Delton

The Best Time in Life for a Children's Prayer

2011-11-26T06:41:00.000-08:00

A timely prayer is a rare find. Let me present the case that one traditional "Children's Prayer" is a candidate for people in their 80s and 90s.

"Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take."

When a child the possibility of dying in my sleep was not imaginable. In the mid 80s I find that the chance of a surprising death is no longer a remote possibility. The value of time raises when it becomes more limited. Thoughts about the reality of mortality are no longer a lullaby.

Finding the right prayer involves the state of mind that a person brings to a particular time in the journey of life. I rest my case.

Delton

What is "One"?

2011-07-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

Whether counting time or the flowers in a garden or the nature of God there is a point when a person runs into "One". And then comes the question: "What is one anyhow?"

The linguist will say that One is a number, a glypth representing a measurement.
The mathematician will say that One is the probability of a number almost certainly probable.
The average person will say that this is all pointless because anyone knows that One is One.
The religious person will think of God as One in contrast to Many. And then the religious persons will argue over whether One means a static lump or a combination of persons all together called One.

I am caught up in the tangle of trying to count time in order to present an online calendar at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org The incident bringing on this spasm of words is dealing with paganism and all its appearances in finding the honored days to show up on a calendar. In a vain attempt to show both northern and southern hemisphere dates for a nature based religion there arises a fog of uncertainty as to who is counting how and what.

Perhaps someone can develop an App that will solve all these mysteries of time counting by religious traditions but I have not seen any drift in that direction.

In the interim time just keeps happening. One day at a time, they say. Or One millisecond at a time for the more detail minded person who will likely shave it even further. As I deal with ordinary human survivors the role of the marking points of special days rises in significance. To this point religions have done the best job of creating those marking point events.

Delton

Minnesota Spring Ballet

2011-04-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

On this cool bright afternoon we walked on a bluff of the Minnesota River in the city of Bloomington. In a front yard there were Daffodils in full bloom. In a moment of time an American Goldfinch flew over from an evergreen tree, landed on a Daffodil flower that immediately bent low under the miniscule weight of the bird and then sprang back up as the Goldfinch flew back toward the tree.

The brilliant yellow of the flower blended momentarily with the golden plumage of the bird and then erupted in a flash of color as the earth anchored flower and sky destined bird parted.

The score for this original ballet had been written long since and has no doubt been performed numberless times. On this day a human audience was present for a performance that lasted all of two seconds and yet extends beyond measure.

Graduation Time Markers

2011-04-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

2012 will be the 65th anniversary of Redwood Falls High School graduation in 1947. 2011 is the 60th anniversary of Hamline University graduation in 1951.

The Hamline graduation anniversary looms large since I am on a committee to design how the event will happen. The committee is to figure out what might interest people and even attract them to attend.

What might interest people who graduated 60 years ago and went off to do whatever has happened since 1951? Telling stories has values but does not rate high because we are primarily interested in our own stories and get bored by others. Comparing wonderful accomplishments over the years (real or imagined) only makes people either depressed or homicidal. Pretending to be interested in people who one does not even recognize looks like work without any pay. Giving awards to those who have given the most money to the school leads to class warfare.

The passage of time presents a major challenge to any institution that wants to generate continuing loyalty among constituents. Relationships and interests that prevailed at graduation have changed beyond recognition. Suspicion of what the school wants from this event comes with the territory.

A 65th graduation anniversary is even more of a stretch. By this time many have gone on and health problems of body and mind come with the territory. So is there any value in a gathering at either the 60th or 65th marking point ?

The Jeffers Petroglyps teach me that any artifact, living or inanimate, carries on information that can be accessed and can provide the curious mind with hints regarding the future. Graduation anniversaries are an artifact that may be the occasion for creative growth for at least one person. I am in favor of the anniversary as long as there are living representatives of the group being recognized. Institutions benefit from reminders of their human history.

Religious Time Markers

2011-03-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

This written on March 19, 2011. On the 20th a signal gathering of religious holy days point up the natural roots of many religious anniversaries.

The months of March and April are crowded with religious holy days greatly because of the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere. This points up the central role of natural forces in world religions development. The moon and its phases have held human attention throughout recorded history and likely since earliest life that we call human. I believe that it is safe to assume that the creators of the Jeffers Petroglyphs were informed by the moon as well as the sun and stars in their thought processes and cultural development

The following information is a specific illustration of the influence on religious experience in the 21st century.

In 2011 more than the usual number of religions observe sacred events on the Equinox which happens on March 20. Jewish Purim takes place recognizing Jewish deliverance from genocide. Wicca/Pagan observers celebrate Ostara as spring arriving in the Northern Hemisphere and Mabon as Fall arriving in the Southern Hemisphere as. Some Hindu people observe Holi as a colorful celebration of the arrival of Spring. Sikhs observe Hola Mohalla. And Christians observe Sunday with worship services commemorating Easter coming in about a month. On Monday the Baha’is have Naw Ruz, their New Year. The Persian Zoroastrians observe Norous as their New Year.

This concentration of holy days takes place at times when the various calendars happen to gather religious events together. During 2011 this appears to be one of those coincidental gatherings that call attention to the natural ties of world religions. The Jeffers Petroglyphs have no dates attached or hints as to the cycle of observations, The hints may be there but we do understand their language yet. Perhaps thoughtful persons of the 21st century will use imagination to raise possible insights into the ancestors.

Dakotah Calendar

2010-12-20T18:45:00.000-08:00

Recently at the Gideon Pond Historical Center in Bloomington, Minnesota we attended a gathering introducing us to the 2011 Dakotah version of the calendar. The names describe the Minnesota Prairie seasons. January is the Hard Moon (Witehi wi); February is the Raccoon Moon (Wicata wi); March is the Sore Eyes Moon (Istawicayiazan wi); April is the Geese Egg Laying Moon (Magaokada wi); May is the Planting Moon (Wozukpi wi); June is the Strawberry Moon (Wazustecasa wi); July is the Chokecherry Moon (Canpasa wi); August is the Harvest Moon (Wasuntun wi); September is the Corn Harvest Moon (Wayuksapi wi); October is the Shaking Off Leaves Moon ( Canwapakasna wi); November is the Deer Antler Shedding Moon (Tahecapsun wi); December is the Trees Popping Moon (Cankapopa wi). Diacritical marks are not used with the Dakotah names because this format does support them)

The same natural weather patterns prevailed at the Jeffers Petroglyphs site.

2009 visit to the Petroglyphs site

2009-09-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

In mid September on a warm afternoon the visitor center was closed. However touring the site is encouraged. Fall flower were showy and bright. The trail led across the gently ascending hillside to the marked walking areas on the rock where the glyphs continue to speak silently to visitors. Lichens crowd some of the rock surfaces. The open prairie rises and falls to distant horizons. The glyphs, the sky and the horizons do not change year after year.

Visit to the Petroglyphs site

2008-09-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent several hours at the Jeffers site located just to the west of Comfrey, Minnesota. The Interpretive Staff were working with a busload of children from the Dawson/Boyd school district. We walked the two mile trail that goes through the tall grass prairie and up to quartzire ridge where the primary glyphs are located. It was nearing mid day so the rock drawings are not as evident as in the shadowy time of early morning and near sunset time. The glyphs pictures here were in the same shape as when the pictures were taken in 1996.

The Staff shared information new to me. Apparently some Native Elders are quite concerned that the glyphs and their designs not be used for commercial purposes. The offense is in that the glyphs have spiritual meaning for Native peoples and so the site is to be respected in the same way as a church, synagogue or mosque. Although I am not using them here in a commercial manner, some people may have question about their use in this web log. Here is my rationale.

In my study of world religions, the art and productions of those religions are common knowledge and are used to understand religious history and practice more fully.It is my observation that buildings and artistic creations are in the public realm and are open for observation, study and reflection. Hence, pictures are included on this site. Persons who may be offended need to be in touch with me.

More petroglyph photos added

2008-09-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

After several months of inactivity, attention is returning to the Jeffers site in that a visit will be paid there later in the week. Additional information will be gathered and will eventually be reflected here.

One of the new pictures shows a surrounding field as it appeared in 1996. This is the year when the glyph photos were taken. Since the pictures were taken additional work has been done on the natural prairie area surrounding the site.

We will be giving special attention to the names of people who have lived on that acreage since it first came into ownership by white settlers. If anyone has more information on this, please send it to Delton.

Stonehenge and Jeffers Petroglyphs

2008-06-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

The June 2008 edition of The National Geographic features its cover page article entitled "It the Stones Could Speak: Searching for the Meaning of Stonehenge" pages 34-59. The writer is Caroline Alexander and the Photographer is Ken Geiger.

Estimating the time of the creation of Stonehenge to be about 4,500 years ago makes it a near contemporary with the Petroglyph's at Jeffers. The same question cluster about each site. What did the creators have in mind? As the article says "we know little about who these early Britons were, how they were organized, or what language they spoke." More is known in England than in Minnesota about the possible creators because of bones and some artifacts. The various stages of construction at Stonehenge are described in the article. Unearthing Neolithic villages, especially at Durrington Walls, reveals a bit of the life style. The importance of summer and winter solstice observances is understood by the style of the standing stones of Stonehenge.

I read the article with a poignant sense of regret that we know so little of the creators of the Petroglyph's. There are no grand myths of dramatic events out here on the prairie. At this stage we have not learned enough from the geographic setting to project the movement of people following the retreat of the glaciers. To this point, our imaginations are not yet engaged with this challenge - this reaching into the crevices of the mind to mark out the traces of ancient times that continue to be shaped in us by the geography, the weather, the skies above.

Petroglyphs and Security

2008-05-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

The computer and software industry is increasingly turning its attention to security issues. Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Secretary, recently said that "The potential consequences of a cyber attack are very real and every bit as concerning as the potential of a physical attack on the order of what we saw on September 11". Redmond Developer May 1, 2008

Awareness of this reality has called my mind to the security issues that were faced by those artisans who did the petroglyph's thousands of year ago. Animals, infections, weather, climate, stupity, and angry people would seem have been among the real threats. Strange as it may seem, apparently there was no threat to the messages they were inscribing on the rock. Even more remarkable is the obvious conclusion that over thousands of years no one has gone to the trouble of destroying the rock surface. Either it was just too much work or the point of doing the destruction was not in vogue.

Today business ventures, governments, media, religions, the military and the arts depend on electronic communication using the silicon in computer chips. The silicon has been mined from the earth surface and formed into machines that work using electricity to manipulate numbers and symbols in order to transmit meaning. Rock has been fabricated to enable meaning to fly through space. In earlier times the earth bound rock could not be poached or stolen by enemies so the messages were quite secure.

I believe this fact of life makes it all the more urgent to translate the meaning of petroglyph symbols. We may urgently need ideas that our ancestors had discovered and carved into the quartzite rock for the benefit of coming generations.

Weather 5000 Years Ago

2008-05-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

The Middle Holocene Period was 5000 to 7000 years in the past. Studies are being done to determine what was happening to global weather at that time. In the US Dr. David Leigh of the University of Georgia is quoted in the March 26, 1999 edition of Science Daily saying that some data leads to the conclusion that the in the the US a region from the Southwest through the Dakotas was likely warm and wet. Much of what is now called Canada was yet covered with an ice sheet in this period. We are beginning to see something of the the circumstances that produced weather in the region of the Jeffers Petroglyph's.

Bryan Fagan in "The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations" (Bloomsbury Press 2008) says that the oceans actually are the weather makers for the earth. Currents that move warm and cool water about produce events such as El Ninos or La Ninas. 800 to 1300 AD was the Medieval Warm Period. That era is recent in time. Civilizations in the Pacific, South America, China, Africa, India, and the Arctic illustrate the dynamic powers of the weather to provide for creation and demise of civilizations.

The principles developed in Dr. Leigh's work can be used to consider possibilities for earlier times. Civilizations grew and waned in rhythm with weather that produced people friendly circumstances and also brought droughts that banished people from regions.

Mid continent North America is insulated from the sea by thousands of miles of land but the weather knows no such boundaries. What is learned about the US Southwest can very likely begin to fill in the blanks as regards weather in mid continent. Ocean currents may well help us to understand better the people who developed the Petroglyphs.

Glyphs and Public Diplomacy

2008-04-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

Among the possible intentions for creating glyphs may have been group identity issues at stake. Sending a message about "us" and "our way of life" in a certain geographic region must have been a challenging task 5000 years ago.

Today that process of sending messages about "us" is known as Public Diplomacy. The term came into use during the Cold War when the US government unveiled the Edward R. Murrow Center for Public Diplomacy in 1965. International information programs were being developed and it was deemed necessary to move beyond "propaganda".

Public Diplomacy intends to shape the minds of people who observe "us" so that they will be cooperative as we seek out goals in the world. The words Public Diplomacy have an official ring to them. Nicholas Cull of the Annenberg School of International Relations at the U of Southern California spells out the history of Public Diplomacy in the March 2008 issue of The Annals. The task of Public Diplomacy is to create and disseminate ideas that can be spread from person to person in a social network using available technology.

I am suggesting that the Jeffer's Petroglyphs were Public Diplomacy of the time. Available technology was being used by skilled craftspeople to send messages that carried meaning important to the people of the time and beyond. We today are in the position of stretching our mental capacity to grasp what is being made available on the quartzite rocks. Do the messages have anything at all to do with the present human situation? Are ecological issues being addressed? Is management of violence a subject matter? What can artists discover that will enhance the arts of today? What can religions learn that will enhance the spiritual global community? My guess is that glyphs are more than interesting artifacts. Rather, they can open us to needed information from previous human experience.

Jacinth

2008-04-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

The role of stones in religious observance is illustrated by the place of Jacinth (Hyacinth) in Hindu, Judaism, Christian and Magik practice. Jacinth has been prized since antiquity due to its brilliance and variations of color. Apparently used in armor and weaponry as well personal attire, the stone is noted in Hindu writings as well as in the Bible (Exodus and Revelation) and various astrological and horoscope related writings.

Jacinth is a golden or brown form of natural Zircon. ZrSi04 It is a mixture of Silicon and Zirconium. It is most commonly found in Srilanka, Thailand, Norway, Brazil, Australia, Russia, China, India, and the US.

The role of stones in ancient religions gives support to the notion that Petrolyph's served as a form of religious expression along with their other cultural functions. Artistic use of the colors and relative permanence of stone artifacts speaks of the working of the human mind in giving pleasure and meaning to existence.

Little Cottonwood River Virtual Tour

2008-04-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

The landscape in which the Jeffers Petroglyphs are located can be understood best by actually visiting the site. The next best method is a virtual tour.

Go to http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/major/midminn/subshed/lcotwd/lc_2.html

The viewer will discover a comprehensive picture of the site and the surrounding territory in terms of the drainage basin of the Little Cottonwood River which flows into the Minnesota River, then to the Mississippi River and ultimately the ocean.

A True Home Run

2008-03-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

Baseball immediately comes to mind when the words "Home Run" appear. However, there is no such thing as a "true" home run in the game. Either it is a home run or it is not a home run.

This "true home run" set of words was called to my attention as our DSL line was being repaired recently. After considerable detective work by several technicians it was discovered that we did not have a true home run. In other words, the wires connecting the outside world with our computer equipment were compromised. When the wires were consistently in order they became a "true home run."
Those wires enable the writing of these words.

This process helps me in understanding the place of petroglyph's and our efforts to decipher what is being said. At the moment we do not have a "true home run" for transmission of information.

So much is missing and we have no self evident way of completing the connection. The task of both science and religion is to persistently investigate the evidence that we do have and to imagine the evidence that we need to find. I do believe imagination has a place in an otherwise material world process. The mental equipment that humans have is filled with more programs and potential powers than we know. It appears that certain programs of the mind are turned on when situations arise that trigger a switch of some kind.

We are working on establishing a true home run in regard to the Jeffers Petroglyph's.

Blue Lines in the Snow

2008-03-07T15:43:00.001-08:00

On an afternoon walk today I observed lines and numbers sprayed on the snow with blue paint. They mark the location of some underground utilities. The temperature is a few degrees above zero so the message is legible for the moment.

When temperatures rise the snow will melt and the blue paint will dissolve and be gone. Hopefully the people who need that diagram will have made use of it by then. We who live in Minnesota are accustomed to snow and ice. However, they are not a normal message transmission medium.

Ten thousand years ago this place was under a glacier according to geologists. When another glacier period comes everything including the Jeffers Petroglyph's will be scoured away and gone.

We live in the brief time when the petroglyph's are legible in what seems like
rather permanent quartzite. Actually the time is brief in the geological time frame.
This is our opportunity to read the messages and absorb the ideas from our ancestors.

Whether we can match their technological skill in preserving our messages for future
observation is yet to be proven. I would like to think that we will do better than blue paint on snow. It will certainly take some creative work.

Getting Beyond the Struggle for Existence

2008-02-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

When the world is primitive, daytime struggle to find food and shelter coupled with a nightly struggle with fear leaves little time for leisure, reflective thought or artistic expression. The account of the end of the Roman Empire in Europe tells us that some fourteen hundred years ago, barbarians arrived and their violence led to the Middle Ages when disorder ruled, literature was destroyed, and social systems failed. It took some time for people to recover and again create social order and intellectual endeavor.

When viewing the Jeffers Petroglyphs it is possible to envision a life in which there was enough safety and leisure time to create artistic symbols that would have a continuing presence. A civilization of some kind would seem to be a safe assumption. We can say that the glyphs are set before us as human creations linking civilizations over millenia.

We find a window into society some 5000 years ago in mid continent when we observe these petroglyphs. An observer recently said that in looking at the picture at the upper right corner of this site, she feels as if she is looking at kind of map of the earth. The lichens can be imagined as continents. The turtle glyph can be thought of as representing a land mass. In Native traditions the turtle is of thought of as a symbol of the earth. Perhaps our minds can connect with people across vast reaches of time.

Funeral at Highwater Church Tomorrow

2008-02-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

She lived going on the century mark. On a cold and snowy Monday the spouse of a cousin will be remembered at Highwater Church just a few miles from the Jeffers Petroglyphs.

She joins the host of people who have lived all or part of their lives on the quartzite ridge that hosted glaciers not so long ago. A few thousand years is not much in geological time. Going on a hundred years is remarkable for a person with a biological time clock.

Tomorrow the family will gather to give thanks for a life well lived. At a moment in time every person present will be aware of the brief scale to time that we humans inhabit. The religious ritual will offer dignity and comfort to those who live on for now.

My guess is that the near by petroglyphs were partially religious in nature. Perhaps they were part of a ritual that marked the lives of individuals and announced a sense of meaning that escapes the bounds of historical time.

Highwater Church will for an hour or so be inhabited by family and friends who live in time. In that hour of worship they will glimpse the infinite landscape of the universe. The Lord Gives. The Lord Takes. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Diving Into Time

2008-02-07T12:48:00.002-08:00

The memorable phrase "diving into time" is used by Teillhard de Chardin in his book: The Vision of Time - 1966. He suggests that we can likely learn more from paying attention to time than we can from journeying into space.

I do not know if he is correct about space journey but I do know that we discover amazing new territory through the agents of geology and other scientific methods that enable us to view and analyze the traces of what has been in what is.

There is a remarkable refreshment of the mind in exploring the past. There are new horizons, new climates, and new creatures in the wonderland that comes into view.

In setting out to view the past we unexpectedly discover the future. What can be called a stream of time connects seamlessly the past and the future. In the philosophy presented by Tielhard, the light in which we travel converges toward the future.

Human interest in the future is one explanation for petroglyphs and other artistic creations that we today discover. Orientation toward the future would appear to be a characteristic basic to the human organism. In the words of Teilhard, the ruins, fossils, glyphs whisper to us an essential word regarding construction of the future.

Wild Roses in Full Bloom

2008-01-28T15:27:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, June 21, 1838 an exploration party led by Joseph N Nicollet was a few miles to the north of the Jeffers Petroglyph's site. They were following the Cottonwood River heading toward the Pipestone quarries to the west. The Little Cottonwood River is very close to the petroglyph's site. On this June day thickets of wild roses were in bloom in the region. A southeast wind was blowing with a clear sky and the air was perfumed by the wild roses.

The explorers noted a plateau area toward which they were moving. Looking to the south they would have seen over a valley to another plateau where the petroglyph's could be found. But they were not aware of the site and did not take that route.

As they continued they noted an elevation about 1/3 mile long and 60 feet above the green plain of the prairie and near the river. It was just about 8 years before that Indian people came there to watch herds of buffalo arrive in the area. The place was called "Indian Lookout Mount". It was near present day Lamberton, Minnesota.

Nicollet says that the Cottonwood River at that time was a clear flowing stream with sand bottom. The prairie was undisturbed by cultivation, railroads, roads, communities or any other permanent sign of human presence. Indian people led a nomadic life much in harmony with the natural scene.

I include this information to give evidence of the nature of the Minnesota prairie and the grandeur of the scene greeting Nicollet's team. The information comes from the Journals of Joseph Nicollet translated from the French and edited by Edmund C. Bray and Martha Coleman Bray. This 1976 publication by the Minnesota Historical Society is entitled "Joseph N. Nicollet on the Plains and Prairies: The Expeditions of 1838-39 With Journals, Letters, and Notes on the Dakota Indians."

Personality of glyph artists

2008-01-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

One thing we can claim to know about the people who did the Jeffers Petroglyphs is that they had a genetic predisposition toward social domination. The basis for this opinion lies in contemporary studies of neuroendocrine mechanisms.

William Anderson and Cliff Summers of the University of South Dakota present a paper in the November, 2007 issue of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences arguing that stress coping strategies and social dominance are based in neurochemical biological foundations.

All we have to observe are the glyphs themselves at Jeffers and other sites. The fact that glyphs were created tells us that the creators not only were dealing with meaning in life but that they had personality traits enabling them to think wider than the tribe or family. In thinking beyond their own immediate interests they display what would be called "leadership" in any society - ancient or contemporary.

Worthy question include: "Can we claim close kinship with the glyph people? Is it possible that ideas expressed in the glyphs are available to assist us in solving human problems in our time?
Can the array of present world religions be enhanced by ideas from another era that we access only through glyph symbols?"

Petroglyphs on the Prairie

2008-01-15T14:13:00.001-08:00

The Red Rock Prairie is near to the Petroglyph site. The tallgrass prairie that once covered vast areas has been reduced drastically with one tenth of one percent of Minnesota's original prairies remaining. The Red Rock ridge prairie area is one the survivors. Outcrops of Sioux Quartzite prevented the land from being plowed and planted to crops.

An endangered species, prairie bush clover, is found at Red Rock Prairie. Prairie bush clover can be identified by its grayish-silver sheen and its pale pink or cream colored flowers that bloom in mid-July. Several other endangered plant species continue to exist and thrive at this prairie.

Restoration of the Red Rock Prairie was completed in 2007. The Nature Conservatory has taken the lead in the restoration process. Further information is on the Nature Conservatory website.

The prairie landscape is of a piece with the petroglyphs in that the the artist creators were influenced by the entire natural scene. Understanding the meaning of the glyphs and their creators involves coming to know and appreciate the ecosystem in which they operated some 5 to 9 thousand years ago. Since no recorded explanations are provided we are putting together the scene and will gradually enter the mindset of the people of the time. The glyphs call us to the task. Fortunately nature provides us with the makings of an unfolding tale.

Geology of Sacred Sites

2007-12-18T09:43:00.001-08:00

Every Sacred Site on earth can be specifically located with its GPS coordinates. The site may be an earth formation or a human creation either placed on the earth surface or some sort of human created inscription on the rock surface. Earth and meaning giving are entwined.

Jeffers Petroglyphs site is an example. It is on the crest of a ridge of sandstone known as Red Rock Ridge. The name given to the rock is Sioux Quartzite. The rock was originally deposited as red sand and mud during the Proterozoic Period. It is sandstone cemented with silicon dioxide and re-crystalized by heat, pressure and chemical solutions.

The site also has wave marks from ancient Proterozoic shorelines nearly 500,000,000 years ago. There are also scratches (striations) from the Des Moines ice lobe of the Wisconsin Glacier some 12 to 14 thousand years ago. The glacial ice was about a mile thick at the time.

The Little Cottonwood River is about 300 yards to the southeast. Remains of a true tall grass prairie are nearby. The site is located 5 miles east and 3 miles north of the town of Jeffers in north-central Cottonwood County of Minnesota, USA.

The Rising Up of Bear Butte as a Sacred Site

2007-12-12T14:54:00.000-08:00

Bear Butte, just east of the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA, rises from the prairie and dominates the horizon. From the peak one can view the hills and the prairie. As a sacred site of the Native American heritage Bear Butte is known as sacred because it figures large in the culture of a people. On Bear Butte prayer flags decorate the trail leading up, around and to the top. One ascends into a unique realm of sky, earth, east, west, north, south uninterrupted. Centuries of experience have given an atmosphere of mystery and grandeur to a natural place. So we call it a Sacred Site.

Jeffers Petroglyphs are on the flat landscape. No grand views. They too rise up as a Sacred Site. Glyphs are created by people to give meaning to life and to communicate with future peoples. Getting in touch with what is being transmitted is one purpose of this study of sacred time and places in the 21st century.

Cottonwood County, Minnesota, USA

2007-12-05T08:18:00.000-08:00

The Jeffers Petroglyph's are located in what is now called Cottonwood County, Minnesota. Records show that the county was first surveyed in the late 1850s. The County was organized July 29, 1870. Three county commissioners were appointed by Governor Austin. The commissioners first met a private home. They designated districts and agreed on officials. The first formal election was in the fall of 1870. The first property deed was filed January 10, 1870 and first taxes paid in 1871. The Petroglyph's are located in Section 9 of Delton Township near the Little Cottonwood River.

What was the location called when the Petroglyph's were created? No one knows just which group of early nomadic people created the symbols now found engraved in Quartzite. There is speculation that in the Prairie Archaic Tradition (5,500 to 3,000 BCE) the region was covered with grassland and that hunting bands camped at various favored localities providing wood, water, and food resources.

In the Modern Period (1650 -1850 CE) the site was likely occupied by the Dakota but it is known that Arapaho, Cheyenne, Foxes, Iowa, Missouri, Ojibwe, Omaha, Oto, Ottawa, Ponca, Sauk, Winnebago, and Wyandot were present in Minnesota at this time.

Whatever the area has been named over the centuries and millenia, the Petroglyph's continue to define a people who were given to finding meaning in their time and to communicating that meaning with succeeding peoples.

Information sources include: http://co.cottonwood.mn.us/aboutus.html
http://www.thudscave.com/petroglyphs/arch-peop.htm and references to "The Jeffers Petroglyph Site: A Survey and Analysis of the Carvings" by Gordon Lothson 1976.

Looking Through Petroglyphs

2007-11-30T07:01:00.000-08:00

Looking at a petroglyph is much like being at an art gallery or museum. We humans stand or kneel down and fix our gaze at markings as curious carriers of a message. "We" are the observer. "They" are the original creators.

Consider thinking of the petroglyph as a port hole for looking in on another time and place. It could be an opening into another frame of meaning. One can learn to set aside the apparent one dimensional habit of viewing and get into the mindset of seeing through a symbol to the meaning that was present in the mind of the creator at another time and place.

Icons have a long history of communicating religions meaning without the use of words. Orthodox Christians have developed this method into a central feature of communication. The icon itself brings unique meaning to a human person in the midst of a religious experience. It is a window that opens on religious meaning.

The contemporary web page way of communicating meaning involves the use of color, shape, texture, words, images, movement and sound. One sees through the web page to the meaning or message being projected. The purpose can be to inform, convince the watcher to make purchase, entertain, keep watching, or respond in some other way.

It has been suggested that a petroglyph can be understood as a warning symbol much like a traffic sign or a toxic substance notice. It could mean that a wonderful view is just around the corner or over the top of a hill. The symbol cautions the observer to be aware that she/he is in the presence of a great danger or a very good thing. Be aware! Be ready!

The petroglyph can be understood as an icon, a frozen in time web page, a window, a small viewing aperture, a warning, a message to be ready for wonder.

Connect with Artists of Petroglyphs

2007-11-26T07:44:00.000-08:00

On the night of November 24, 2007, a full moon night, I was out in the central Minnesota forest, near the St. Croix River, living in a tent and preparing food over an open fire with the temperature at 24 degrees above zero. There was a light covering of snow on the ground.

My mind went to the scene some 5000 years ago when the ancestors were under the same full moon. They were led to create a message for the future humans who would come along. And so here we are in 2007 pondering the messages of those glyphs on the silica based quartzite of the Red Rock ridge. This is being written on technology once again using silica but this time in computer chips. Our present writing appears to be ephemeral in comparison to the long lasting glyphs. Perhaps we are overlooking some perspectives as we assume the powers of an electronic communications era. In all events, we share the same time frame as the glyph creators.

The experience of living out doors in northern hemisphere winter time is one way to reduce ourselves to the elemental necessities of being alive. The research continues.

Red Rock Ridge - some early history

2007-11-21T09:56:00.000-08:00

A prominent ridge of red quartzite lies next to the Little Cottonwood River in north central Cottonwood County, Minnesota. In 1875 J.B. Churchill carved his name and date into the rock. In 1880 Warren Upham visited the ridge and made some notes about the petroglyphs. In 1885 a small group of men from New Ulm traveled up the Cottonwood River from Sleepy Eye to reach what was known as the Dells at Red Rock Falls and proceeded southwest to the Petroglyph site. Their report is found in the New Ulm Review of August 12, 1885. They viewed "peculiar inscriptions, [hewn] into the hard red-black rock". In 1889 the Red Rock Ridge was visited by surveyor Theodore Lewis and civil engineer Alfred J. Hill. They were in the process of doing an archaeological survey of Minnesota and the surrounding states from 1881-1895. This information is based in part on Gordon Lothsons 1976 book, "The Jeffers Petroglyphs Site: A Survey and Analysis of the Carvings" Information is at web site http://www.thudscave.com/petroglyps/arch-site.htm

Jeffers Petroglyph Technology

2007-11-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

This photo of the Turtle icon was taken in 2000. The technology used to preserve the image for access now leads one to admire and be curious about the people who were the artists and spiritual workers 5000 years in the past. Why did they take the time and effort to send on the symbols of their thought system? What do the petroglyph's tell us about the sense of meaning in life in that era? How can we today enter the world of that time? What can we learn about communicating our ideas to future occupants of planet earth? Questions such as these are the foundations for this blog.

Basic information

2007-11-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

The story line begins with a 5000 year old petroglyph scene in Minnesota. Located in Delton township of Cottonwood County, Minnesota, USA, this most effective communications method will inform the approach taken in this ephemeral information transfer method of the 21st Century. The same silica that is in the rock where the petroglyphs are inscribed is involved in this technology of now. From this November 18, 2007 starting point I go forward with curiosity.