Yavapai Annotated Bibliography
By Scott Sears, December 5, 2002
Barnes, F. A.
1979 Canyon country prehistoric Indians: their cultures, ruins, artifacts, and rock art. Salt Lake City, Utah: Wasatch Publishers
Most of the rock art in the prehistory of the Grand Canyon is from the Fremont people (likely ancestors of the Havasupai people) and the Anasazi people. However, Most of the rock art in this area cannot be interpreted by the current residents such as the Havasupai and Walapai.
Bradley, Stephanie
2000 Rock Art Record. http://www.carefreeenterprise.com/rockart/ 11-17-02.
“The Indian artist chipped away the patina, or surface weathering on a fine grained rock, exposing a lighter-colored subsurface that created contrast and visibility. Since their first incision, the petroglyphs have not escaped the relentless weathering process, and have received another coat of desert varnish. This “re-patination” is so thick on some petroglyphs as to obscure the art. This suggests great age. Some petroglyphs have been “pecked over” by later groups. A Yavapai archaeologist believes this “superposition” adds power to the new arrival, whereas a Navajo Indian thinks the superposition was a way to negate existing power of the “disappeared people.””
Hayden, Nancy Lee
2001 Yavapai Cosmology: Early Timekeepers in the Prescott Area. AMERICAN INDIAN ROCK ART 4: Vol. 27:253-260, American Rock Art Research Association , Tucson, Arizona.
Yavapai cosmology describes how the people were instructed to use constellations to help keep track of time. A petroglyph figure located in the Prescott, Arizona area may represent the Yavapai leader known as Hanyikó as he appears in the dawn skies during the first four months of the Yavapai year.
Jones, Anne Trinkle Euler, Robert C.
1979 A Sketch of Grand Canyon Prehistory. Grand Canyon Natural History Association.
The Yavapai moved into Northern Arizona after the Cohonina Tribe left the area. They made rock art on the cliffs of the Grand Canyon and as far south as where Phoenix is now. The rock art in the Grand Canyon is ceremonial. There are possible celestial markers as well.
Maricopa County Parks and Recreation. Department
2002 White Tank Mountain Regional Park History. http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/white_tank/history.asp.
“The White Tanks were apparently abandoned by the Hohokam about A.D. 1100. There is no further indication of human occupation until the historic period, when the Western Yavapai controlled the area. Due to the ruggedness of the terrain and the difficulty of obtaining water, sites in the White Tank Mountains were restricted to large canyons leading out of the mountains on the east, north and probably west.”
Thybony, Scott 1994 Rock art of the American Southwest. Graphic Arts Center Publishing. Portland, Oregon.
The Havasupai tribal elders and the tribe know of rock art panels but have only a vague understanding of what the symbols actually mean.
Waller, Steven J 2002 Rock Art Acoustics http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/9461/
“List of over one hundred and fifty rock art sites with known sound reflection and/or unusual acoustic properties ARIZONA: Lomaki in Wupaki National Monument; Honanki; Red Canyon near Sedona; Hedgepeth Hills; Estler Peak; Red Tank Draw's canyon; Red Tank Draw's boulder by road; West Clear Creek; Montezuma Castle; Picture Canyon near Flagstaff; Petrified Forest; Verde Valley; Woo Ranch Canyon; Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Trail just past first tunnel on south rim; King Canyon; Signal Hill; Holbert Trail in South Mountain Park; Painted Rocks State Park; Sears Point; Gillespie Dam; Waterfall and Goat Camp trails in White Tank Mountains; Hieroglyphic Canyon; Yavapai Wash / "Hootenanny Holler" near Prescott (D.J. van Kraut); Horse Tank canyon near Yuma (D.J. von Kraut); Canyon de Chelly (Marglyph*); Baird's Chevelon Steps #AZ:P:2:62 (Marglyph);”
Because these sites have acoustic properties it is possible that the rock art in these sites are connected to the acoustics, however the research is currently ongoing and few positive connections have been made.