Every Detail Counts: More Additions to the Plains Biographic Rock Art Lexicon

Plains Biographic rock art is directly related to robe and ledger drawings created by Historic period Indian artists. Rock art often shows compositions, objects, and conventions that are identical to those identified and explained by the artists responsible for the robe andledger art. Identifying items of material culture and symbols used in various rock art scenes has previously led to the development and refinement of the Biographic rock art lexicon—a pictographic “dictionary” that enables relatively detailed understanding of many Plains pictographs and petroglyphs. Newly identified lexicon elements are used to interpret four Blackfeet rock art sites at Writing-On-Stone, Alberta.