The rock art of Arizona: art for life's sake

The rock art of Arizona: art for life's sake

Rock Art Research, May, 2008 by R.G. Bednarik

The rock art of Arizona: art for life's sake, by EKKEHART MALOTKI. 2007. Kiva Publishing Inc., Walnut, CA, 200 pages, 381 colour plates, 135 drawings, glossary, bibliography, softcover, US$35.00, ISBN 9781-885772-38-1.

Few would dispute that Arizona has one of the finest regional rock art bodies in the United States, and one that is worthy of the attention of that most devoted of artists among rock art photographers, Ekkehart Malotki. Many of his colour images--and there are 381 in this book--are masterworks, and the beholder can but marvel at his dedication and patience. Waiting for the sun to be at the right angle, aligning the subject with dramatic cloud formations and awe-inspiring background landscapes, or achieving special lighting effects are techniques used by many, but Malotki's speciality is in the exquisite way he captures the nearby vegetation to highlight the rock art, often as if to emphasise its great age. For instance, we all photograph the lichen that might occur with petroglyphs, but why is it that on my pictures they tend to look drab and limp, while on Malotki's they accentuate his rock art so magnificently? The answer, of course, is that he has mastered the art of photographing rock art like no-one else, with the possible exception of the great Jean Vertut, and that he has developed his own, quite specific style of rock art recording.

Be that as it may, the result is a visual feast in the form of a book that is itself a work of art. Such a lovingly crafted volume can contribute considerably to the appreciation of rock art, to the public's perception of it, and thus indirectly to its preservation. It is therefore more than a coffee-table book; it is a value statement about that which seems so robust and yet is so fragile: most rock art in the world occurs in arid regions, and it is easy to guess why. The deserts of Arizona are a refuge of a significant corpus of rock art, comprising an estimated 6000 to 8000 sites, dominated by petroglyphs in the open and paintings in the canyons. In contrast to the rock art of most other parts of the American Southwest, the rock art found in Arizona features many traits of the Sonora Desert to the south, in north-western Mexico. But it is also rich in unusual regional forms, providing an incredible kaleidoscope of styles or genres, as well as a great range of different ages. Some of the older, deeply patinated or weathered petroglyphs Professor Malotki presents are clearly very ancient, as underlined by their archaic nature. Most particularly the cupule and linear groove arrangements he includes fall into this category.

Essentially, the author observes in Arizona a simple separation into 'archaic' and 'post-archaic' forms of rock art, wisely steering clear of committing to a hard chronology. He emphasises that the petroglyphs are not datable, and for many of them that may indeed be correct with currently available means. But it would be wrong to assume that science cannot provide any information of antiquity for the rock art of Arizona. Of course it can, it is perhaps more appropriate to say that reliable dating has not been accomplished so far in Arizona, or perhaps even in the United States. Some of the datings presented from various other continents are perfectly plausible and, provided they are not over-interpreted by archaeologists, appear to be reliable within the applicable qualifications. Malotki thinks the analysis of organic residues in pictograms is more promising than anything proposed to date petroglyphs, when it is actually the other way round: 'organic residues' can only yield irrelevant data until we find ways of isolating them at the molecular or object level, whereas, for instance, microerosion and colorimetry of petroglyphs have yielded surprisingly consistent values in many parts of the world.

One is tempted to query the inclusion of some of Malotki's examples in the 'archaic' group, but his 'archaic' groups end as recently as 600 BP at p. 20, and 2000 BP at p. 129. There discrepancies only underline the author's lack of dating information and his time lines, particularly that on p. 20, seem to be presented without substantive evidence. Similarly, his penchant for inventing neologisms of many types and his leaning tcwards shamanistic interpretations both detract from the value of the book. As Malotki himself observes, quite correctly, 'meaning can ... never be testable or verifiable' (13), yet he believes the revelations of Lewis-Williams combine 'insights derived from both shamanism and neuropsychology. As readers will be aware, Lewis-Williams has never studied shamanism (which is absent in South Africa) and his excursions into neuropsychology have been widely rejected by those who have availed themselves of its potential (Hodgson, Coolidge, Bahn and Helvenston come to mind).

There are other quibbles of this kind one is inclined to raise, but then one looks at the glorious images and the words fade away. Malotki does not need words to convey his extraordinary love for the rock art of Arizona, he speaks to the reader through his images more than any words can convey. A journey through this book enthrals with the way a crisp desert morning is captured, the elegantly understated grandeur of the landscape, the 'meanings' strands of clouds become imbued with in the hands of this master photographer. Malotki has produced yet another rock art masterpiece.