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have long cherished the presence at Millstone Bluff of the only known depiction of a plant at a rock-art site within Illinois, the latter interpretation agrees better with the herpetological nature of the group as a whole. A cross-and-circle motif ®anked by two serpentlike designs is located at the northeast end of the ®at slab containing the western group (Figure 3.9d). The identi¤cation of the petroglyph to the east of the cross-and-circle as a serpentine image is based on the similarity of its segmented body to those of the two large serpentlike creatures at the southwest end of the panel. The western serpentlike image, in contrast, has a curved body out of which extend two short projections that possibly represent attenuated wings. This same basic arrangement of motifs—a cross-and-circle encircled by monster serpentlike beings—occurs at the Spiro site in Oklahoma where four horned serpents surround a cross-and-circle on a marine shell cup (Phillips and Brown 1984:228–229). Penney (1985:192) suggested this composition may represent a cosmological diagram of the horizontal and vertical axes of the universe in which the cross-and-circle simultaneously symbolizes the four cardinal directions and the sun of the Upper World while the encircling horned serpents carry obvious Under World associations. CENTR AL PANEL The central petroglyph group is contained on a heavily eroded slab located at an intermediate position between the eastern and western groups (Figures 3.2 and 3.11). The motifs in this group consist of images related to both the UpFigure 3.10. Photograph of elk-antlered serpent being, western petroglyph group, Millstone Bluff site. 58 Wagner, McCorvie, and Swedlund Figure 3.11. Map of central petroglyph group, Millstone Bluff site. per and Under Worlds including falconid avimorphs with bilobed arrows emerging from their heads (Figure 3.11a), a large male anthropomorph with one upraised arm (Figure 3.11b), serpentinelike lines (Figure 3.11c), bisected chevrons (Figure 3.11d), and cross-and-circle designs. The northern, southern, and eastern edges of the sandstone joint block containing this group are extremely eroded, making it impossible to determine the exact number and types of motifs. The eastern or upper half of the slab, however, clearly contains Upper World–related motifs in the form of two large avimorphs, one of which is a falconid bird that has a bilobed arrow emerging from its head (Figure 3.12a). Located directly beneath this avimorph is a large male anthropomorph who holds a possible chert knife or sword in the hand of his upraised arm (Figure 3.12b). The proximity of this ¤gure to the falconid bird suggests that, as in the eastern group, these two motifs are linked images that make up a schematic representation of the birdman ¤gure. The lower section of the rock located below (or west of ) the anthropomorph’s feet is heavily eroded, making a determination of the types and number of motifs within this area very dif¤cult. At least two serpentine lines are contained within this area, however, suggesting that the lower portion of the central panel may once have contained a series of Under World–related motifs that stood in opposition to the Upper World images that occur in the top of the panel. Other identi¤able motifs within this group include bisected chevrons (Figure 3.11d), which occur in both parts of the panel, and the cross-and-circle (Figure 3.11e), which occurs in the upper portion and center of the panel. DISCUSSION Comparison of the types of motifs contained within the three groups indicates that a marked opposition exists between the eastern and western groups in regard to symbolic imagery (Table 3.1). Motifs restricted to the eastern group (Figures 3.4 and 3.5) include falconid avimorphs (Figure 3.6), bilobed arrows (Figure 3.7), and anthropomorphs. Those limited to the western group (Figure 3.9) consist of piasa images including antlered (Figure 3.10) and winged serpents. This same opposition appears to exist in microcosm within the central group with avimorphic and serpentlike imagery restricted to the upper and lower portions of the panel, respectively. Only one motif—the cross-and-circle—occurs in all three groups. The shared use of this symbol links the three groups together although it is clearly used in different ways within each of these groups. The cross-and-circle motif often has been identi¤ed as an Upper World–related symbol because of the...

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