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Image 1
Petroglyphs and Pictographs: Wyoming's Original
Artwork
Number One: “Split Boy” – Hot Springs
County (half size)
This exceptional petroglyph shows the double body of a human springing
from one set of feet. It is found intermixed with other Dinwoody
Tradition petroglyphs in the Thermopolis region of Hot Springs
County, Wyoming, and almost certainly is a Shoshone motif. No
other split-human figures are recorded at Dinwoody sites. Furthermore,
there
is little Shoshone ethnography to explain the figure. It might
be related to the split-boy figures that are deities to cultures
throughout the American west, such as the Navajo, but if so, the
power it might possess, or the role it might have played among
the Shoshone, is not known.
The small figure atop the head may be the one of the ‘Little
People’ found with other Dinwoody figures. The four arms
on this figure are noteworthy but their function is not known.
Perhaps the most interesting feature in this petroglyph is the
plant with its branching stems terminating in small balls. This
plant is replicated with the skeleton person at a nearby location.
Reproduction of a tracing completed by Linda Olson. Research
sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management – Worland and
Minot State University.
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