Pictograph Handprint Analysis in Southern California--Stature and Gender Projections

Summary

Pictograph hand impressions (n=288) from 42 rock art loci in southern California were analyzed to infer the physical stature and gender of the most likely Native American participants against contemporary assertions of regional rock art style and function. The analytical underpinnings were as follows: anthropometric data of Mission Indians (Boas 1895); ethnographic accounts of young adolescent female participation (e.g., Oxendine 1980:39) and the statistical difference in female adult stature (Gasser et al. 2000); research correlating human stature with hand length measures (e.g., Jasuja and Singh 2004); and, research utilizing finger-length ratios to infer gender (e.g., Nicholls et al. 2008).

A data plot created a bimodal distribution suggesting both young adolescent (expected) and adult participation at many sites. Several San Luis Rey Style (Hedges 1990) loci suggested male participation; however, pictograph handprint panels qualitatively presenting as consistent with an intensive puberty ceremony did indeed have impressions measuring in the stature range of young female adolescents. Conversely, qualified handprint panels categorized as Rancho Bernardo Style (Hedges 1979) contained hand prints analytically suggesting males in the range of late adolescence to adulthood.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Rock Art Research: A Regional Analysis   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage