Katsina Runners in Basketmaker II through Pueblo III petroglyphs in the Northern San Juan Basin.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Runners have always played an important role in Pueblo life, as with all tribes in the Southwest. They carried messages and trade items across great distances between prehistoric villages. Ritual racing around villages and out to sacred shrines have served to inspire the clouds to bring rain and keep the Sun and Moon on track during their annual journeys. A prehistoric portrait of three Ancestral Pueblo runners on a cliff wall deep in Grand Gulch of Cedar Mesa gives clues to many other possible depictions of runners throughout the Northern San Juan Region. Ritual running brings clouds, rain, and prosperity. Clouds are ‘rain bringers’ and believed to be the essence of Katsina spirits. Portraits of these rain bringing spirits are found paralleling known travel routes including Chaco roads. Some Katsinas love racing humans. These Katsinas are identified by their boxy ears like those of Palavikuna known as the Red Skirt Runner and Homsona, a runner “who cuts hair”. Together with color codes and body gestures, one can see the cultural continuity from BMII - PIII images of Katsina runners and the contemporary Racing Katsinas of today.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33105