Horned serpent

Horned Serpent petroglyph, Barrier Canyon, Utah, USA...Pic by Brian C. Lee.

When I first saw this image, I thought that this could be a depiction of an actual horned snake. The only horned snake that lives in Southwestern USA is American horned rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes).

But it is images like this, of a horned humanoid figure standing over a snake with no horns that made me believe that the horned serpent depicted on the ancient American petroglyphs is not a depictions of a horned rattlesnake, but something else entirely. Pic by "Nine Mile the Third".

In this article I will explain why "mythological" horned serpents of the Indian tribes of the South West of the USA isn't mythological at all. It is actually real...complex animal calendar marker. 

The horned serpent is an animal hybrid

with a body of a rattle snake

and horns of the desert big horn sheep

So what's it all about? Well let's first have a look at the mythology of the horned serpent.

The horned serpent is believed to be the guardian of water and is associated with rain, thunder and lightning. Its wavy curves symbolise flowing water...and its depictions are most often found on river canyon walls...Pic by "Nine Mile the Third"

Sooo...Rattle snake-Big Horn sheep hybrid guarding water...Why? What does it mean? Well to understand this, we need to have a look at the climate in the Southwest of the USA and the annual lifecycle of Rattlesnakes and Big Horn sheep...

This is climate chart for Arizona...

That spike you see in Jul/Aug/Sep is the monsoon...Only the most important annual event, the one that makes corn agriculture (and life) possible in Arizona...And the rest of the Southwest...

In my post "Alosaka" about the Hopi Indian "god of agriculture and rain", I explained that he had Big Horn Sheep horns because the mating season of these wild sheep, characterised by violent ram fights, coincides with the Southwestern Monsoon season...

And so the Big Horn sheep became animal calendar marker for the Southwestern Monsoon season: 

When are the rains going to arrive father?

When Big Horn sheep start banging their heads my son...Now shut up and go to sleep...🙂

Eventually this animal calendar marker became deified...And we ended up with the Rain god with Big Horn sheep horns...To whom people could pray for rain...It's kind of hard to pray to a sheep...

So this solves the horn part of the horned snake, mythological being associated with rain, thunder and lightning, the protecter of flowing water...BTW, a lot of the canyons where horned snake petroglyphs were found are dry, except during monsoon season...So let's have a look at the reproduction lifecycle of Rattlesnakes...Cause animal calendar markers most often mark mating and birthing period of the depicted animal...

In the Southwest of the USA, Rattlesnakes are active between Mar/Apr and Oct/Nov.

But they are most active during the monsoon season (Jul/Aug/Sep). In just a few short months, they need to shed their skin (at least once), give birth, find mates, mate...

Which makes Jul/Aug/Sep the most likely time to be bitten by a rattlesnake...

I don't think that this would have gone unnoticed by the local hunters/gatherers/corn farmers...

Soooo...The monsoon thunderstorms arrive when Big Horn sheep and Rattlesnakes start mating/giving birth. What do you think? Is this why in Southwestern USA we find "horned serpent" as the guardian of water associated with rain, thunder and lightning? 

I think so...

BTW, the horned snake from the original tweet is just a part of a larger petroglyph panel, depicting a the "spirit" (???) with horned snake (guardian, bringer of water) on one side and the sun on the other. As opposing forces??? Or just to emphasise that the wettest part of the year in in Southwestern USA is also the hottest time of the year??? Pic by Randy Langstraat.

This petroglyph is one of many made during the archaic period (6000 BC - 100 BC)...Here is another one from that period. I love the horned snake with hands spewing water (rain)...Oh, and there is another "spirit" (???) there too...Pic by Randy Langstraat.

Apparently no one knows what these "ghost" like creatures with "tails" could be...Well, the monsoon rain storms, which arrive with the "horned snake", look like this...Hmmm..."ghost" like creatures with "tails"???

Maybe this petroglyph panel, also from the archaic period (from Thompson, Utah) depicts just such rainstorm? Compare this image to the above pic of monsoon clouds spewing water onto the dry ground...Pic by Calvin J. Hamilton.

In the middle of this panel is this horned dude, with what look like Big Horn sheep horns. Just like our Hopi friend Alósaka, the Big Horn sheep god of grain and rain, whom I mentioned earlier...

The Utah horned dude also has no legs, and looks like one of those monsoon downpours...Which apparently have a name: microbursts...or...rain bombs...Like this spectacular one...

Downpours which create flush floods and fill the rivers with water...Like this flush flood in White Canyon, Utah. And he has what looks like flowing water pouring out of his shoulders...Hmmm...

And next to the horned rain cloud dude is a horned snake...The guardian (bringer) of rain...Which arrives in Jul/Aug...In the 7th moon after winter solstice...Keep this in mind...Now look at this petroglyph...A horned snake with 6 horns and a rattle...Pic by Michael Fuller.

Apparently, no one knows what this means...Maybe each horned snake represents on moon and the rattle means thunder...And this all together means "the horned snake brings rains after 6 moons counting from the winter solstice"??? What do you think? Makes sense?

Monsoon rains which are brought by the horned snake in Jul/Aug, end the drought, caused by the summer sun in May/Jun. Look at this: petroglyph at Los Lunas site, depicting shielded warrior (with sun shield) engaged in combat with horned serpent...Pic by W. C. "Bill" Porter.

Oh BTW, in case you wander if this horned snake has Big Horn sheep horns, it does. Just reversed for some reason. This article shows all different ways Big Horn sheep were depicted, on Southwestern petroglyphs. 

Normal horns example

Reversed horns example 

Pic by Maarten van Hoek.

I could go on and on, but I think this is enough for everyone to get the point...What we are looking at are complex animal calendar markers for Monsoon season in the Southwest...

Animal calendar markers which were developed by the "archaic people", nomads, who lived from hunting large and small game animals, and collecting and processing wild plants...

They occupied the Southwest of the USA from approximately 8,000 years ago until the introduction of corn agriculture about 2,000 years ago...The earliest examples of their art appear in Utah, in and around the Canyonlands National Park...

BTW this is climate graph from the area of Utah where these cloud dudes with horned snakes first appeared. The precipitation peak starts Jun/Jul, peaks in Aug, and ends in Sep/Oct...From "Climate of the Central Colorado Plateau, Utah and Arizona: Characterization and Recent Trends"

Interestingly, the corn farmers continued using the same animal calendar markers...What does this tell us about cultural continuity in the area? I think a lot...

These animal calendar markers were developed locally, in the area, and were used by local people, hunter/gatherers who later became farmers. They were not imported from any other part of the world where we find animal calendar markers. And I found them everywhere I looked so far. 

Like everywhere else, these animal calendar markers are an inevitable product of the process in which hunter gatherers turn into farmers...

Hunter gatherers knew everything about plants and animals...And if those animals do the same thing every year, at the same time, then you can use them as calendar markers...

As agriculture become more and more important, and people start depending on it more and more, the animals related to the most important annual agricultural events (like monsoon rains) become more and more important. To the point where they become deified...

And turned into gods...As I said, you kind of look stupid praying to a Big Horn sheep for rain...So you pray to a God of rain with Big Horn sheep horns...Makes much more sense...

And this seems to have happened everywhere...And I believe totally independently...It's just the way we are...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this article. I did certainly enjoyed researching it and writing it...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...