The White Shaman Mural

"It is rare that a book completely changes our perspective on a major body of rock art. Yet that is what Carolyn Boyd's The White Shaman Mural will do for the spectacular Pecos River murals. Combining an impeccable ethnological approach with hard data obtained via new recording methods, this groundbreaking book is eminently readable despite the complexity of the concepts involved. It should appeal to lay readers as well as professionals." -- Jean Clottes, author of Cave Art "The White Shaman Mural not only provides a thorough demonstration of technique, but it also raises provocative issues regarding the history and cosmovision of Native America. Boyd penetrates the cosmological conceptions of the past as she unveils an amazing text painted on a rockshelter wall thousands of years ago in southwest Texas." -- Alfredo Lopez Austin, author of The Myth of Quetzalcoatl and emeritus researcher, UNAM "This volume is surely the most important publication on Lower Pecos rock art in this-and perhaps even in the last-millennium. Boyd uses Mesoamerican ethnohistoric data and pan-Mesoamerican concepts to interpret what others have regarded as uninterpretable. This book will not simply challenge the field but will redefine it." -- Thomas Guderjan, University of Texas at Tyler, author of The Nature of an Ancient Maya City: Resources, Interaction and Power at Blue Creek, Belize and Ancient Maya Traders of Ambergris Caye "This is a milestone in the study of ancient American visual culture. First, it showcases the fruitful results of the scientific studies that the authors conducted, as well as their modes of analysis and analogical interpretation. Second, this work makes a major contribution to the literature on the expansive interaction spheres and fluid boundaries between the US Southwest, Mesoamerica, and south Texas. Finally, it provides a solid model for the interpretation of visual imagery from societies without alphabetic writing and especially for the study of Mesoamerican and Native American art." -- Carolyn Tate, Texas Tech University, author of Reconsidering Olmec Visual Culture: The Unborn, Women, and Creation

The White Shaman Mural by Carolyn E. Boyd is a significant contribution to the understanding of rock art, particularly focusing on the prehistoric hunter-gatherers of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands in Texas and Coahuila, Mexico. This richly illustrated work posits that these ancient peoples created one of the earliest known pictorial creation narratives in North America. Central to Boyd's exploration is the White Shaman mural, an impressive artwork measuring twenty-six feet in length and thirteen feet in height, located in a cave overlooking the Pecos River. Boyd argues that this mural conveys a narrative about the birth of the sun and the origins of time itself.

Boyd challenges previous interpretations that viewed the Pecos rock art as random and meaningless. Instead, she presents the White Shaman mural as a carefully composed visual narrative, employing a graphic vocabulary that communicates complex layers of meaning. Drawing on decades of archaeological research, as well as insights from ethnohistory and art history, Boyd identifies connections between the mural's imagery and the mythologies of Uto-Aztecan-speaking peoples, including the ancient Aztecs and contemporary Huichol. This groundbreaking identification suggests that a shared ideological framework existed among the foragers of the Lower Pecos region as far back as four thousand years ago.

The book not only offers a fresh perspective on Lower Pecos rock art but also raises important questions about the history and worldview of Native American cultures. Boyd's meticulous approach combines ethnological insights with innovative recording techniques, making the complex concepts accessible to both lay readers and professionals. The White Shaman Mural stands as a milestone in the study of ancient American visual culture, redefining our understanding of the interactions between the US Southwest, Mesoamerica, and south Texas.