Origins and Tenacity of Myth, Ritual, and Cosmology in Archaic Period Rock Art of Southwest Texas and Northern Mexico

FAIN: RFW-279507-21

Texas State University - San Marcos (San Marcos, TX 78666-4684)
Carolyn Elizabeth Boyd (Project Director: September 2020 to November 2024)

Field documentation of prehistoric rock art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of south Texas and north Mexico, and ethnographic research with indigenous groups to interpret the images and narratives involved. (27 months)

Scholars argue that Mesoamerican cosmological concepts originated from an Archaic core of beliefs persisting across time and cultural, linguistic, and geographical boundaries. This study will identify the date, extent, and location of the oldest documented graphic expression of these concepts. Patterns in Pecos River style (PRS) murals created by foragers 4000 years ago contain evidence of the Archaic core. Archaeological fieldwork will build an inventory of PRS core elements and identify the rules governing their production and arrangement. Ethnographic fieldwork among the Huichol in Mexico, whose belief system closely reflects ancient Mesoamerican cosmological concepts, will address the persistence of the Archaic core. PRS graphic data will be shared with the Huichol to determine whether these elements are recognizable and embedded in Huichol cosmology. This work informs studies of myth, forager social organization, art history, and the origins of Mesoamerican myth and art.