The smell of power: the Apishapa pilgrimage trail

The Abstract rock art formed part of a pilgrimage trail that led from the lower Apishapa Canyon to the volcanic-like Spanish Peaks near Trinidad, Colorado. Hunter/gatherer ethnography from the southern Great Basin makes sense of abstract engravings in the canyon, at sites such as Cramer, Canterbury, and Snake Blakeslee. According to Great Basin ethnography, mature shamans should lead neophytes along sacred trails to volcanoes because they were sources of supernatural power, or puha. Within the Apishapa Canyon, sharp meanders and multiple confluences created at least two places of power, following Great Basin epistemology, both with tumbled sandstone boulders extensively pecked along their natural cracks. Neophytes, we suggest, pecked the cracks to acquire the inherent puha. Further along, the trail leads past a prominent igneous dike with small artificial platforms suitable for meditation by a single person. Moreover, flake scars and random peckings mark many tumbled boulders, but the stone is not suitable for tool production. Experimental bashing did not produce loud sounds or echoes, but it did produce a sulfurous odor. Since hot springs in the region also emit sulfur, and since hot springs are another source of puha, neophytes may well have struck the boulders in order to acquire supernatural power in another form.