Montana’s Pictograph Cave State Park to Host Rock Art Program
OutdoorHub 03.30.12
Pictograph Cave State Park will host the program “Crow Indian Interpretations of Rock Art” with Dr. Timothy McCleary on April 28, 2012. The 6 p.m. public program at Pictograph Cave State Park Visitor Center Classroom is free.
Rock art of the Yellowstone Valley is greatly valued by Crow Indians. Contemporary Crow people interpret rock art by drawing on their memories of what the symbols mean individually and then within the composite image. The marking devices that appear in rock art were the only forms of writing for historic Crow people. Even though there were a number of images an artist chose from to depict biographic or historic information, the meaning of the message was through its oral narration, its retelling as Crow people term historical recitations. This program will discuss some rock art interpretations told today.
Tim McCleary received his Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign, and is a professor at Little Big Horn College, the Crow tribal college. McCleary has always had an interest in how different cultures look at the world. This interest lead him to the field of anthropology. Through his studies he has examined various aspects of the historic and contemporary culture of the Apsáalooke or Crow Indians of Montana.
For more information please call Pictograph Cave State Park at (406) 254-7342.
