Ancestral Abstract Art of the Mojave Desert

Summary

The "archaic" abstract rock art style in the midst of the revered, fiercely defended cultural sanctuary of the Yuman-Hokan speaking tribes in the Mohave Valley along the lower Colorado River links culture with style, particularly when considering the absence of styles associated with linguistic family branches later expanding into surrounding areas. Further, that an archaic abstract style regionally associated with historic period Hokan speakers is also found throughout the Mojave Desert, strengthens the supposition supported by archaeological remains and linguistic evidence that Hokan speakers were more widely spread prehistorically. Examined is the regional archaeological evidence along with the physical occurrence of variations in rock art styles together suggesting that drying pluvial lakes and the abstract rock art were left behind during the Holocene climate optimum for wetter shores on the lower Colorado River, leaving a void in a tempered desert for Uto-Aztecans to fill.

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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