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Image 3
Petroglyphs and Pictographs: Wyoming's Original
Artwork
Number Three: “Winged Figure” – Fremont
County - private land
 The
Shoshone recognize petroglyph sites as “poha kahni”
or places of power. Supplicants went to these houses of power
to seek visions and to obtain the power they needed for a successful
life. First they bathed in a nearby stream or lake and then waited
in front of the petroglyphs for several days and nights without
food or water. Throughout this ordeal they prayed for instructions
for getting their power from the supernatural world. The power
came in a vision or a dream in which some supplicants were told
to make a petroglyph replica of the experience so they would never
forget the details.
The winged figure is one of many similar bird-like petroglyphs
found in the Torrey Valley. This suggests that the Shoshone adept
sought power from the winged-deities in the higher mountains.
In this regard, the figure is correctly placed within the general
Numic worldview of flying figures in the sky realm, legged or
walking figures in the terrestrial realm, and aquatic creatures
in the water realm. Dinwoody petroglyphs are placed on the landscape
in this pattern with those at the highest elevation – like
this winged figure – as representatives of the sky realm.
Figure 1: Shoshone world view with the
top of the triangle representing the highest elevations in the
region where the Dinwoody Tradition is found. (click for larger
image)
This petroglyph is likely an eagle or a representation of the
thunderbird. Very similar examples at the Dinwoody Lake sites
are associated with zigzag lines that may represent lightning.
Judith Vander (1997: 226) writes that to the Shoshone the Thunderbird
is the single religious entity that combines the power of sky,
weather and flying birds. Thunderbirds can take different forms,
with some representing the eagle and others smaller birds, especially
the hummingbird.
Reproduction of a tracing completed by Linda Olson and Courtney
Yilk. Research sponsored by Loendorf and Associates, the University
of North Dakota, the land owners, the Lucius Burch Center and
the Fremont County Historical Preservation Commission.
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