ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the viability of ethnographic interpretation in understanding the prehistoric past. The connection between this art and shamanism has subsequently been accepted by almost all contemporary scholars in the Far West, demonstrating that near-unanimous consensus on the point has been achieved. The cases are neither unique nor exceptional, inasmuch as similar circumstances can be found in other parts of the Far West. The dominant symbols consist of the primary motifs at rock art sites, while the rock art site itself serves in this case as the instrumental symbol: the symbolic context which imparts specific meaning to the dominant symbols painted or engraved thereon. The public telling was an integral part of the healing ritual. The evidence sketched above, including the argument for the use of specific rock art motifs as elaborating symbols, tends to support Omer Stewart's contentions. The fact is only notable because of its denial by Robert Heizer, an influential mid-century rock art researcher.
