Commentary on A Reassessment of Red Linear Pictographs in the Lower Pecos

Canyonlands of Texas American Antiquity 78(3), 2013, pp. 456-482)

Margaret Greco

Abstract: The word elegance describes social science research that reflects a simplicity
resulting from a refined resonance of data collection and conceptual insight. Scholarship
implies the quality of elegance. The publication by Boyd, Castaeda and Koenig (2013),
to the contrary, reflects the absence of elegance, invoking complex layers of myopic
detail and rhetorical statements that act to camouflage the lack of an integrated,
conceptual analysis of ethnicity in relation to the pictographic styles of the Lower Pecos
region of Texas.

As a Native American archaeologist who has developed ethno-archaeological
models for the pictographs in the Lower Pecos, I have a concern for the integrity of the
scholarship in this publication (Greco 2014; 2013; 2011; 1984). James Harrison has
provided a critique that questions the methodological viability of the authors central
hypothesis (provided above). Here, I intend to provide an addendum to his critique by
addressing conceptual issues raised by the authors use of the concept of ethnicity as
an underlying, albeit, fragmented, framework for the conceptual contribution of their
research to the archaeology of the Lower Pecos.

Boyd, Castaeda and Koenig attempt to demonstrate that the application of
technological innovations and classification strategies have revealed that Red Linear
style pictographs underlie those of Pecos River style, in contrast to the observations of
a trajectory of established scholars. Beyond this attempt, the conceptual implication of
the authors reference to ethnicity is unclear, and, consequently, must be pieced
together by the reader for a critical assessment.




At the tail end of an abstract, focused primarily on the methodology for
establishing the chronology of the pictographic styles in question, the authors state:
Further, it cautions against the use of variation in artistic style as a marker for ethnicity
(authors emphasis) (456). Embedded in the conclusion of the paper amidst a discussion
leading to a perspective whereby the creators of the Pecos River style also created the
Red Linear style, is a second reference to the concept of ethnicity. Boyd, Castaneda, and
Koenig eventually conclude that the Pecos River and Red Linear styles, may or may not
have been produced by the same cultures; however, at this time there is insufficient data
to support the use of an artistic style as a marker for ethnicity (480). Not withstanding
that this statement contradicts itself, there is still the question of how, or even if, an
artistic style can be a marker for ethnicity among hunter-gatherers?

The overall confusion that is generated stems from the neglect by the authors to
include a discussion of ethnicity, a highly charged and fluid conceptual tool that has
evolved over decades within the social sciences (Cohen 1978;Yinger 1985).
Essentially, ethnicity is concerned with self ascribed identities that come into play as
groups of people interact with one another. Archaeologists working in complex societies
have an interest in ethnicity as an interpretive model (Sin 1997), but even in this context
the difficulties are fraught with epistemological and methodological issues (Joffe 2001

Boyd, Castaeda, and Koenig have neglected to provide a rationale for the
appropriate use of ethnicity in relation to hunter-gatherer groups of the Archaic period in
Texas and, as well, a conceptual model that would allow styles of pictographic imagery
to be attributed to ethnic difference. In this case, posing issues of ethnicity does not
offer conceptual insight but acts instead as a red-herring, distracting the reader from
even more problematic issues that underlie those of ethnicity. These include a simplistic
treatment of various other conceptual issues raised by the authors such as gender roles,
emic dichotomies of indigenous groups, functions of pictographic imagery, and the
existence of stylistic variation within cultural groups (479-480).

Ultimately, this publication by Boyd, Castaeda, and Koenig appears, to a
critical eye, to be more concerned with the display of the use of recent technology and
the need to legitimatize its use by a discovery that would overturn established
perspectives, rather than a concern for the data to emerge as a trajectory of discovery
itself.no matter where this leads. The clarity this publication does achieve is that of
reminding the reader that advances in the technology and strategies of rock art
documentation do not replace honed experience gleaned from long term field-work and
the elegance of a mindset open to the insights of other scholars.


References Cited


Boyd, Carolyn E., Amanda M. Castaeda, and Charles W. Koenig
2013 A Reassessment of Red Linear Pictographs in the Lower Pecos
Canyonlands of Texas. American Antiquity 78(3):456-482.

Cohen, Ronald
1978 Ethnicity: Problem and Focus in Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology.
7:370-403.

Joffe, Alexander H.
2001 [A Review of the book The Archaeology of Ethnicity: Constructing Identities in
the Past and Present 1997 Routledge, New York] Journal of Near Eastern Studies,
60(3):211-214.

Jones, Sin
1997 The Archaeology of Ethnicity: Constructing Identities in the Past and Present
Routledge, New York.

Greco, Margaret
2014 The Care of Souls and the Restoration of Ancestors: Burial 7, Shumla Cave. In
Painters in Prehistory: The Art and Archaeology of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands Edited
by Harry Schafer. Trinity Press; San Antonio, Texas
2013 When There is No One Left to Speak: A Voice for Ethnics and Authenticity in the
Interpretation of rock art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands. Presented at the Texas
Archaeological Society Annual Meeting. Del Rio, Texas.
2011 Seeps, Springs, and the Pecos River Style Pictographs: Renewing Reality in the
Light of 25 Years. American Indian Rock Art, edited by Mavis Greer and Timothy
Whitehead, American Indian Rock Art Research Association 37. Glendale Arizona.
1984 Renewing Reality: An Interpretive Framework for Prehistoric Pictographs. The
Lower Pecos as a Case Study. Unpublished masters Thesis. Department of
Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio.
Yinger, Milton J.
1985 Ethnicity. Annual Review of Sociology 11:151-180