Four thousand years ago bands of hunter-gatherers lived in and 
traveled through the challenging terrain of what is now southwest 
Texas and northern Mexico. Today, travelers to the Lower Pecos 
canyonlands can view large murals these early peoples left behind 
on the canyon walls and cliff overhangs of this arid region. 
Rattlesnake Canyon, White Shaman, Panther Cave, Mystic Shelter, 
and Cedar Springs, which together represent some of the most 
complex and enigmatic rock art panels, contain messages from the 
distant past that are now interpreted for modern readers by artist-
archaeologist Carolyn E. Boyd.

    Scholars have feared that the meaning of this ancient art was 
lost with the artists who produced it. However, thanks to research 
breakthroughs, the elaborate rock paintings are again 
communicating a narrative that was inaccessible to humanity for 
millennia. In these ancient murals, Boyd sees a way that hunter-
gatherer artists expressed their belief systems; provided a 
mechanism for social and environmental adaptation; and acted as 
agents in the social, economic, and ideological affairs of the 
community. She offers detailed information gleaned from the art 
regarding the nature of the Lower Pecos cosmos, ritual practices 
involving the use of sacramental and medicinal plants, and hunter-
gatherer lifeways.

    Now, combining the tools of the ethnologist with the aesthetic 
sensibilities of an artist, Boyd demonstrates that prehistoric art is 
not beyond explanation. Images from the past contain a vast 
corpus of data—accessible through proven, scientific methods—
that can enrich our understanding of human life in prehistory and, at 
the same time, expand our appreciation for the work of art in the 
present and the future.

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CAROLYN E. BOYD is the executive director and a founder of the
Shumla School, an archaeological research and educational
nonprofit corporation that has been formed to study the human use
of materials, land, and art. She lives in the canyonlands of West Texas.


Number Eight: Texas A&M University Anthropology Series