Star Imagery in Petroglyph National Monument

Petroglyph National Monument, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, is dedicated solely to preserving an estimated 17,000 carvings on rock (petroglyphs) made by ancestral and historic Native Americans, early colonists and regional visitors. Among the images that recur along the 17 miles of volcanic escarpment is a four-pointed star, sometimes called the ‘star-being’ or ‘star-head’ by locals and park guides, as it usually involves some degree of anthropomorphism. This image may be as simple as a circle with four symmetrically disposed points and no other details to as elaborate as the basic star-head with facial features, crown and body with, perhaps, limbs holding objects – a cane, staff, or club. This project involved a photographic field survey of the ‘star-head’ image in the Monument. Two teams of two and three surveyors combed the escarpment rock (height ranging from 10m - 100m high) and identified and photographed approximately 100 ‘star-head’ images. Results include a classification of ‘star-head’ images according to level of detail, size of images, and associations with other petroglyphs and archaeological remains. The literature review discusses the possible role of this icon as a war symbol and a Venus deity and provides a rough time line of their creation and cultural associations.