The term pictographs generally refers to prehistoric rock or cave paintings. Pictographs can be found throughout the United States and are credited to various Native American peoples. They should be distinguished from petroglyphs, which are images that are carved on rocks. Pictographs are most abundant in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and California and appear most often underneath rock overhangs or in rock shelters where the pigments have been protected. The paints used for these pictures come from minerals such as iron oxide, calcium carbonate, azurite, and ochre and are applied with fingers or with brushes made from plants. These pictures are believed to have been used for various reasons such as to commemorate the site of a hunt, to mark clan territory or sacred places, or even as mnemonic devices to recall details of tribal myths.
Pictographic expressions also appeared on hide and bark. On the Great Plains, hunters and warriors recorded their exploits in pictographic displays and leaders remembered events in large pictographs called winter counts. In the East, similar drawings were made on birch bark. Following contact with Europeans, pictographic paintings began to appear on cloth and paper as native people adapted this traditional art form to new conditions.
See also
Art, Visual (to 1960).
