More Abbey Goodies
Thanks to Tom Keith for sending these photos and notes.
The images were produced by Tom and the photocopy (text document) is from one of Ed’s notebooks housed a the special collections department at The University of Arizona.
Pictured above (click for large resolution pic) is “Pair copulating on the left- female giving birth on right” and was from Abbey’s favorite panel.
Abbey’s notes on the Green Mask
Abbey loved rock art and frequently included his observations in his non-fiction. There are basically two types, petroglyphs and pictographs. Petroglyphs are carved or pecked into the surface, and pictographs are painted onto rock surfaces with natural pigments. Exact interpretation of these images is difficult, since the exact meaning cannot be proven, only assumed or extrapolated from ethnographic sources. The artist could have been recording a special event (the themes of sexual potency, eroticism, copulation, pregnancy and birth are abundant in Southwestern rock art), such as a ritual, a hunt or a battle, or even a natural event like a storm. Or, maybe the artist was simply saying “I was here.”
But the “why” is not nearly as important as the simple recognition that this is beautiful art. They’re valuable for their own sake.
Oh Yeah! The sex-ed rock!