Signs from the Ancestors: Zuni Cultural Symbolism and Perceptions of Rock Art (Publications of the American Folklore Society)

A quote from the outside cover:

Thousands of painted and carved rock art images, dating from A.D. 400 to the present, are located on mesa walls, boulders, and the interiors of caves around Zuni Pueblo in western New Mexico. This book tells us what these images mean to the Zuni people, setting the rock art in their vast symbolic network of thought, verbal expression, and ritual action.

Young makes it clear that symbolic expressions in rock art must be understood in relation to the living cultures of which they are still a functioning part. As she points out, many Zunis regard some of the oldest rock art figures in this area as signs created by their ancestors for the express purpose of communicating messages to contemporary tribal members.

This impressively researched and sensitive book will be welcomed by folklorists, anthropologists, linguists, and ethnoastronomers.

A clearly written exploration of the underlying structure of Zuni perceptions of the universe as they bear upon interpretations of rock art, this volume is a major and significant addition to rock art research and Pueblo ethnology as well.";-Polly Schaafsma