in the Mogollon Territory of southern New Mexico, North America. In this paper I discuss the several, often enigmatic representations of various birds at Three Rivers and I attempt at offering hopefully acceptable interpretations. In my opinion, birds (also at Three Rivers) functioned as messengers to the ancestors and deities that reside in the Upper Realm, and/or birds symbolised fertility, especially when associated with the Cloud Terrace.
By Maarten van Hoek
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Bird Petroglyphs at Three Rivers
New Mexico
Maarten van Hoek
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Introduction
Images of birds have been recorded at rock art sites on every inhabited continent. Yet, there are enormous differences; not only in appearance (which is understandable), but also regarding distribution. For instance, the British Isles are extremely rich in rock art (mainly including Cup-and-Ring Art [excluding the – architectural – art in passage graves]), but – as far as I know – bird images are absent. On the other hand, birds play a most important role in the rock art of – for instance – the Majes Valley of southern Peru, where we recorded several hundreds of examples. Sites with many bird images (like Toro Muerto in the Majes Valley) often include a “standard” type of bird, as well as highly idiosyncratic and even unique representations. Another petroglyph site with much contrasting and varied bird imagery is Three Rivers; an impressive and extensive rock art site in New Mexico, Northern America.
This study now aims at presenting a selection of bird petroglyphs that have been recorded at Three Rivers, attempting to explain their meaning. The official report about Three Rivers by Meliha Duran and Helen Crotty (1999: Tables 2, 3 and 4) counted more than 21.000 individual petroglyphs (including 1214 examples of [unwanted] graffiti and unclassified markings. Importantly, their surveys recorded at least 498 petroglyphs of birds (still only about 2.3% of the grand total) and 619 images of isolated bird tracks (2.9%; not discussed in this study).
The percentage of 2.3 seems to indicate that bird imagery is rather scarce at Three Rivers, but with 498+ bird petroglyphs Three Rivers is – compared with other Mogollon rock art sites in southern New Mexico – very rich in bird imagery. For instance, at the rock art complex of Alamo Mountain on the New Mexico – Texas border, I know of only six bird petroglyphs. The same is true for rock art sites like Frying Pan (one example), San Diego Mountain (two examples), Upper Broad Canyon and San Acacia (one bird petroglyph each). I base those numbers on the information that I have available, and on the extensive photographic record by Ken Steiner (Van Hoek 2026a), who surveyed numerous rock art sites in southern New Mexico. Therefore all statistics in this study represent the very minimum. There may well be more bird images.
Of course in a paper like this it is not feasible to include images and descriptions of all 500+ bird petroglyphs recorded at Three Rivers. First of all, I definitely have not seen every rock art image at Three Rivers (one of the only two rock art sites that my wife and I surveyed in Mogollon Territory; the second site is Hueco Tanks in Texas). There are excellent rock art researchers (like Ken Steiner) who have most intensively surveyed the site many times, but Ken still missed some images (for instance Figures 14C and 23). Mind you, this observation is not meant as any sort of negative criticism at all. The same happened to me in South and North America at various rock art sites that we surveyed numerous times, like Toro Muerto in Peru.
Secondly, at home I have only a limited number of publications in which the rock art site of Three Rivers is discussed and/or illustrated, and no doubt my knowledge of Mogollon sites and rock art images is not up to date. The main source are the photographs made during our own surveys at Three Rivers, and the roughly 4000+ photos that Ken Steiner made of the petroglyphs and generously shared with me. Therefore, this paper will only offer a selection of bird images recorded at Three Rivers, if possible together with my personal interpretation.
Finally, lacking the expertise to identify the species of the Mogollon Style birds that I will present in this study, I will refrain from labelling any bird image, unless I can base my interpretation on a classification by researchers that are more familiar with Mogollon rock art and their natural and spiritual landscapes. For more information on Mogollon rock art, I refer to earlier publications (Berrier 2020; Van Hoek 2010; 2020; 2026a; 2026c), where – via the References – more relevant publications will be available.
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Orientation
Three Rivers is an extensive outcrop ridge with uncountable panels (on both outcrops and boulders) that are sloping in all possible directions. When a petroglyph of a bird is illustrated in detail (Figure 1-left), it is not always certain what the orientation of the image actually is. Only when presenting a zoomed-out picture of the whole situation (preferably including the horizon), it will be clear which direction the bird image actually has. This applies to frontally depicted (bird) petroglyphs (Figure 1), as well as laterally depicted (bird) images.
Figure 1. Bird petroglyph at Three Rivers. Photographs © by Maarten van Hoek.
All illustrations may be enlarged.
Indeed, the graphical information that I have available about Three Rivers demonstrates that there are – as usual – two general types of birds: frontally depicted birds (with almost invariably featuring a laterally depicted head) and laterally depicted birds. Both types offer a variety of much stylised and un-decorated examples, as well as lavishly decorated images. Three Rivers has a number of bird petroglyphs that are most interesting, even surprising and sometimes enigmatic. They will randomly be presented and discussed.
Laterally depicted birds may have been drawn in a horizontally walking or standing position, either looking to the left or to the right. In rare cases the bird appears to be moving in one direction, but is clearly looking (over its shoulder or back) into the opposite direction. A fine example is shown in Figure 2. Also exceptional is the row of flying profile birds (Figure 3).
Figure 2. Backward-looking bird petroglyph at Three Rivers. Photograph © by Ken Steiner.
Figure 3. Row of flying bird petroglyphs at Three Rivers. Photograph © by Ken Steiner.
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Frontally Depicted Birds
Although many laterally depicted birds seem to be standing or walking and not flying (which is still possible; see Figure 3), it is almost certain that most frontally depicted birds at Three Rivers have been depicted as if flying. This effect is mainly caused by the two outspread wings of which there are two types: triangular wings (Figure 4: fully pecked [except for often the head] or outlined [and sometimes internally decorated,] yet not showing the feathers) and wings showing feathers (Figure 5). Again, the orientation may be diverse (see Figure 4D and 6). Although most bird images have been drawn as if flying up into the sky (especially when the beak is pointing upwards); others definitely are “diving into the ground” (see Figures 1 and 6).
Figure 4. A: Fully pecked (except for the head). B: Partially outlined. C: Completely outlined (with dots – without a tail). D: Completely outlined (with crosses) and horizontally orientated. E: Outlined (except for the tail) and internally fully decorated. Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
Figure 5. Frontally depicted birds showing feathers. Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
Figure 6. Frontally depicted birds showing feathers. Note the bird “diving into the earth”. Photographs © by Ken Steiner and (centre) Maarten van Hoek.
Figure 7. Frontally depicted bird showing pecked wings. Note the two legs folded against the body (a feature only rarely recorded), indicating that Mogollon people depicted flying birds as if observed from below. Photographs © by Ken Steiner and Maarten van Hoek.
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Atypical Frontally Depicted Bird Images
Three Rivers has a relatively large number of petroglyphs depicting atypical bird images. There are for instance at least two petroglyphs depicting birds with long, rectangular outstretched wings (internally decorated), in one case showing feathers, a horned (?) head and a triangular fully pecked tail (Figure 8A; note the small profile bird), while the other bird (?) has “Tlaloc” eyes (? – also on its wings?), and a forked, fully pecked tail (Figure 8B).
Figure 8. Atypical bird petroglyphs. Photographs © by Ken Steiner and Maarten van Hoek.
Other bird petroglyphs do not have the feathered wings that are so typical for the frontally depicted birds (see Figures 5 and 6), but have thin, solidly pecked, comma-shaped or sickle-shaped wings (Figure 9). At least in one case the petroglyph of such a bird also seems be “diving into the earth”, but – more surprisingly – this example seems to have four wings (Figure 9). Another bird image (also “diving into the earth”) may as well have four wings (Figure 10). Also surprising are the at least two petroglyphs of stylised birds that show wide-spread, squatting legs (Figure 11-left). In one case the bird has no wings, but clearly features bird’s legs and tracks (Figure 11-right). Near this bird image is a smaller bird with the typical rectangular “Tlaloc Head” with two small dots depicting the eyes. More about “Tlaloc” in the next paragraphs.
Figure 9. Atypical bird petroglyphs. Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
Figure 10. Bird (“diving into the earth”) with two extra wings (#3 and #4), which have been rather erratically added. Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
Figure 11. Birds with outspread legs. Note the bird with the (rectangular) “Tlaloc Head” (see the next paragraph). Photographs © by Maarten van Hoek.
One of the birds in Figure 11 is suggested by me to feature a rectangular “Tlaloc Head”. Tlaloc, “he who makes things grow”, was probably one of the powerful ancient gods of Mesoamerica. He controlled the rain necessary for raising crops and was in charge of lightning. The rings around his eyes, originally the forms of two snakes closely associated with the rain god, represent clouds heavy with rain (Schaafsma 1980: 236). Typically, Jornada Mogollon Style representations of alleged “Tlaloc” figures feature a torso often covered with geometric motifs, often involving Stepped Fret Patterns (Schaafsma 1980: 208, 236, Plate 17, Fig. 163). The head (also occurring in isolation [no body drawn] or with only [thin] raised arms) is characterised by large staring eyes. It is often suggested that Tlaloc-looking images are of Mesoamerican origin, although this is questioned by Duran and Crotty (1999: 50). I will not enter any discussion about the origin of the Mogollon (rock art) images depicting the “Tlaloc Head”, but it is certain that the image shaped like a rectangular head divided into two halves, each with a dot (an eye?) is most characteristic for the Mogollon Territory of southern New Mexico and neighbouring areas.
A few examples. Figure 12A shows a frontally depicted bird with fully pecked wings and body and a faint tail, but it has no legs. Its outlined, oval-shaped head features two large goggle-like eyes, each with a dot, creating the impression of a “Tlaloc Head”. Figure 12B not only shows a bird with two triangular, lightly pecked wings (and a small outlined head), but also a large rectangular outlined “Tlaloc Head” (or is it its “Tlaloc-like” body, below the tiny head?). The bird in Figure 12C is fainter, but shows a comparable “Tlaloc Head” with fully pecked wings.
Figure 12. Three bird petroglyphs at Three Rivers, all possibly related to the Mesoamerican Tlaloc Deity. Photographs © by Ken Steiner (A and C) and Maarten van Hoek (B).
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Birds and the Stepped Fret Pattern
Also the Stepped Fret Pattern may have had its roots in Mesoamerican cultures or even in more ancient Andean societies, where a Stepped Fret probably symbolised a mountain, often associated with the ocean (Van Hoek 2001: 99; 2004: 84: 2025). But it is a fact that the Stepped Fret Pattern (or Cloud Terrace; Slifer 2000: 120) occurs widespread in the (rock) art of the Mogollon peoples. Most important in the scope of this study is the Double Unit of the Stepped Fret Pattern (Van Hoek 2004), because it may well symbolise a cloud as well as a mountain, both considered to be rain-generating. Thus the Stepped Fret Pattern most likely is deeply fertility-related (Slifer 2000: 119-120). Although at Three Rivers several petroglyphs showing the Double Unit are closely linked with human heads and occasionally with mammals, others are clearly intimately associated with bird imagery. Such birds are often depicted fully frontally, while others are laterally depicted (see Figures 13C and D; see also Slifer 1998: Fig. 235).
Figure 13. Birds unmistakably associated with the Double Unit of the Stepped Fret Pattern (note the “⁔”-shaped rainbows). A: Bird with wings shaped like the Double Unit of the Stepped Fret Pattern. B: Bird “pushing” a Double Unit of the Stepped Fret Pattern (with rainbow) “up into the sky”. C: One of the most convincing associations of a bird with a Double Unit of the Stepped Fret Pattern, which replaces the elongated neck of the (laterally depicted) bird. D: Bird standing on a Double Unit of the Stepped Fret Pattern (with a rainbow, lightning and a “rain-fringe”), which in turn is placed on top of a corn-plant image. Importantly, Dennis Slifer argues that this bird served to “carry prayers for rain up to the sky” (Slifer 2000: Fig. 142). All those images strongly suggest that also birds may well be fertility related, especially when indeed functioning as messengers to the “sky deities”. See also Van Hoek 2026b Fig. 24D for a couple of birds clearly supporting a Stepped Fret Pattern on pole (for more information about symbols on top of a pole see Van Hoek 2026b). Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
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Laterally Depicted Birds
To start with, isolated heads of birds are very rare at Three Rivers and are – as far as I know – always laterally depicted, although Figure 14B might show an unfinished bird petroglyph. Photo 14C shows a special example, because the pupil of the almond-shaped eye is formed by a small white projection of stone; an example of intentional use of natural rock features (which occur more often at Three Rivers and elsewhere; see Van Hoek 2020a for more examples).
Figure 14. Isolated heads of birds (illustrating a practice of birds being ritually beheaded? [see Figure 25]). Photographs © by Ken Steiner (A and B) and Maarten van Hoek (C).
It is not always possible to decide whether a bird belongs to the frontally depicted type, or whether it is a profile bird. An example is the bird petroglyph in Figure 15. It has a wing with feathers on both sides what may imply that it is a frontally depicted bird. However, it seems to have only one leg attached to one side of the body, while its beak also points in the same direction. Although framed by an enigmatic continuous two-stroke / two-dot line (II..II..II), the images (bird, head or mask and two circle-dot motifs) need not be contemporary, not even associated, as are the birds in Figure 13 (B, C and D) that are associated with the Stepped Fret.
Figure 15. Bird petroglyph (frontally [left] or laterally [right] depicted?). Photographs © by Ken Steiner (right) and Maarten van Hoek (left).
The situation of the bird image in Figure 15 demonstrates that it is often difficult to classify a bird as horizontally or vertically orientated, especially when it concerns a panel with an (almost) horizontal upper surface. Only on (fixed) sloping or vertical panels the orientation will be obvious (conveniently disregarding the possibility that the boulder has been disturbed). It now proves that, at Three Rivers, several bird images have intentionally been drawn in a vertical or diagonal position, mainly with the head pointing (mainly diagonally) upwards (Figure 16). This goes for frontally as well as for laterally depicted bird images.
Regarding the profile bird petroglyphs of Three Rivers, it seems that there is more stylistic variation in design than in frontally depicted birds. The layout ranges from very simple, small, fully pecked profile bird images to large, most elaborately decorated bird petroglyphs (Figure 16B and C). At Three Rivers there are also several petroglyphs that seem to depict possibly intentionally malformed bird (?) images that for that reason are hard to read (Figure 17). The reason behind (intentionally?) manufacturing such distorted figures is still enigmatic.
Other bird petroglyphs are clearly “unfinished”. They are either abandoned when still incomplete, or they appear as faint pre-sketch elements, like the wing (?), tail and legs of the outlined bird in Figure 18. Earlier I argued that “unfinished” (rock) art images could well have intentionally been left incomplete, thus creating images “showing” an invisible element (Van Hoek 2019). The best example that I know of, concerns the well-known geoglyph of the enormous monkey on the Nasca Pampa of southern Peru, for which I argue that it is playing an invisible wind-instrument (Van Hoek 2005). Whether “invisible” objects (like flutes) have also been “manufactured” at Three Rivers is unknown to me, but it is possible (see Van Hoek 2010).
Figure 16. Bird petroglyphs at Three Rivers; all vertically arranged. Fully pecked (A: note the vertically positioned mammal image to the right of the bird) or decorated (B and C: note – on both panels – the strange, outlined “tadpole-shapes”; eggs?). Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
Figure 17. Malformed bird (?) petroglyphs at Three Rivers. Photographs © by Ken Steiner (A) and Maarten van Hoek (B).
Figure 18. Bird petroglyphs; the smaller one unfinished. Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
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Unusual Profile Birds
It is typical for Three Rivers that there are several atypical images of biomorphs that – for that reason – are often hard or impossible to classify or interpret. This also is relevant for the images of some profile birds that show unusual properties. Although many images of profile birds seem to depict a static posture (especially when not showing wings), several profile birds may well have been depicted when flying. The most convincing scene (which is – as far as I know – unique for Three Rivers [and for sites elsewhere in Mogollon Territory?]) are the three profile birds unmistakably flying in a row, clearly following the adult in front of the row (see Figure 3).
Panels with two or more bird petroglyphs do occur at Three Rivers (see for instance Figures 6, 8A, 11, 12B, 18 and 24A), but in most cases those birds seem not to be linked (although they might be). Yet there are pairs of birds that definitely form a scene, or are part of a specific configuration, like the two profile birds that are facing each other while supporting a pole topped by a Stepped Fret Pattern (also known as a Cloud Terrace; a widespread rain- and fertility related symbol; see Van Hoek 2026b: Fig. 24D). Other examples of possibly associated bird petroglyphs involve a confronting (fighting or courting?) pair of almost similar birds (Figure 19A), as well as two similar, parallel aligned birds (each on a slightly differently sloping panel), the smaller bird “landing” (?) on the bigger bird (Figure 19B). An attempt at copulating?
Figure 19. Possibly associated bird petroglyphs. Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
Some bird species have a long neck, and most likely their images also appear on the rocks at Three Rivers, even when their images are not exactly realistic (see for instance Figures 2, 16 and 18 [note the unnatural square body and the very large wing of the larger bird]). However, at least two profile bird petroglyphs at Three Rivers have an exaggeratedly long and curved, thin line representing the neck ending in a small head (one shown in Figure 20A). Another profile bird petroglyph has an even longer neck. Its head is not even visible in Figure 20B. Another profile bird petroglyph is exceptional, as it has not only a long neck, but its neck also seems to show a “bulge”, as if it is swallowing something (Figure 20C). Moreover, the bird seems to be standing on a fully pecked serpentine line. Is that pecked line a snake that is being eaten by the bird? Images of birds eating animals occasionally occur in SW rock art.
Figure 20. Bird petroglyphs with “abnormal” long necks. Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
There also are birds that seem to express the wish for fertility, although their symbolism is still uncertain, also because it concerns western-minded interpretations, which can of course be incorrect. Yet, I would like to tentatively interpret the bird petroglyph in Figure 21A as a bird, the body of which incorporates an egg. The purported “egg” namely is a rather large, circular natural rock projection. It is definitely certain that the manufacturer intentionally created the bird around this natural projection, but it remains uncertain whether the projection indeed was consciously intended by the manufacturer to represent an egg.
There is another instance of a bird that seems to have an egg inside the body. This time it concerns a small circular element, composed of a small dot within an un-pecked circular area, placed at the back end of the bird, just above the legs (Figure 21B). Together with a larger circular petroglyph below the tail of the otherwise fully pecked bird (hardly visible in Figure 21B) it is suggested by Dennis Slifer that the configuration represents “a bird with eggs” (2000: Fig. 206), which sounds very well acceptable by me (especially regarding the smaller egg).
A third bird petroglyph is interpreted by me to enclose the front half of bird, which is represented by the dark, un-pecked area with the small dot depicting the eye (Figure 21C). I very tentatively would like to suggest that this way the wish for fertility (offspring) is drawn, but of course I may be completely wrong. Also this last example thus shows how hazardous interpretations often are (especially regarding Mogollon [rock] art).
Figure 21. Bird petroglyphs (with fertility symbolism ?). Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
An even more enigmatic configuration concerns two long, fully pecked thick lines (the longer one slightly curved), of which the shorter (straight) line has a curved leg and a straight arm, indicating that it involves two (undeterminable) biomorphs (possibly humans?). The relative position of the two thick lines even suggests a copulation between the two, while the shorter line also seems to be engaged with the unusual profile bird to its right; a second copulation scene? Interestingly, the circular body of the bird seems to enclose a semi-circular, fully pecked shape (an eye?) and a slightly curved line (a mouth?) and thus the whole image may represent a human head or a mask transformed (or trance-formed?) into a bird (Figure 22).
Figure 22. Bird petroglyph associated (?) with two possibly animated line-features. Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
A final example of a most unusual image is the petroglyph of a profile bird that has – besides one wing – four legs (Figure 23). This petroglyph did not appear in previous publications (but mind you, I have no knowledge of all information published on Mogollon [rock] art).
Figure 23. Bird petroglyph with four legs. Photograph © by Maarten van Hoek.
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Some Observations
What this study clearly demonstrates – even when my observations are only based on my incomplete “inventory” of Three Rivers and other Mogollon rock art sites – is that Three Rivers has an enormous diversity of bird images (Figure 24A), especially when compared with sites in the remainder of the Mogollon Territory of New Mexico, where bird images are rather scarce, rare or absent. It is also a fact that – in comparison – Three Rivers has a still unexplainable large number of bird petroglyphs, including several puzzling bird images, or at least, images that only possibly depict birds. Indeed, some images are most uncertain of character. An example is shown in Figure 24B. A similar, yet even more mammal-like petroglyph has been recorded on a (now?) broken boulder at Three Rivers. Yet this image (Berrier 2020: Fig. 76) has been described by Berrier as having a “fish-tail” (Berrier 2020: 8), but in my opinion she thus overlooked the possibility that it may actually represent a bird’s tail (also note the wing attached to the biomorph in Figure 24B).
Figure 24. A: Two frontally depicted (flying?) birds on one panel at Three Rivers. B: Petroglyph of a biomorph. Is it a mammal, or a bird, or a hybrid creature perhaps? Photographs © by Ken Steiner.
Associations between bird petroglyphs and other images on the same panel are often obscure, and in most instances it seems as if the various images on a rock panel have been randomly added. Only in a few instances it is highly likely that a bird imagery is linked to another petroglyph or motif, like the bird (with a bulge in its long neck) that seems to be standing on a snake (see Figure 20C). But also birds can be linked to each other, like the row of flying birds (see Figure 3). Also, a profusely decorated bird may be linked with the outlined tadpole-like petroglyph directly between the tail and the legs (see Figure 16B). And the two pairs of birds shown in Figure 19A and B may also involve birds being linked to each other.
However, the best example is shown in Figure 13C, where a Cloud Terrace replaces the neck of a bird. Also the birds in Figure 13B and 13D are intimately associated with the important Cloud Terrace symbol. For that reason I would like to suggest that the bird is a vital fertility-related symbol (see the examples in Figure 21), simultaneously functioning as mediator and/or messenger between the normal world and the realm of the deities in the sky.
It also seems that at Three Rivers some bird petroglyphs are closely associated with large, goggle-eyed anthropomorphic figures or isolated goggle-eyed heads, sometimes said to represent Tlaloc, an important rain- and fertility-related Mesoamerican deity. Avoiding any discussion whether those large-eyed heads indeed originated in Mesoamerica or symbolise Tlaloc or not, it is remarkable that at least one bird petroglyph has its bird’s head replaced by a alleged “Tlaloc” Head (see Figure 11-right). At least three other bird images at Three Rivers also show a purported “Tlaloc” Head (see Figures 12A, 12B and 12C). All those potential Bird-Tlaloc associations thus seem to emphasise the importance of birds regarding rain and fertility.
In an earlier publication I tentatively suggested that certain rock art images at Three Rivers might be death-related (Van Hoek 2026c), although truly explicit images are lacking. It concerns the several images of “Severed Limbs”, and a unique image of two legs apparently “diving into the earth” (Van Hoek 2026c: Fig. 14). It is thus possible that the “diving” legs represent or symbolise a dead person traveling to the Spirit World. This study demonstrated that a small number of bird petroglyphs at Three Rivers also seems to be “diving into the earth”. In analogy with the inverted legs mentioned above I now would like to suggest that also inverted birds may be interpreted as “entering the realm of the dead”. However, besides the images of isolated (decapitated?) bird heads (see Figure 14), there might be two exceptions. One concerns the image of an outlined profile bird (without a tail?), showing cutmarks (?) across the neck (Figure 25); an attempt at (ritually?) slaughtering the bird? The second involves a large petroglyph of an (internally decorated – with fur?) bighorn sheep with a crude cutmark across its neck. The idea that lines across the neck may indicate the ritual killing of an animal has also been suggested for petroglyphs of at least some felines (Van Hoek 2021: see Fig. 28 [there are possibly more instances]) and a large bicephalic snake; each neck crossed by a line (Van Hoek 2020b: 62, Fig. 59), all recorded by us at Toro Muerto in southern Peru.
Figure 25. Petroglyph of a (distorted?) bird with possibly cutmarks across the neck. The tail seems to be absent, or might have flaked-off. Photograph © by Ken Steiner.
Finally, certain images at Three Rivers may be shaman-related. There are, however, only very few scenes in which an anthropomorph (a shaman?) is clearly associated with a bird, and the following example is even more special because the scene has been drawn on two adjacent panels. On vertical Panel A of a boulder (or outcrop stack?) is the petroglyph of an outlined (male?) anthropomorphic figure (Figure 26). It has the left arm raised above its head, while the right arm extends to the right, intentionally continuing around the corner and (intentionally?) touching with its hand the head of a fully pecked bird, which he (or she?) cannot see. The right arm and hand have more clearly been pecked out, while the rest of the anthropomorph is more faintly executed. This may indicate that the right arm/hand may have been added at a later stage, or – more likely- have been re-pecked to renew and emphasise the spiritual connection.
Figure 26. Petroglyph of a bird touched by the hand belonging to a personage (a shaman?) on the adjacent panel. Photographs © by Ken Steiner and Maarten van Hoek.
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Conclusions
This study attempts at offering a (limited) overview of bird petroglyphs recorded in the Mogollon Territory of southern New Mexico. Interestingly, there is a significant, yet unexplainable “overkill” of bird images at Three Rivers. However, although several birds have rather realistically been drawn, several images appear to be intentionally deformed and/or body parts prove to have been exaggerated. Some “bird” images even appear to represent puzzling hybrids. It is certain that many (most? all?) bird images have an often “hidden” metaphorical meaning. Yet, in my opinion, many (most? all?) birds may have been perceived by the Mogollon peoples as supernatural messengers between the ordinary world and their ancestors and deities that reside in the sky. Simultaneously (or not) birds probably also may express the wish for fertility, especially when directly associated with possible egg symbolism, with the Stepped Fret Pattern, or even when combined with purported “Tlaloc Heads” (all fertility symbols?). Nevertheless, much is still unknown about Mogollon rock art imagery, but I hope that this study will provide other researchers a sound basis for further investigations.
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Acknowledgements
First of all I would like to express my gratitude to Ken Steiner who shared with me thousands of photos of New Mexico rock art sites, together with his permission to publish them (all photos in this study have digitally been enhanced). I am also grateful to Mrs. Mary Russell of the El Paso Archaeological Society and Bob Dragon for guiding us at Three Rivers in 2005. Last, but certainly not least, I thank my wife Elles who – as usual – assisted me during our surveys at Three Rivers (and many other sites, worldwide) and continues to support me at home.
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References
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