Decoding the Ancient Secrets of White Shaman

Discover magazine ^ | May 2012 | Will Hunt

[SunkenCiv]

Rock paintings near the Rio Grande contain hidden messages about a mysterious 4,000-year-old religion. Now one archaeologist has learned to read them.

The figures at the White Shaman rock shelter seem to depict a journey through the spirit world...

The region known as the Lower Pecos is an arid 21,000-square-mile expanse of southwest Texas and northern Mexico surrounding the confluence of the Pecos River and the Rio Grande. The land is barbed with cacti, teeming with rattlesnakes, and riven with impassable canyons. But more than 4,000 years ago, these barrens were home to a flourishing culture of hunter-gatherers, creators of some of the world's most complex and beautiful prehistoric rock art. The literal meaning of those paintings had been dismissed as an unsolvable mystery -- until recently...

Through decades of dogged work, Boyd has also developed a system to understand this enigmatic art. Working like a detective, she discovered a symbolic code that reveals narratives in the paintings, which she believes can be read, almost like an ancient language. Just as finding the Rosetta stone in Egypt enabled linguists to decipher ancient hieroglyphs, these paintings help unlock the secrets of a majestic religious system that blanketed Mesoamerica nearly four millennia before the arrival of Columbus. Boyd has discovered that myths and rituals similar to those written in the rocks have survived in the Huichol, a modern tribe now living in the mountains of western Mexico, and in other cultures throughout Mexico and the American Southwest...

[SunkenCiv]

SHUMLA School INC 2012

[GotMojo]

I see Liz Warrens great great grandmother on that wall......

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
[singing] Shaman, it's a crazy feelin' and-a I know you got me reelin'... To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Jumper]

Shamanism is a worldwide phenomena. I took three courses specific to this religion, two based on the Korean experience which is totally opposition in gender to the rest of the world's practices. I also took one more on the Asian experience as chronoliced in the 1800’s Russia/Siberian/Chinese tribes. Another four courses on Asia Religion/Philosophies and three on the Christian experience. Shamanism is truly an ancient practice that had roots in almost every prehistoric culture and many words from numerous cultures can be traced to like origins or pronunciations.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Jumper.

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

[count-your-change]

This drawing was recently decoded and the message contained in it reads: Next time I’ll ask for directions.

[wildbill]

Dang. Wish I had access to the full article.

[Disambiguator]

Rock paintings near the Rio Grande contain hidden messages about a mysterious 4,000-year-old religion.

"No-one knows who they were, or what they were doing, but their legacy lives on."

[dr_lew]

The figures at the White Shaman rock shelter seem to depict a journey through the spirit world...

Just like ICEMAN ! Great movie. I've never cried in a movie, but at the end of ICEMAN, I did "well up". It was the flute music, so I call "no fair".

[Talisker]

Boyd has discovered that myths and rituals similar to those written in the rocks have survived in the Huichol, a modern tribe now living in the mountains of western Mexico...

The Huichol make megacool art. Those are tiny beads:

[SunkenCiv]

It’s probably a Precolumbian campaign poster.

[SunkenCiv]

Me too, I may read it at the newsstand and see if I want the whole issue.

[csvset]

Here's a link to site that has more pics of the art.

Rockart

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[Condor51]

Decoding the Ancient Secrets of White Shaman