“I am glad I
have seen your
nakedness;
it is
beautiful;
it will rain from now on.”

—
Talashimtiwa

Hopi
Indian from Oraibi, 1920
from The Serpent and the
Sacred Fire: Fertility Images in Southwest Rock
Art

The record on rock left by the
Southwest’s early people is mostly mystifying. What do those
galaxy-like clusters really represent? What are those handprints
saying? Some experts have come up with explanations for every
pecked petroglyph or painted pictograph, yet lingering doubts
persist: Can we be certain they mean what we think they
mean?

But when the lines on the walls of a cave
or boulder show us a woman giving birth or a couple having
intercourse, well, translation seems a lot easier. In his book
The Serpent and the Sacred Fire: Fertility Images in
Southwest Rock Art, Dennis Slifer focuses on sexual
images that don’t take guesswork; they had to have been created to
celebrate fecundity, abundance and the fact of life
itself.

Slifer
says past anthropologists have been loath to study “some of the
more prurient (to their Victorian sensibilities) images.” Even the
wildly popular hunch-backed flute player, Kokopelli, “is usually
sanitized and censored as if it were petro-porn,” he says.
Published by the Museum of New Mexico Press, this book lets it all
hang out, in 16 color plates and 150 amazing line
illustrations.

The Serpent and the
Sacred Fire: Fertility Images in Southwest Rock Art,
paper, $16.95, 156 pages, Museum of New Mexico Press, P.O. Box
2087, Santa Fe, NM
87504-2087.

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X-rated on the rocks

by Betsy Marston, High Country News
January 29, 2001

<h1>X-rated on the rocks</h1> <p class="byline">by Betsy Marston, High Country News <br />January 29, 2001</p> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow aligncenter" data-effect="slide"> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper-container"> <ul class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper"> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="https://country-survey-collabs.info/external_files/allimages/2001/jan29/graphics/010129.009.gif" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-27759" data-id="27759" src="https://country-survey-collabs.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/010129.009.gif" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">https://country-survey-collabs.info/external_files/allimages/2001/jan29/graphics/010129.009.gif%3C/figcaption%3E%3C/figure%3E </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="https://country-survey-collabs.info/external_files/allimages/2001/jan29/graphics/010129.010.gif" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-27763" data-id="27763" src="https://country-survey-collabs.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/010129.010.gif" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">https://country-survey-collabs.info/external_files/allimages/2001/jan29/graphics/010129.010.gif%3C/figcaption%3E%3C/figure%3E </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="https://country-survey-collabs.info/external_files/allimages/2001/jan29/graphics/010129.011.gif" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-27765" data-id="27765" src="https://country-survey-collabs.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/010129.011.gif" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">https://country-survey-collabs.info/external_files/allimages/2001/jan29/graphics/010129.011.gif%3C/figcaption%3E%3C/figure%3E </li> </ul> <p> <a class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white" role="button"></a><br /> <a class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white" role="button"></a><br /> <a aria-label="Pause Slideshow" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause" role="button"></a></p> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-white"></div> </p></div> </p></div> <p> <BR></p> <ul>"I am glad I<br /> have seen your<BR>nakedness;<BR>it is<br /> beautiful;<BR>it will rain from now on."<BR></p> <ul>--<br /> <I>Talashimtiwa</I></ul> </ul> <p><BR>Hopi<br /> Indian from Oraibi, 1920<BR>from <I>The Serpent and the<br /> Sacred Fire: Fertility Images in Southwest Rock<br /> Art</I><BR></p> <p>The record on rock left by the<br /> Southwest's early people is mostly mystifying. What do those<br /> galaxy-like clusters really represent? What are those handprints<br /> saying? Some experts have come up with explanations for every<br /> pecked petroglyph or painted pictograph, yet lingering doubts<br /> persist: Can we be certain they mean what we think they<br /> mean?<BR></p> <p>But when the lines on the walls of a cave<br /> or boulder show us a woman giving birth or a couple having<br /> intercourse, well, translation seems a lot easier. In his book<br /> <I>The Serpent and the Sacred Fire: Fertility Images in<br /> Southwest Rock Art</I>, Dennis Slifer focuses on sexual<br /> images that don't take guesswork; they had to have been created to<br /> celebrate fecundity, abundance and the fact of life<br /> itself.<BR></p> <p><BR></p> <p>Slifer<br /> says past anthropologists have been loath to study "some of the<br /> more prurient (to their Victorian sensibilities) images." Even the<br /> wildly popular hunch-backed flute player, Kokopelli, "is usually<br /> sanitized and censored as if it were petro-porn," he says.<br /> Published by the Museum of New Mexico Press, this book lets it all<br /> hang out, in 16 color plates and 150 amazing line<br /> illustrations.<BR></p> <p><I> The Serpent and the<br /> Sacred Fire: Fertility Images in Southwest Rock Art</I>,<br /> paper, $16.95, 156 pages, Museum of New Mexico Press, P.O. Box<br /> 2087, Santa Fe, NM<br /> 87504-2087.<BR></p> <div class="wp-block-group hcn-print-edition-box"> <p>This article appeared in the <a href="/?p=188231">print edition of the magazine</a> with the headline <span class="hcn-magtitle">X-rated on the rocks</span>.</p> </p></div> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-195/x-rated-on-the-rocks/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info Country News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=106668&amp;amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-195/x-rated-on-the-rocks/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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