Early Archaic Clay Figurines from Cowboy and Walters Caves in Southeastern Utah

Coulam, N.; Schroedl, A.

doi:10.1080/00231940.1996.11758317

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The age of the BCS rock art in the Great Gallery is controversial despite attempts to directly date it using radiocarbon [e.g., Watchman , 2003; Tipps , 1994; Manning , 1990; Schaafsma , 1971]. Proposed ages range from ∼8000 years [ Coulam and Schroedl , 1996] to as young as 400 years [ Manning , 1990]. An OSL age of ∼900 years has been determined recently for a rockfall event that removed some of the rock art, providing a minimum age [ Chapot et al , 2012].…”

Section: Site Description Sample Selection and Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) as a chronometer for surface exposure dating

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] We pioneer a technique of surface-exposure dating based upon the characteristic form of an optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) bleaching profile beneath a rock surface; this evolves as a function of depth and time. As a field illustration of this new method, the maximum age of a premier example of Barrier Canyon Style (BCS) rock art in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, USA, is constrained. The natural OSL signal from quartz grains is measured from the surface to a depth of >10 mm in three different rock samples of the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone. Two samples are from talus with unknown daylight exposure histories; one of these samples was exposed at the time of sampling and one was buried and no longer light exposed. A third sample is known to have been first exposed 80 years ago and was still exposed at the time of sampling. First, the OSL-depth profile of the known-age sample is modeled to estimate material-dependent and environmental parameters. These parameters are then used to fit the model to the corresponding data for the samples of unknown exposure history. From these fits we calculate that the buried sample was light exposed for $700 years before burial and that the unburied sample has been exposed for $120 years. The shielded surface of the buried talus sample is decorated with rock art; this rock fell from the adjacent Great Gallery panel. Related research using conventional OSL dating suggests that this rockfall event occurred $900 years ago, and so we deduce that the rock art must have been created between $1600 and 900 years ago. Our results are the first credible estimates of exposure ages based on luminescence bleaching profiles. The strength of this novel OSL method is its ability to establish both ongoing and prior exposure times, at decadal to millennial timescales or perhaps longer (depending on the environmental dose rate) even for material subsequently buried. This has considerable potential in many archeological, geological and geo-hazard applications.Citation: Sohbati, R., A. S. Murray, M. S. Chapot, M. Jain, and J. Pederson (2012), Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) as a chronometer for surface exposure dating,

show abstract

Section: Site Description Sample Selection and Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) as a chronometer for surface exposure dating

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Few other elements occur with them, although sometimes there are geometric forms and phytomorphs, most frequently tiny ‘attendants’: people, composite beings, birds and quadrupeds with quadrangular bodies that are identified as ungulates and canines or felines, with possible badgers and bears. Material culture associations are limited: early archaic figurines of unfired clay were compared to the ‘wrapped’ Barrier Canyon style forms (Coulam & Schroedl 1996), but this resemblance is not conclusive. The Barrier Canyon style ghost-like anthropomorphs, which are sometimes very small (100mm or less) and sometimes larger than life-sized (2m or more), may have antenna-like projections, headgear, crowns, plumes, ears or antlers, and they have long attracted the interest and imagination of rock art enthusiasts (Beckwith 1931; Grant 1967: 115–19; Schaafsma 1971: 69).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The death of a pterodactyl

Quellec

Bahn²,

Rowe³

2015

Antiquity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarities to clay anthropomorphic figurines from nearby Walters Cave and Cowboy Cave in the headwaters above the Great Gallery, in a radiocarbon-dated stratigraphic context of 5600-5000 B.C. (calibrated), imply an early Archaic age for BCS art (27). However, this inferred age is much earlier than most other evidence for the age of BCS, and the deposits at both caves are mixed in nature (28), highlighting the need for more direct dating of the rock art.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Age of Barrier Canyon-style rock art constrained by cross-cutting relations and luminescence dating techniques

Pederson¹,

Chapot

Simms

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rock art compels interest from both researchers and a broader public, inspiring many hypotheses about its cultural origin and meaning, but it is notoriously difficult to date numerically. Barrier Canyon-style (BCS) pictographs of the Colorado Plateau are among the most debated examples; hypotheses about its age span the entire Holocene epoch and previous attempts at direct radiocarbon dating have failed. We provide multiple age constraints through the use of cross-cutting relations and new and broadly applicable approaches in optically stimulated luminescence dating at the Great Gallery panel, the type section of BCS art in Canyonlands National Park, southeastern Utah. Alluvial chronostratigraphy constrains the burial and exhumation of the alcove containing the panel, and limits are also set by our related research dating both a rockfall that removed some figures and the rock's exposure duration before that time. Results provide a maximum possible age, a minimum age, and an exposure time window for the creation of the Great Gallery panel, respectively. The only prior hypothesis not disproven is a late Archaic origin for BCS rock art, although our age result of A.D. ∼1-1100 coincides better with the transition to and rise of the subsequent Fremont culture. This chronology is for the type locality only, and variability in the age of other sites is likely. Nevertheless, results suggest that BCS rock art represents an artistic tradition that spanned cultures and the transition from foraging to farming in the region.

show abstract

Early Archaic Clay Figurines from Cowboy and Walters Caves in Southeastern Utah

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) as a chronometer for surface exposure dating

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) as a chronometer for surface exposure dating

The death of a pterodactyl

Age of Barrier Canyon-style rock art constrained by cross-cutting relations and luminescence dating techniques

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About