Hunting Camps and Hunting Magic: Petroglyphs of the Eldorado Divide,West Texas

Abstract

Seven open bedrock petroglyph sites on the western Edwards Plateau share similarities that suggest that these locations were temporary hunting camps, used during the rainy season by people whose ranges centered around the major rivers that flow north, south, east, and west of the Eldorado Divide. All are remote from permanent water, but all contain natural bedrock cavities capable of holding casual water for at least a month in the cooler seasons. Burned rock features testify to domestic activities or processing of procured resources. Three categories of petroglyphs—meandering lines, discrete geometrics, and representational motifs, including animal tracks—have been abraded into flat expanses of exposed limestone bedrock at these sites. The association between animal tracks and casual water sources suggests that hunting magic was one reason that ritual art was produced at these otherwise obscure locations.