ancient teachings 3e

8/7/2019 Ancient Teachings 3E

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LESSON 3E-NARRATIVE: HowWAS ANCIENT ART CREATED?

Ancient people used technology tocreate art to express hemselves.

a modem-day billboard printed withmessages for all to see. Others thinkrock art is more symbolic, expressingspiritual and supernatural beliefs ofancient people. In North America, rockart is not a true writing system. It doesnot contain words and cannot be readlike Egyptian hieroglyphics.Archaeologists study rock art figures,and sometimes patterns emerge. Oftena particular rock art style will appearonly in a certain region. In central

Montana, the rock art images foundalong the Smith River are believed tobe related to religious activities. ManyIndian tribes have oral traditions aboutprehistoric rock art and its spiritual

meaning.Rock art in Montana includes

many different kinds of designs. Some

Handprints are a

common pictographmotif in central and

western Montana rock

art. SOmetimes they

were drawn, and other

times, they represent

actual hands dipped in

red ocher paint. These

handprints at the Black

canyon site are actual

handprints and show

left and right hands,

some in pairs. Mavis

and John Greer, photog-

raphers.

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antler tines. Sometimes evidence ofpecking with a rock, like a hammer-stone, is seen. Most petroglyphs are

found on sandstone, which is softerand smoother than other kinds of rock.

Rock art sites that can be viewedby the public include those found atMissouri Headwaters State Park nearThree Forks, at Pictograph Cave StatePark southeast of Billings, and atPompey's Pillar along the YellowstoneRiver. Remember, rock art is veryfragile and vulnerable to touching and

scratching. Never trace the rock artwith chalk or crayons, even if youwant to get a better picture of it withyour camera. Many rock art sites aresacred to modem-day Indians. Lookand enjoy, but do not touch theseancient and fragile images.

SOme ock art can bedated by the type ofimages portrayed. Thisdepiction of a personon horseback carrying agun tells us that it wasmade sometime afterA.D. 1700, when theseitems-the horse andthe gun-were firstacquired by Montana'snative people. COurtesyMontana Historical

SOdety.

shows images of horses and guns andappears to record special historicalevents. This biographical style ofrock art became common between1750 and 1900. During this time, thelives of Native Americans were

changing rapidly due to the introduc-tion of horses, guns, and other newitems by Euro-American explorers andtraders. Montana's Indians drew manyscenes showing warfare, horsestealing, counting coup, anddancing, as well as hunting, duringthis time of major cultural change.

Ancient people used liquid paintsand solid crayons to create their

pictographs. They made crayons fromraw pigment. Pigment n Montana wasderived mostly from charcoal or fromlocally obtained hematite, or hardenedred clay earth. To make paint, ancientartists ground these and other mineralsinto a powder. Then they mixed thepowder with animal fat until it was verysticky. Besides ed and black, Montanarock paintings sometimes include

yellow, brown, and green colors.Though many people think pictographswere painted with brushes of animalhair, they were mostly painted usingfingers and hands.

Ancient artists carved the lines ofpetroglyphs with pointed stone tools or

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LEsSON 3E-VoCABULARY: How WAS ANCIENT ART CREATED?

biographical tyle

clan symbol

counting coup

hematite

hieroglyphics

petroglyphs

pictographs

pigment

rock art

shaman

supernatural

symbolic

territory

Ancient Teachings Montana Historical Society


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LESSON 3E-ARcH ACnVITY: ANCIENT ARTISTS

Materials:

paper (or rocks)

pencilsmarkers

rock art images

Arch Journal

Grades: 3-8

Time: 45 minutes

Content Area: science, communication,

writing, and arts

Who: whole class and small groups

OBJECTIVE AND OUTCOME

-Students will learn about prehis-toric symbols.

-Students will create their ownrock art panel and interpret others'

panels.-Students will gain an under-standing of the need to protect rock artfor the future.

-Students will write a radiocommercial for protection of rock art.

color markers to create a single orsimple set of symbols that tell a storyof some event that happened to them.Have students imagine that this eventhappened to them 2,000 years ago. As

an alternative, have them design asymbol that represents themselves orsome other object. Ask the students touse symbols as if they were living2,000 years ago.

3. Give students 10 minutes tomake their "pictograph." When theyare finished, have them trade with apartner and try to "read" each other'sstories or interpret their partner's

symbol.4. As a class, discuss what clues

people used o decipher he symbols.5. Project he rock art images from

the Red Bluff Cave on the Smith River

Rock art at Red Bluff

Cave, Meagher COunty,Montana.

ACTlVrrY

1. Discuss with students themeaning of the words pictograph,

petroglyph, and rock art (see narra-tive). Explain that they will create apictograph during this activity.

2. Give each student a piece ofpaper. Have them use pencils and

~".

H ' ,,~...( ,-H

H

an

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EXTENSIONS 3-5:

.Research vocabulary.See: Lesson 3E-Vocabulary

.Complete this activity usingfinger paint or natural materials the

students bring from home instead ofpencils and markers.

.Challenge students to read anarticle about rock art.

.Challenge students o learn abouthow rock art can be dated.

on a transparency. Tell students thatarchaeologists are not sure what theseimages mean, but that they think thesymbols labeled with an "H" representhumans. Ask students, after they haveviewed the symbols, to write answersto the following questions:

-What do you think the symbolsmean?

-Why did people create them?-Is there a message in the

symbols? What s it?-What can archaeologists learn

from studying these mages?-What information would be lost

if they were destroyed?

6. With their partners, havestudents write a 40-second radiocommercial to promote the protectionof rock art. Then have each teampresent ts commercial to the class.

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