Introducing the Hearthstone Project

The Hearthstone Project springs from a recently completed rock art recording effort, the Alexandria Project, conducted by the Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center. The Alexandria Project recently gathered baseline data for 235 rock art sites in the region. Researchers at Shumla and Texas State University used the data gathered by the Alexandria Project to write research proposals to the National Endowment for the Humanities and to the National Science Foundation. Thus, the Hearthstone Project represents the first fruits of the data gathered by the Alexandria Project.

The Hearthstone Project is named for the fire hearth, a focus of domestic life and food preparation in Native American culture. Centered in the household and a part of daily activities, the fireplace was not only functional, but also powerful and symbolic at many levels. In Mesoamerican households, the hearth was made with three stones supporting a clay griddle or comal, on which food was cooked. Three stones or pillars comprise the most stable arrangement of any support system. Imbued with sacred powers, the hearthstones supported not just the comal but also centered the universe. Inside the hearthstones burned a fire, a powerful, purifying, and transformational agent. The hearth fire represented the center of the universe and the source of all knowledge and wisdom. It was the portal to the upper, middle, and underworld, and the intersection of past, present and future.

Analysis of the Pecos River style art will serve as our portal to the world view of the artists that produced the ancient murals. Like the comal, our research effort is supported by three pillars of inquiry: archaeological science, formal art analysis, and Indigenous wisdom (consultation). Pecos River style art is a rich source of knowledge that requires diverse approaches to adequately document, deconstruct, decode, and trace its history. Our research will address the issue from three directions, not just preserving the art in detail, but also providing a balanced assessment of the art and demonstrating its value as a rich source of information.

The artists, and likely their companions and relatives, carried these images inside themselves, during the day when hunting or building fires for earth ovens, and during the night when they slept. There is nothing trivial about these paintings. They represent the beliefs, thoughts, and prayers of the people – the hunter-gatherer society – that produced them. Their message lives on in shared Native American beliefs today, demonstrating the tenacity of myth. As a representation of belief and faith, they also are a physical manifestation of our shared humanity. Pictographs are an integral part of Native American heritage. Often dismissed as either incomprehensible or a commodity to sell at auction, they warrant preservation through documentation and study because they are a part of our past. And, as it turns out, they speak volumes to our present condition.

What’s Next? The next blog entry will describe the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation research designs, and how the two approaches complement each other under the umbrella of the Hearthstone Project. Stay tuned and follow along on our journey to unlock the many stories of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Southwest Texas!