Rock Art
The figures carved on the rocks were made by direct percussion -very similar to chiseling- and they represent animals, human figures, frets, mazes, geometric shapes, heavenly bodies, and probably waves of the sea or aquatic symbols. The possible interpretations of these artistic manifestations made by the Hohokam could be any of the following: ritual scenes or ceremonies, retelling of a hunt, desert plants and animals, names of groups or tribes, calendars or dates, indicators of routes, changes in seasons or weather, or just plain art for its own sake.
The Hohokam civilization probably declined because of illnesses or prolonged droughts that greatly reduced the tribal groups. But they definitely are the ancestors of the current inhabitants of the Tohono O'odham nation (people of the desert) more commonly known as pápagos. Although it is well known that they do not like being given that name.
Read more about this topic: La Proveedora
Famous quotes containing the words rock and/or art:
“The acorn’s not yet
Fallen from the tree
That’s to grow the wood,
That’s to make the cradle,
That’s to rock the bairn,
That’s to grow a man,
That’s to lay me.”
—Unknown. The Cauld Lad of Hilton or, The Wandering Spectre (l. 2–8)
“There is no mystery in a looking glass until someone looks into it. Then, though it remains the same glass, it presents a different face to each man who holds it in front of him. The same is true of a work of art. It has no proper existence as art until someone is reflected in it—and no two will ever be reflected in the same way. However much we all see in common in such a work, at the center we behold a fragment of our own soul, and the greater the art the greater the fragment.”
—Harold C. Goddard (1878–1950)