Polly Schaafsma
Warrior,
Shield, and Star:
Imagery and Ideology of Pueblo Warfare
November
14, 2002
Polly
Schaafsma, perhaps the best-known scholar of rock art in New Mexico and
the Southwest, spoke on the topics explored in her ground-breaking
book, Warrior, Shield, and Star: Imagery and Ideology of Pueblo
Warfare, AD 1250-1600. Her talk continued SAR's 2002-2003 Membership
Lecture Series on Doorways to the Past: Southwestern Peoples Through
Time by portraying how ancestral Pueblo peoples may have viewed
warfare within the context of their daily lives.
Rock
art and kiva mural images show that, by the 1300s, an ideology of
warfare was well established in Pueblo life and part of the broader
religious context. The many depictions of shields, warriors, and many
associated symbols and visual metaphors suggest that ideas related to
warfare and agricultural fertility were complementary and that the use
of symbols of both represented efforts to maintain cosmic balance and
the seasonal rhythms necessary to ensure well-being.
Polly
Schaafsma is a research associate of the Museum of Indian Arts and
Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology of the Museum of New Mexico. Her
extensive career in archaeology and the study of rock art spans many
years, and she has become the leading authority in the field. She has
published many books and articles. Several of her publications with
which SAR members may be familiar include Indian Rock Art of the
Southwest (School of American Research Press and University of New
Mexico Press, 1980); Rock Art in New Mexico (Museum of New Mexico
Press, 1992); and Kachinas in the Pueblo World (editor,
University of New Mexico Press, 1994).
We are deeply grateful to our lecture sponsors:
Gerald and Katie Peters and Carole Ely and Bob Wickham—AV Systems. We
also appreciate the hospitality graciously provided for our lecturer by
Julian's Restaurant.
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Images:
[Above] Courtesy of Polly Schaafsma.
[Below] Polly Schaafsma, courtesy of the lecturer.
