“I Was in the Thick of the Fight:” Counting Coup at 48SW82, Southwestern Wyoming

James D. Keyser

“I Was in the Thick of the Fight:” Counting Coup at 48SW82, Southwestern Wyoming

Year: 2011

Summary

Coup counting is a central theme of Plains Biographic art in all media, occurring both as scenes of personal combat and as tallies of unfortunate enemies on whom coup has been counted. While combat scenes are undoubtedly the most common Biographic art depiction (Figure 1), tallies proclaiming a career’s worth of accomplishments resulting from a series of such combat episodes are more frequent than has been portrayed in the Biographic art literature. [...] One such Biographic coup count tally and a second Biographic scene are carved in far southwestern Wyoming at site 48SW82. They are described in detail here because of the tally’s unique structure and the rarity of comparable Biographic art examples known in the rock art of this area.

Cite this Record

“I Was in the Thick of the Fight:” Counting Coup at 48SW82, Southwestern Wyoming. James D. Keyser. The Wyoming Archaeologist. 55 (1): 24-43. 2011 ( tDAR id: 476477) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8476477