Michael Fuller
The black pattern decorating the face and body of the "wrapped warrior" reminds me of the temporary tattoos used by the Embara Nation in Panama. The black pigment is manufactured from a plant called Jagua and is applied to the skin by a piece of split and sharpened cane. The pigment reaches its peak darkness about 3 days after application and remain vivid for a month. The plant that yields the pigment/stain does not grow naturally in Missouri but is found in Florida and throughout Central America.The trade in pigments (mineral and botanical) must have been part of the Mississippian economy.
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Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyphs 18 and 19. [Photograph by Mark Leach] The first illustration of this pictograph was made by Diaz-Granados (1993:Figure 27.6b) based upon a photograph by James Keefe.
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Cave 1, Panel 3, Glyph 043, uncorrected C-14 date of AD 1000 +/- 100 (Diaz-Granados et al. 2015:Figure 5.3, Table 5,1). XRF reading 14 Black Nose of Antlered Serpent: Silicon = 94.905% +/- 1.444, Aluminum = 3.712% +/- 0.267, Iron = 1.186%, and Niobium = 0.13% +/- 0.045. XRF reading 15 for Black Left Eye: Silicon = 87.767% +/- 4.883, Aluminum = 4.221% +/- 1.404, Iron = 1.076 +/- 0.224.
XRF 13 Unpainted Wall right of face: Silicon = 95.501% +/- 1.259, Aluminum = 3.758% +/- 0.272, Iron = 0.695% +/- 0.141. [Photographed by Mark Leach; streaming video by Mark Leach]
Simik and Cressler (2015:Figure 2.7) identify the image as a large serpent with antlers and toothy mouth.
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Michael Fuller using the handheld Niton XRF to analyze the pigments in Cave 1.
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The XRF does not give an answer to the question of what substance was used as a binder for the pigment to the walls of Picture Cave. LaFlesche (1932:61, 214, 273) reported that the Osage created a glue/adhesive out of the turtle shells. A variety of substances, like turtle shells, could be boiled to make an organic glue. Ewer (1958:75, 122) reports that the Blackfoot nation believed the very best glue was made from the phallus of a bison that would be cut into small pieces and boiled. Alternative adhesivse used by the Blackfoot was created from the tree sap of the Rock Mountain maple (Acer labrum) or by a hide glue created by boiling the tail of a beaver (Hellson 1974:107; Ewer 1945:17). . Dusenberry (1960:56) reported that the Assinibone made glue from the hooves, lips and thick hide from the forehead of a buffalo bull; these parts were boiled with water to make a strong glue. White tailed deer, abundant in Missouri, were suitable to making glue. Navajo artisans boiled the horns of deer and edges of green hides to make glue (Hill 1939:145). Another possibility would be to use fish glue such as created by the Paiute (Kelly 1934:143) and Tlingit (Laguna 1972:416).
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Cave 1, Panel 4, Glyph not numbered (?). A bison? [Photograph by Michael Fuller]
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Professors Michael Fuller and Neathery Fuller are all smiles outside of Picture Cave after successfully collecting over 70 XRF readings. [Photograph by Neathery Fuller]
Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 168. Cressler and Simek (2015: 285) describe this as 9 parallel red vertical lines; an abstract pattern. Dstretch shows some wiggling lines interlacing between the vertical lines, like in a hunting blind.[Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyphs 37 (quadruped) facing Glyphs 38, 39 and 40 (3 anthropomorphs). [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyph 003, XRF 17 and 19 for White Right Pair Right Eye, Silicon = 70.087% +/- 2.697, Aluminum = 26.583% +/- 0.715, and Iron = 3.278 +/- 0.44. PPM analysis: Antimony = 85.79 +/- 11.55, Tin = 56.29 +/- 10.56, Cadmium = 34.6 +/- 7.94, Silver = 165.88 +/- 12.7, Zirconium = 69.01 +/- 7.23, Zinc = 9.62 +/- 5.84. Iron = 3900.1 +/- 96.43, Barium = 691.17 +/- 43.27, Strontium = 18.63 +/- 2.58, Rubidium = 4.28 +/- 1.69.
Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyph 25 (left figure on hands and knees) and Glyph 28 upright figure). [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Cave 1, Panel 3, Glyph 185. Described as a thick-bodied quadruped, probably a bison. [Photograph by Mark Leach and dStretched by Michael Fuller]
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Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyph 31. Photograph by Mark Leach
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 059.
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Red pigment pictograph of a threaded cross. Picture Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyph 182. DStretch (filter LDS) - photograph by Doug Porter.
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Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyph 007. XRF 24 and 25 is Red Dot in Center: Silicon = 75.232% +/- 1.175, Aluminum = 8.569% +/- 0.37, Iron = 14.773% +/- 0.601; PPM analysis: Antimony = 50.39 ppm +/- 7.59, Tin = 55.05 ppm +/- 7.08, Cadmium = 12.56 ppm +/- 5.17, Palladium = 4.43 ppm +/- 2.74, Silver = 94.36 ppm +/- 33.7, Zirconium = 22.93 ppm +/- 4.5, Gold = 12.27 ppm +/- 4.62, Zinc = 11.01 ppm +/- 3.71, Nickel = 57.76 ppm +/- 14.75, Iron = 27719.21 ppm +/- 171.31, Manganese = 44.43 ppm +/- 25.63, Chromium = 121.51 ppm +/- 55.45, Barium = 506.12 ppm +/- 28.67, Strontium = 11.54 ppm +/- 1.61, Rubidium = 3.75 ppm +/- 1.13.
XRF 23 and 26 is Red Outer Circle: Silicon = 65.777% +/- 1.611, Aluminum = 17.329% +/- 0.495, Iron = 16.86% +/- 0.883; PPM analysis: Antimony = 55.76 ppm +/- 7.94, Tin = 53.65 ppm +/- 7.33, Cadmium = 24.69 ppm +/- 5.49, Palladium = 5.34 ppm +/- 2.86, Silver = 90.05 ppm +/- 32.16, Zirconium = 32.37 ppm +/- 4.76, Zinc = 13.96 ppm +/- 4.01, Copper = 15.59 ppm +/- 7.92, Nickel = 24.77 ppm +/- 14.88, Iron = 21766.29 ppm +/- 157.77, Chromium = 89.88 ppm +/- 55.72, Barium = 472.68 ppm +/- 29.64, Strontium = 16.14 ppm +/- 1.76 [Analysis by SEM- EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.9, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Oxygen, Silicon, and Iron; Minor elements: Aluminum, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Calcium. % or PPM were not reported. Blankenship does not elaborate on whether she tested the outer circle or red dot, but it is assumed to be the same pigment.]
XRF 22 and 27 Unpainted Wall above and left of the outer circle: Silicon = 93.949%, Aluminum = 4.177% +/- 0.271, Iron = 1.808% +/- 0.202; PPM analysis: Antimony = 63.8 ppm +/- 8.94, Tin = 48.8 ppm +/- 8.16, Cadmium = 17.39 ppm +/- 6.07, ???? = 80.15 ppm +/- 28.62, Zirconium = 24.24 ppm +/- 5.25, Zinc = 7.22 ppm +/- 4.04, Nickel = 46.72 ppm +/- 17.02, Iron = 1844.27 ppm +/- 53.96, Barium = 437.29 ppm +/- 33.01, and Strontium = 16.09 ppm +/- 1.97. [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.6, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Carbon, Oxygen and Silicon ; Minor elements: Manganese, Aluminum, Silicon, Phosphorus, Potassium, Titanium, and Iron. % or PPM were not reported.]. [Photographed by Eric Fuller, Scale = 1 meter]. The first illustration of this pictograph was made by Diaz-Granados (1993:Figure 27.2d). Two possible identifications: the Sun or a war shield. I prefer the interpretation of a shield; it is very close to the shield Catlin sketched in 1834 belonging to an Osage warrior named Tal-lee. Black spokes (recognized by Douglas Porter using dStretch filter ybk) radiate from the center to the edge and support the shield interpretation. Brown and Muller (2015:Figure 8.4) describe this pictograph as a dot-in-circle image.
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Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.1) describes glyph 104 as "created by abrading patinated sandstone to create white graphic in conjunction with a line drawing in black." If this is true, then why was that technique used more widely? It appears to me as a thin wash of a pigment. An obvious answer would be Lead, but that is not supported by the XRF analysis.
Dye (2015:172, Figure 12.4) labels the figure as "Morning Star" in the caption to a photograph, but his narrative identifies the figure as "Red Horn" of the tradition of the Ioway and Winnebago.
This pictograph, and several others in Picture Cave, are perfect examples of polysemic images: multiple meanings or messages can be attributed to a single image (Rogers 2018:236-7). Simms and Gohier (2010:4) write that interpreting rock art is by its nature an exercise of "informed conjecture" and we totally agree.
Our impression of this complex image, when seen firsthand, is that the pictograph represents an actual person - a warrior who has taken the head of an elite individual - the act of Pa wa-thu-ce (Osage, cutting off the head). The Osage warrior who cut off the head of an enemy then approached the sacred bird [hawk] and made his claims to the o-don (war honors), which is known by this name (LaFleshe 1932:126). At least 3 examples of engraved shell imagery from Spiro in Oklahoma shows dancers with trophy heads Dye (2007: Figure 7.1a-c) as well as the Potter Gorget from Southeast Missouri and illustrated by Alban Jasper Conant (1879) and Shetrone (1930).
"Several" burials in the mound at the Mississippian site of Upper Nodena were buried with "what appears to be trophy skulls" (Dye 2007, 171) and at least one of the Mississippian burials at the Campbell Site (23PM5) was discovered with an associated skull that probably represented a trophy (James Price, personal communication 24 October 2020). Removing heads (and hands) from adult males during the 11th century at Cahokia Mounds is graphically illustrated by the 4 mutilated burials in feature 106 within mound 72 (Fowler et al, 1999:69-70, Figure 6.6). A decapitated burial was excavated at the McKinney Site in Illinois as well as evidence of decapitation at a number of other sites dating from the Late Prehistoric Period (Hollinger 2005: 172-173, 209, 219, 224, 264, 268).
If a historic person, then the dead deer under the left arm of the figure (with a bow, arrow and broken arrow) might be symbolic of the warrior: Deerslayer-who-made-peace. The name underneath the figure was done intentionally to stop any misunderstanding of the painting. It is the same reason that an Ancient Greek painting placed the name of SARPEDON next to his painting of a slain Trojan warrior. Pauketat (2009:97) discussed the Red Horn epic and links the Gottschall artwork, in Wisconsin, with "the social upheaval and conflicts that resulted from Cahokia's Big Bang." We believe that both Mississippian imagery in Picture Cave and Gottschall shelter rock art have a historical basis.
The idea of warrior images (with decapitated heads) represent historic figures in Fremont Rock art has been put forward by Grohier (2009) to counter the longstanding explanation of the Vernal style Fremont Rock represented Spirit Beings.
Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyph 015 - Black serpent with mouth open slithers across the cave wall. [Photograph by Mark Leach] The first illustration of this pictograph was made by Diaz-Granados (1993:Figure 27.2d).
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Cave 2, Panel x, Glyph x. [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 129.
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Running figure interpreted as a man clutching his erect phallus in his right hand. Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 105. [Photograph by Mark Leach].
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 92. [Image by Mark leach]
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 82.
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Cave 2, Panel 4, Glyph 529, XRF 70 and 72 on Red Chevron/zigzag motif: Silicon = 91.494% +/- 1.229, Aluminum = 2.859 +/-0.267, Iron = 4.467 +/- 0.3. PPM analysis: Antimony = 118.36 +/- 12.16, Tin = 88.76 +/- 11.15, Cadmium = 53.32+/-8.4, Silver = 179.53 +/- 13.15, Zirconium = 65.22 +/- 7.34, Iron = 3233.9 +/- 90.49, Barium = 704.79 +/- 44.48, Rhobidium = 3.7 +/- 1.7, Mercury = 10.31 +/- 4.61 [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.3, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Carbon, Oxygen, Silicon; Minor elements: Aluminum, and Iron. % or PPM were not reported.]
XRF 71 and 73 on nearby clean wall above chevron: silicon = 96.514% +/- 1.216, Aluminum = 2.493% +/- 0.232, and Iron 0.91% +/- 0.147; PPM analysis: Antimony = 43.02 +/- 8.28, Tin = 36.76 +/- 7.61, Cadmium = 17.21 +/- 5.71, Silver = 88.8 +/- 31.71, Zirconium = 35.16 +/- 5.03, Iron = 919.75 +/- 37.73, Manganese = 52.75 +/- 24.9, Barium = 407.43 +/- 30.96, and Strontium = 8.71 +/- 1.7 [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.6, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Oxygen and Silicon; % or PPM were not reported.] [Photographs by Mark Leach]. The first illustration of this pictograph was made by Diaz-Granados (1993:Figure 27.4c). This pictograph was published by Diaz-Granados and Duncan (2000:Figure 5.53a).
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 139. [Photograph by Mark Leach] A warrior wearing a scalp fringed shirt dances on the body of his defeated enemy who still grasps a mace. A name pictogram is situated immediately to the right of the victorious warrior. The name is a winged serpent with flickering tongue.
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Cave 1, Panel 4, Glyph 200. [Image by Michael Fuller].
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Cave 2, Panel 4, Glyph 536 and 537.
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The XRF analysis was conducted with a Niton XL2 made by Thermo Scientific that was rented from Eco-Rental Solutions, LLC.
The Niton XL2 was checked against standards for accuracy the day before it was used, checked in the field, then rechecked when it was returned to St. Louis. In all three checks, it performed within acceptable thresholds for scientific and industrial applications.
XRF 31 and 35 = White Long Nose Mask, Silicon = 93.143% +/- 6.312, Aluminum = 5.46%3 +/- 1.138, and Iron = 1.246% +/- 0.295. PPM analysis: Antimony = 92.59 +/- 10.48, Tin = 50.2 +/- 9.42, Cadmium = 35.2 +/- 7.16, Palladium = 6.27+/- 3.7, Silver = 125.64 +/- 11.18, Zirconium = 69.27 +/- 6.52, Iron = 989.23 +/- 47.19, Barium = 509.32 +/- 38.14, and Strontinum = 17.59 +/- 2.31.
XRF 33 and 37 = White Feather Plume between Body and Decapitated Head, Silicon = 95.989% +/- 6.734, Aluminm = 3.578% +/- 1.192, and Iron = 0.361% +/- 0.152. PPM analysis = Antimony = 76.84 +/- 10.09, Tin = 77.19 +/- 9.36, Cadmium = 25.34 +/- 6.88, Silver = 103.58 +/- 10.77, Zirconium = 58.71 +/- 6.24, Zinc = 9.5 +/- 4.75, Iron = 451.46 +/- 34.34, Barium = 548.59 +/- 37.4, Strontium = 11.54 +/- 2.1, and Rubidium = 2.93 +/- 1.43.
XRF 32 = Clean Wall between Decapitated Head and Black Figure, Silicon = 95.533% +/- 3.501, Aluminum = 3.737%. +/- 0.733, and Iron = 0.704 +/- 0.202 [Photograph by Eric Fuller, Scale = 10 cm]
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Mark Leach identified a small pictograph as a rabbit - a uncommon subject in Missouri Rock. Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph x. The rabbit is the name of dead man who has an empty eye (dead) and a blood stream extending from his neck to a bird figure.
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Photograph by Alan Cressler and posted on Flickr. Cave 1, Panel 4, Glyph 192. Used with his permission.
Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 112 [Photograph by Alan Westfall]
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Picture Cave 2, Panel 6, Glyph 562 Red Drying Racks overpainted with a Black figure. XRF readings 63 and 65: Silicon = 93.638% +/- 1.363, Aluminum = 3.659% +/- 0.314, Iron = 2.68% +/- 0.265; PPM analysis: Antimony = 44.41 +/- 7.72, Tin = 36.68 +/- 7.06, Cadmium = 19.18 +/- 5.33, Silver = 71.43 +/- 25.51, Zirconium = 19.54 +/- 4.54, Nickel = 22.17 +/- 14.59, Iron = 3247.47 +/- 61.47, Chromium = 98.94 +/- 52.83, Barium = 464.29 +/- 29.05, Strontium = 7.05 +/- 1.55, and Mercury = 4.83 +/- 2.5.
Unpainted bedrock XRF readings 64 and 66: Silicon = 96.933% +/- 3.127, Aluminum = 2.196% +/- 0.405, Iron = 0.785 +/- 0.213; PPM analysis: Antimony = 120.58 +/- 11.04, Tin = 83.19 +/- 10.03, Cadmium = 40.7r5 +/- 7.47, Silver = 143.93 +/- 11.71, Zirconium = 63.83 +/- 6.65, Selenium = 4.83 +/- 2.42, Zinc = 8.45 +/- 5.14, Iron = 760. 34 +/- 43.78, Chromium = 193.33 +/- 77.92, Barium = 726.14 +/- 40.5, Strontium = 8.58 +/- 2.14.
The black bird on the right side has extra-ordinarily long legs and neck. Alan Westfall recognized this as a Pe'ton-hiu-stae-dse (Osage, sandhill crane) which was symbolic of the Pe'ton ton-ga Zho-i-ga-the (Osage, clan of the Crane People) that belonged to the Tsi'-zhu (Osage, Sky) moiety (LaFlesche 1928). The Ojibwe nation hold the crane as both a clan symbol and name of a summer constellation; they river it for its great size and ability to fly very high (Lee et al. 2014:16).
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Jerry Vineyard, a cave specialist with the Missouri Geological Survey and Water Resources, was aware of Picture Cave by 1964 after it had been reported to the Missouri Speleological Survey (MSS). Vineyard noted that the cave was probably known during the 19th century as "Bottomless Cave" based upon a folklore tradition that a pit feature in the back of the cave never yielded a sound when rocks were dropped down the shaft. Vineyard's notes do include a reference to prehistoric pictographs. A bottomless pit feature was not confirmed when members of the MSS mapped the cave in 1968. Bat guano on the bottom of a "soundless" pit might explain it being "Bottomless" and Picture Cave does have a very large bat population. Another historical tradition reported by Vineyard is that John Wyatt, a 19th pioneer, found the cave when he tracked a wounded bear.
James F. Keefe, a conservationist/naturalist with the Missouri Conservation Commission, reported the site of Picture Cave to the Archaeological Survey of Missouri between 1983 and 1986. The walls of Picture Cave are decorated with 294 prehistoric glyphs (Cressler and Simmer (2015:273) which makes it the single largest number of prehistoric images in Missouri. Historic names and dates indicate that the cave was repeatedly visited by local tourists during the 19th and 20th centuries. The State Archaeologist from the Department of Natural Resources visited the cave following up on a sheriff's report of an unmarked grave in 1988. Two archaeologists with expertise in cave archaeology (Prof. Patty Jo Watson and George Crothers from Washington University in St. Louis) visited the cave in 1991.
Picture Cave is the most intensely studied rock art site in Missouri. Blankenship (2015:37 - 45) relied on SEM-EDS (Scanning Electron Microscope - Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) on six pigment samples removed from the cave walls with a sterile scalpel. The samples proved too small for standard powder XRD (X-ray diffraction) analysis.
Picture Cave is on private property, gated and not open to the public. The cave is truly wild; it is a challenging environment.
A new team returned to the cave on 14 October 2020 with permission and assistance of the landowner, his son and his grandson. The team had three research objectives: 1) determine the composition of the paint using a portable XRF [X-ray fluorescence] instrument, 2) use dStretch photography to look for unique details in the paintings, 3) determine the effectiveness of 3-D imagery to see if there is relief features related to the prominent pictographs, and 4) record short video segments of the major panels.
Cave x, Panel x, Glyph x. [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Cave 1, 19th century graffiti. This date is interpreted as 1897; it is one of the oldest historic graffiti in the cave. [dstretched image of a photography by Michael Fuller]
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyphs 93 to 95. Normal and dStretched image (filter IDS). Photograph by Mark Leach. The first illustration of this pictograph was made by Diaz-Granados (1993:Figure 27.6a).
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Cave 1, Panel 5, Glyph 212, uncalibrated C-14 date of AD 950 +/- 70 reported by Diaz-Granados et al (2015: Figure 5.4, Table 5.1). XRF 50 and 53 on Black arm with pelt: Silicon = 92.034% +/- 4.22, Aluminum = 5.188% +/- 0.57, Iron = 2.719% +/- 0.549; PPM analysis: Antimony = 32.75 ppm +/- 7.27, Strontium = 30.94 ppm +/- 6.66, Cadmium = 11.98 ppm +/- 5.01, Silver = 50.1 ppm +/- 17.89, Zirconium = 34.89 ppm +/- 4.46, Iron = 1259.95 ppm +/- 38.07, Chromium = 107.23 ppm +/- 49.59, Barium = 369.04 ppm +/- 27.29, Strontium = 8.62 ppm +/- 1.5, and Ruhidium = 4.96 ppm +/- 1.12.
XRF 51 and 52 on unpainted wall below arm: Silicon = 90.393% +/- 1.458, Aluminum = 8.13% +/- 0.321, Iron = 1.37% +/- 0.197, Niobium = 0.102% +/- 0.044. PPM analysis: Antimony = 48.03 ppm +/- 7.6,
Tin = 43.68 ppm +/- 6.98, Cadmium = 13.3 ppm +/- 5.19, Silver 71.45 ppm +/- 25.52, Zirconium = 31.02 ppm +/- 4.57, Iron = 1041.42 ppm +/- 36.29, Manganese = 42.3 ppm +/- 22.6, Barium = ppm 397.3 +/- 28.27, Strontium = 11.09 ppm +/- 1.6, and Rubidium = 1.9 ppm +/- 106.
[Photograph by Eric Fuller, Scale = 10 cm]
Sabo and Simek (2018: Figure 1.10) describes this as a painting where the single arm acts as if it emerges from the fissue where the wall joins the ceiling of the cave; they interpret the motif as arm with a bison effigy held in the hand and a animal pelt draped tail-down over the forearm. A sketched outline of a proportional leg extends from the same fissure; it was not filled with pigment possibly because the artist had exhausted all their pigment creating the arm and pelt.
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Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyph 20 - One possible reference to this type of spirit animal is found in an Osage story, 2.18 Strange Medicine Man (Garrick Bailey, Traditions of the Osages – Stories Collected and Translated by Francis La Flesche, pp. 114-117). The story describes a man, who after completing a non’zhin-zhon [Osage, rite of vigil], receives supernatural powers from a two headed animal.
Cave 2, Panel 6, Glyphs 565 and 566. [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Video pan inside Cave 2 showing Glyph 529 (bright red zigzag design) [Video by Mark Leach]
Prof. Michael Fuller carefully entering Cave 1 while cradling the XRF instrument. [Photograph by Neathery Fuller]
Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 74. [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyphs 10, 11, 12, and 13.
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Picture Cave 2, Panel 1, Glyph 505, Red Rattlesnake created by short line segments - XRF readings 79 and 81: Silicon = 93.498% +/- 1.825, Aluminum = 4.731% +/- 0.586, Iron = 1.613% +- 0.203; PPM analysis: Antimony = 40.57 +/- 7.75, Tin = 28.63 +/- 7.06, Cadmium = 14.42 +/- 5.33, Lead = 4.73 +/- 2.81, Silver = 67.16 +/- 23.99, Zirconium = 19.38 +/- 4.58, Iron = 1625.55 +/- 45.04, Barium = 385.95 +/- 28.96, Strontium = 6.7 +/- 1.55.
Unpainted bedrock XRF readings 80 and 82. Silicon = 95.255% +/- 1.34, Aluminum = 3.949% +/- 0.358, Iron = 0.668% +/- 0.122, Niobium = 0.07% +/- 0.032; PPM analysis: Antimony = 46.97 +/- 7.34, Tin = 42.24 +/- 6.75, Cadmium = 7.53 +/- 4.97, Lead = 4.17 +/- 2.65, Silver = 69.86 +/- 24.95, Zirconium = 20.64 +/- 4.33, Gold = 9.76 +/- 4.36, Iron = 621.56 +/- 28.55, Barium = 413.64 +/- 27.43, Strontium = 7.6 +/- 1.48, Rubidium = 1.73 +/- 1.03. Simek et al. (2015:Figure 6.32) describe this pictograph as serpent executed in "pointelle" technique.
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Cave 2, Panel 4, Glyph 519. [Photograph by Mark Leach}
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Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyph 004. Eric Fuller proposes that the fringe hanging from the arms are scalp locks based upon the Catlin (1841: Figure 153, 41) drawing of Clermont, son of Chief Clermont of the Osage, wearing leggings fringed with scalp-locks. Catlin (1841:Figures 11, 143 and 271, 27, 29, 194-196) sketched and described several Plains warriors wearing scalp fringed regalia including Asan-Zan-na (Assinboine, In the Light), Stu-mick-o-súcks (Piegan, Buffalo Bull's Back Fat), and No-way-ke-sug-ga (Otoe, He who strikes two at once); the Piegan's regalia include scalp locks taken from French trappers among the more numerous scalp locks taken from other Native American tribes. The scalp fringed shirt resembles the design on one of the engraved shell cups found at Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma.
Simms and Gohier (2010:91) provides another perspective on scalps portrayed in the Fremont rock art in the Southwest USA; they argue that "scalps were tools to bring rain and promote abundance from agriculture and nature." It is possible that scalps in Mississippian art reflected symbols of military prowess, but also a linkage with rainfall.
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 12. XRF 38 and 43 for Black Warrior center of body : Silicon = 96.189% +/- 3.144, Aluminum = 1.973% +/- 0.892, Iron = 1.651% +/- 0.256, Niobium = 0.115% +/- 0.041. PPM analysis: Antimony = 57.09 ppm +/- 9.71, Tin = 38.92 ppm +/- 8.83, Cadmium = 1.74 ppm +/- 6.6, Silver = 76.67 ppm +/- 27.38, Zirconium 24.3 ppm +/- 27.38, Selenium = 3.6 ppm +/- 2.02, Iron = 2512.53 ppm +/- 67.89, Chromium = 180 ppm +/- 68.22, Barium = 375.85 ppm +/- 35.75, Strontium = 9.17 ppm +/- 1.98, Arsenic = 4.92 ppm +/- 2.96.
XRF 39 and 42 Unpainted Wall below bow: Silicon = 95.286% +/- 2.649. Aluminum = 4.169% +/- 0.883, and Iron = 0.492% +/- 0.108.. PPM analysis: Antimony = 52.94 ppm +/- 7.8, Tin = 30.21 ppm +/- 7.03, Cadmium = 15.62 ppm +/- 5.32, Silver = 56.44 ppm +/- 20.16, Zirconium = 36.99 ppm +/- 20.16, Gold = 12.95 ppm +/- 4.74, Iron = 610.14 ppm +/- 29.85, Barium = 382.78 ppm +/- 28.85, and Strontium = 8.9 ppm +/- 1.59. [Photograph by Eric Fuller, Scale = 10 cm]
Dye (2017:72) adds that Black Warrior could be identified as "Wild Twin or Spring Boy (aka Lightning Boy, Long Teeth, and Thrown-Away)."
This pictograph, like the Morning Star pictograph, appears more an individualistic expression - a biographical representation that may have both real and mythic overtones. This is a heroic portrait with symbols of violence to remind the viewer that these ancestors had been fierce warriors. Just like the image of morning star, he is shown posturing in a shamanistic ritual. Certainly his power was also economic, political, and military. This "reading" of Picture Cave rock art parallels the way that Simms and Gohier (2010:113) interpret the McConkie/Dry Fork rock art belonging to the Fremont culture in the Southwest.
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Closeup Photograph by Alan Cressler and posted on Flickr. Cave 1, Panel 4, Glyph 192.
Alan Westfall using a handheld 3-D scanner inside Picture Cave. [Photograph by Mark Leach]
Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 104, Center of white body, XRF reading #30 Silicon = 96.310% +/- 3.943, Aluminum = 3.067% +/- 01.098, Iron = 0.516% +/- 0.141
XRF #34 ppm reading, Antimony = 47.07 +/- 8.32, Tin = 30.61 +/- 7.55, Cadmium 16.45 +/- 5.71, Palladium = 7.47 +/- 3.05, Silver = 57.55 +/- 20.95, Zirconium = 38.09 +/- 5.08, Tungsten = 31.52 +/- 16.67, Iron = 355.48 +/- 26.58, Barium = 422.09 +/- 31.05, Strontium = 14.44 +/- 1.82
Cave 2, Panel 1, Glyphs 508 and 509 on Two Black Animals. XRF 84 PPM analysis: Antimony = 69.22 +/- 9.38, Tin = 46.92 +/- 8.52, Cadmium = 14.96 +/- 6.32, Silver = 81.7 +/- 29.18, Zirconium = 36.74 +/- 5.61, Gold = 11.17 +/- 5.61, Iron = 786.27 +/- 39.28, Manganese = 44.38 +/- 27.71, Barium = 492.46 +/- 34.76, and Strontium = 11.05 +/- 1.94.
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Cave 1, Panel 4, Glyph 527. Described as eleven short red vertical marks. [Photograph by Mark Leach]. A panther (with vertical stripes) facing left with lightning extending from his mouth, ear, tail, and bottom.
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Picture Cave 1
23WN79
Mississippian two headed hawk plate found in the Wulfing cache at Malden, Mo. The left photograph is Plate B that was originally published by Fowke in 1910. The right photograph taken by Mark Leach of the artifact on display at the St. Louis Art Museum and belonging to the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum on the grounds of Washington University.
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Warriors holding severed head is a powerful motif in the rock art of the Fremont Culture of the Great Basin (Schaafsma 1971: Figures 3 to 7, Plate 3, 148, 153, 162) where they are considered holding trophy heads though it is also noted that they might be masks. The metaphor of a losing warrior being beheaded reminds me of David cutting off the head of Goliah in the Biblical tradition. It also reminds me of Caucac Sky, King of Quirigua, celebrating the decapitation of the King of Copan, 18 Rabbit, at a portal to the underworld (Newsome 2001).
Cave 2, Panel 5, Glyphs 540 and 541. Red trident pictographs in natural light as well as dStretch filter YRE. This precise symbol was identified by Martineau (1973: 119, 121, Figure 62) as "movement down under" as if to mark that this was a safe cave passage to explore or hide. Martineau used a variety of ethnographic informants to create his idea that certain glyphs had pan-Indian meanings which is often not considered a valid interpretation. Martineau documented this symbol at a cave that was used as a refuge in Mule Canyon, Arizona.
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 130. Uncalibrated C-14 AD 1010 +/- 80 (Diaz-Granados et al 2015: Figure 5.2, Table 5.1) . XRF 59 and 62 on the blood below the chin of the Black Wrapped Warrior holding mace: PPM analysis: Antimony = 31.26 ppm +/- 9, Tin = 38.98 ppm +/- 8.33, Cadmium = 17.07 ppm +/- 6.27, Silver = 61.75 ppm +/- 22.05, Zirconium = 31.15 ppm +/- 5.5, Nickel = 39.46 ppm +/- 17.54, Iron = 872.81 ppm +/- 40.44, Barium = 435.41 ppm +/- 34.14, and Strontium = 14.6m +/- 2
XRF 60 and 61 on nearby clean wall above figure: Silicon = 78.857 +/- 19.863 and Aluminum = 20.306 +/- 7.863. PPM analysis: Antimony = 76.86 +/- 12.26, Tin = 64.14 +/- 11.29, Cadmium = 36.01 +/- 8.49, Silver = 127.34 +/- 13.26, Zirconium = 64.78 +/- 7.65, Iron = 1335.6 +/- 63.31, Barium = 533.83 +/- 45.32, Strontium = 13.18 +/- 2.6, Rhobidium = 4.72 +/- 1.81. [Photograph by Mark Leach].
XRF 18 and 20 for White Left Pair Right Eye, Silicon = 63.836% +/- 2.004, Aluminum = 30.151% +/- 0.534, Iron = 5.756% +/- 0.515, and Niobium = 0.21 +/- 0.09. PPM analysis: Antimony = 50.63 +/- 9.47, Tin = 39.98 +/- 8.69, Cadmium = 23.43 +/- 6.56, Palladium = 9.75 +/- 3.51, Silver = 99.86 +/- 35.66, Zirconium = 48.12 +/- 5.88, Gold = 12.94 +/- 5.84, Zirconium = 14.06 +/- 4.79, Iron = 3726.27 +/- 79.9, Barium = 500.9 +/- 35.64, Strontium = 15.52 +/- 2.1, and Rubidium = 5.23 +/- 1.46.
XRF 16 and 21 for Unpainted Wall right or right pair, PPM analysis: Antimony = 65.24 +/- 9.27, Tin = 46.57 +/- 8.47, Cadmium = 19.14 +/- 6.31, Silver = 100.31 +/- 9.97, Zirconium = 36.02 +/- 5.57, Zinc = 18.98, Iron = 6038.07 +/- 97.62, Manganese 59.24 +/- 28.98, Barium = 523.12 +/- 34.61, Strontium = 18.2 +/- 2.09, Rubidium = 5.28 +/- 1.4. [Photograph by Eric Fuller, Scale = 1 meter]
What is the white pigment? Not Lead. Not Barite. The % of Aluminum makes it possible that it is in-kon-ba, (Osage, transparent stone = mica) was the mineral component of the pigment; the Osage term comes from LaFlesche (1932:77, 293). Fletcher and La Flesche (2911: 451) recorded that the Omaha nation used burnt mica (takon-icon-the) to whiten sinew. Mica shows up as an "unexplained" trade material at Mississippian Sites in Missouri (Dampier, Bridgeton, Illinois (Cahokia, Granite City), and Oklahoma (Craig Mounds at Spiro). Funmaker (1986:90) reports that kaolin clay was used by the Ho-Chunk to create white paint.
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 58. Head in profile with elaborate headdress (a decapitated elite?) painted on top of a stylized bird (Glyph 57). Another way to read this pictograph is that she is descending/emerging from the toothy mouth of the Underworld Monster. [Photograph by Mark Leach].
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Cave 1, Panel 1, glyph 069. XRF 44 and 47 on the Black Figure holds bow (right of Black Bird): Silicon = 94.846% +/- 1.459, Aluminum = 4.018% +/- 0.304, Iron = 1.013 +/- 0.176; PPM analysis: Antimony = 59.37 ppm +/- 7.6, Tin = 33.37 ppm +/- 6.86, Cadmium = 16.74 ppm +/- 5.17, Palladium = 4.92 ppm +/- 2.73, Silver = 71.12 ppm +/- 25.4. [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.8, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Carbon, Oxygen, and Silicon; Minor elements: Aluminum, Potassium, Phosphorus, and Iron. % or PPM were not reported.]
XRF 45 and 46 on nearby clean wall: Silicon = 95.781% +/- 1.508, Aluminum = 3.59%+/- -.403, Iron = 0.518% +/- 0.116, Niobium = 0.09% +/- 0.033; PPM analysis: Anthony = 55.15 ppm +/- 8.25, Tin = 34.92 ppm +/- 7.5, Cadmium = 11.87 ppm +/- 5.59, Silver = 87.01 ppm +/- 31.07, Zirconium 33.66 ppm +/- 4.96, Selenium = 2.83 ppm +/- 1.66, Iron = 433.31 ppm +/- 27.95, Barium = 414.81 ppm +/- 30.6, and Strontium = 9.37 ppm +/- 1.69. [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.8, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Carbon, Oxygen, and Silicon; Minor elements: Aluminum, Potassium, Flourine, and Niobium. % or PPM were not reported.]. [Photograph by Mark Leach]. The first illustration of this pictograph was made by Diaz-Granados (1993:Figure 27.1e) based upon a drawing by Timothy McLandsborough, an amateur archaeologist.
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 120.
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Cave 2, Panel 4, Glyph 530. [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 120. Two antlered creatures/monsters who hunted as a pair and died as a pair. [Photograph by Eric Fuller]
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 122 (3 red lines) XRF 40 and 41 Left Vertical Red Line: above the Black Warrior: Silicon = 85.572% +/- 7.015, Aluminum = 6.913% +/- 1.867, and Iron = 7.361% +/- 1.586. PPM analysis: Antimony = 82.26 ppm +.- 11.22, Tin = 64.3 ppm +/- 10.26, Cadmium = 16.38 ppm +/- 7.51, Silver = 95.29 ppm +/- 34.03, Zirconium = 40.33 ppm +/- 6.7, Iron = 3651.51 ppm +/- 91.59, Barium = 454.48 ppm +/- 40.95, Strontium = 14.3 ppm +/- 2.39, and Rubidium = 3.52 ppm +/- 1.58. [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.7, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Oxygen, Silicon, and Iron; Minor elements: Aluminum. % or PPM were not reported.]
XRF 39 and 42 Unpainted Wall nearby: Silicon = 95.286% +/- 2.649. Aluminum = 4.169% +/- 0.883, and Iron = 0.492% +/- 0.108.. PPM analysis: Antimony = 52.94 ppm +/- 7.8, Tin = 30.21 ppm +/- 7.03, Cadmium = 15.62 ppm +/- 5.32, Silver = 56.44 ppm +/- 20.16, Zirconium = 36.99 ppm +/- 20.16, Gold = 12.95 ppm +/- 4.74, Iron = 610.14 ppm +/- 29.85, Barium = 382.78 ppm +/- 28.85, and Strontium = 8.9 ppm +/- 1.59. XRF 39 and 42 Unpainted Wall below bow: Silicon = 95.286% +/- 2.649. Aluminum = 4.169% +/- 0.883, and Iron = 0.492% +/- 0.108.. PPM analysis: Antimony = 52.94 ppm +/- 7.8, Tin = 30.21 ppm +/- 7.03, Cadmium = 15.62 ppm +/- 5.32, Silver = 56.44 ppm +/- 20.16, Zirconium = 36.99 ppm +/- 20.16, Gold = 12.95 ppm +/- 4.74, Iron = 610.14 ppm +/- 29.85, Barium = 382.78 ppm +/- 28.85, and Strontium = 8.9 pm +/- 1.59. [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.7, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Oxygen, and Silicon; Minor elements: none reported. % or PPM were not reported.] [Photograph by Eric Fuller, Scale = 10 cm]
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Video pan inside Cave 1 showing Glyph 139 (a Victor standing over the body of a slain individual) [Video by Mark Leach]
Picture Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 134 identified as by Cressler and Simek (2015:282) as an anthropomorphic with open mouth and a black disk between the teeth. Maybe this pictograph could be interpreted as Beads-Spits-Out. This pictograph is illustrated in drawings (Diaz-Granados 1993: Figure 27.2a and b; Diaz-Granados and Duncan 2000:Figure 5.48)
Stephen Return Riggs (1893:144 - 149) recorded one set of stories concerning Wamnuha-itagosa (Lakota, "Beads-Spits-Out") in Dakota Grammer. LaFlesche (1932) does not list a Spirit Being by this name in his Osage dictionary but the words are there: wa-pshu'-shkla (Osage, beads) tha-k'i (Osage, to spit). Pauketat (2009:95) notes that the Hidasta had a tradition of two Spirit Beings with ability to create beads in their mouth: Wild Boy and the Father of the Twin Spirit Beings. Lankford (xxxx:190, 195, 196) observes that Bead-Spitter appears in a number of stories recorded for the tribes of the Southeast (Creek, Alabama, and Koasati) and Plains (Dakota, Iowa, Menomini, Arapaho, and Gros Ventre); it is particularly interesting that the Iowa version of the story has both Bead-Spitter and his father decapitated by treacherous servant. It is also interesting that several of the Bead-Spitter stories associated him with the Moon while his father was associate with the Sun.
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“He came to a slight depression in the side of a hill into which he fell and lost consciousness of all things natural and awoke to the supernatural. Before him appeared an animal, which he called ki-tha-ha-pa (Osage, Head at both ends). At each end of his body the animal had a head, and his scaly back was curved. He closed his eyes tightly and blood oozed out of the tightly closed lids; the muscles of the body contracted making the scales rise, and between them blood appeared and trickled. When this was done a great wind arose tearing the grass and breaking the tops of the tree. Then the strange animal spoke to the young man, giving him power over wind and rain and other mysterious powers. The young man decorated his shield as well as his robe with a picture of this mysterious animal.” The story goes on to mention other strange animals appearing, but it is not known if the other animal pictographs and the human figures on this panel have any connection with Glyph 020. The red pigment appears to have run downward from the animal’s body. This could have resulted as natural drippage or could have been purposely been painted in reference to the oozing blood described in the Osage narrative. [Text by Mark Leach, 5 January 2021]
Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 125. A pictograph that Cressler and Simak (2015:281) identify as "herptemorph" indicating that they view the glyph like a snake. There is another possibility. The heart shaped face, eyes and mouth parallels Barn Owl petroglyphs of the Klamath nation David (2021); barn owls see in the dark - the red paint in its eyes mark it as a creature of the underworld. Barn owl imagery in Mississippian art are known from a variety of sites including the Fierce Owl Site (23SL18). Norml photography and dStretch filter YBK.
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Video pan inside Cave 2 of Panel 6 showing warriors (Glyphs 543 and 545) and the dry racks (Glyph 562)
Cave 2, Panel 4, glyph 526. Cressler and Simek (2015:287) describe the red figure as an anthromorph facing left and holding a bow. [Photograph by Mark Leach].
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Cave 1, Panel 4, Glyph 203. XRF 54 and 57 on a Black Animal with unbranched horns: Silicon = 92.033% +/- 1.996, Aluminum = 5.699% +/- 0.382, Iron = 2.152% +/- 0.274; PPM analysis: Antimony = 57.02 +/- 7.89, Tin = 46.76 +/- 7.24, Cadmium = 23.28 +/- 5.44, Lead = 4.92 +/- 2.84, Silver = 96.29 +/- 34.39, Zirconium = 66.49 +/- 5.01, Zinc = 12.52 +/- 3.84, Nickel = 38.42 +/- 15.08, Iron = 2408.08 +/- 54.05, Barium = 505.73 +/- 29.56, Strontium = 11.12 +/- 1.65, Rubidium = 3.23 +/- 1.13 [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.6, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Carbon, Oxygen; Minor elements: Aluminum, Silicon, Potassium, Sulfur, and Iron. % or PPM were not reported.]
XRF 55 and 58 on Unpainted Wall right of the animal: Silicon = 88.479% +/- 1.777, Aluminum = 8.418 +/- 0.452, Iron = 2.89% +/- 0.306; PPM analysis: Antimony = 31.06 +/- 7.28, Tin = 29.43 +/- 6.7, Cadmium = 12.37 +/- 5.03, Silver = 73.65 +/- 26.3, Zirconium = 35.61 +/- 4.48, Selenium = 2.43 +/- 1.47, Iron = 1166.2 +/- 36.91, Barium = 408.91 +/- 27.53, Strontium = 11.13 +/- 1.56, Mercury = 3.74 +/- 2.39. [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.6, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Oxygen, and Silicon % or PPM were not reported.]
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Two headed bird in flight, Cave 1, Panel 2, Glyph 35. Sean StandingBear of the Osage Nation suggests that this could represent a war party composed of both moieties of a nation such as the Osage with the Sky moiety and Earth moiety (personal communication 2021).
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Michael and Neathery Fuller check the XRF reference samples to insure that its readings are accurate. Alan Westfall checks his 3-d imaging equipment while the other members of the team and the land owner's family enter Cave 1.
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Cave 1, Panel 4, Glyph not numbered. Four paddlers in a canoe located above glyph 200. [Photograph by Mark Leach]. The image of paddlers in a dugout canoe appears on fragments of engraved shell cups found at Spiro Mound (Page 1981:8-9; Wood 2018: Figure 3 ). Williamson (1992:52 - 66) discussed the cosmological story of a celestial canoe among the Alabama tribe; he constructs that the bowl of the Big Dipper was called Boat of Stars.
Aveni (2019:18) noted that Maya cosmology had paddler gods involved with recreating the earth after a cataclysmic destruction, but more importantly played a role in ferrying the dead over the underworld river which is connected to the Milky Way. He links the the carved bone from Tikal, showing Jaguar Paddler and Sting Ray Paddler transporting the sprouting Young Maize God over the Milky Way on their way to the place of creation (Aveni 2019:62-63).
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 73. [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Cave 2, Panel 4, Glyph 538. [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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dStretch analysis and labels on the photograph by Alan Cressler. One interpretation of this pictograph panels is that a kneeling warrior with a forked eye in the process of shapeshifting from a crow to a human [Alan Westfall observation]. The shape shifting imagery is reminiscent of the Ho-Chunk creation story told by One-Who-Wins who was the mentor of Walter Funmaker (1986:6-7). Overlaying the warrior may be the image of a multilated individual/child with a blank circle for a head; a ghost-like figure walks away from the scene with an identical blank circle for a head [Michael Fuller observation]. Diaz-Granados (2015:197, Figure 15.16) identifies the kneeling figure as Snake Hide (the Great Serpent).
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 64.
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Picture Cave 2, Panel 4, Glyph 532. Black figure holding a rectangular shield; XRF readings 74 and 76: Silicon = 96.141% +/- 1.233, Aluminum = 2.357% +/- 0.225, Iron = 1.437% +/- 0.189; PPM analysis: Antimony = 65.1 +/- 8.6, Tin = 39.34 +/- 7.75, Cadmium = 23.93 +/- 5.89, Silver = 64.4 +/- 23.07, Zirconium = 35.36 +/- 5.14, Gold = 8.6 +/- 5.01, Zinc = 6.54 +/- 3.87, Iron = 1950.0 +/- 53.12, Barium = 460.38 +/- 31.82, Strontium = 6.27 +/- 4.33. [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.2, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Carbon, Oxygen and Silicon; Minor elements: Aluminum, Potassium, and Iron. % or PPM were not reported.]
Unpainted bedrock below figure: XRF readings 75 and 77: Silicon = 96.788 +/- 1.386, Aluminum = 2.268 +/- 0.216, and Iron = 0.918 +/- 0.174; PPM Analysis: Antimony = 71.02 +/- 9.02, Strontium = 60.18 +/- 8.29, Cadmium = 14.81 +/- 6.07, Lead = 8.76 +/- 3.27, Silver = 90.75 +/- 32.41, Zirconium = 41.76 +/- 32.41, Zirconium = 41.76 +/- 5.44, Iron = 862.9 +/- 39.07, Barium = 544.96 +/- 33.62, Strontium = 9.07 +/- 1.82, Rhubidium = 2.5 +/- 1.26. [Analysis by SEM-EDS in the laboratory by Blankenship (2015:Figure 4.6, Table 4.1) indicates Major elements: Oxygen, and Silicon; % or PPM were not reported.][Photograph by Mark Leach] The first illustration of this pictograph was made by Diaz-Granados (1993:Figure 27.4a). Simek et al. (2015:Figure 6.34) describe this pictograph as an anthropomorphic.
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Cave 2, Panel 4, Glyph 518. [Photograph by Mark Leach]
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Three hour glass pictographs from Cave 2, Panel 6, glyphs 565 and 566.
A plausible ethnographic parallel to the hourglass pictographs comes from recent ethnographic research among the Lakota Sioux that was conducted by Goodman (1992: 16). His informants identify this symbol as Kapemni which means "twisting" with the top cone as the symbol of the sun/stars and the bottom cone as the symbol of the earth; "what is above is like what is below - what is below is like what is above." The best way to describe this symbol as the connection between Sun-Earth, the celestial and terrestrial (https://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2005/na/lakota.htm).
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Cave 1, Panel 1, Glyph 115.
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