Dig It - 11/21/22
Well Hello Fellow Seekers! Today we are going to take a brief look at Star Man and companion. These pictographs date sometime between A.D. 1350 and A.D. 1600. They are part of a complex of prehistoric Native American art dealing with the Supernatural World. You can read more about this art in one of my stories entitled, "Transcendent: The Painted Caves of Shalmirane” on my website at tobyherbst.com/tales-of-the-lonesome-prospector
There are three other stories also dealing with the pictographs of Shalmirane, as well as other exciting adventures in that blog.
Back to this image…We can see two dancing figures (note the bent knees) wearing fringed leggings, kilts and sashes. The figure on the left has a four-pointed star for a head. The figure on the right may have once had a similar star for a head (note the remnants of two points of a star on the lower right where the neck and chin would be) but it has been superimposed with a red and white striped mask.
Each dancer holds a feather-decorated hoop in their right hand and some other object, perhaps a bow, in their left. Who are these dancing “Star Men”. The simple answer is, I don’t know. However, I suspect they may be the “Hero Twins” who are associated with the Morning Star - the planet Venus. The Hero Twins are found in many Native American myths from Mexico to the Southeast and Southwest United States. Above these Star Men hovers a yellow, disembodied mask with speech-like bubbles coming out of its right side. Below the Dancers we see another disembodied mask, this time in the shape of a pot, with a headband and red and white feathers sweeping to the right from its top. Because pots primarily hold water, the life force of the arid Southwest, we can speculate this mask may have something to do with rain.
Well, I’ve been Speculating when I should have been Prospecting, but it is fun to Wonder.