What are pictographs?
See the mysterious pictures on the cave walls? The ancient people who lived in the caves painted these pictures. These paintings are called pictographs. Just as the pictures you draw or paint tell a story, so do the paintings on the walls of the caves. The ancient people painted turtles, shields, warriors, guns and many other things that were important to them. That is why the first cave, the only cave with paintings, is called Pictograph Cave.
Pictographs are painted images. They differ from petroglyphs which are engraved into the surface. Although pictographs and petroglyphs are both found in this region, only pictographs have been found at this site. Both pictographs and petroglyphs are considered sacred by Native American people. Therefore, Native American people believe the places where they are found to be sacred, too.
Pictographs were painted with a variety of methods. A turtle-shaped pictograph in Pictograph Cave, dated at 2045 years before present, was painted with black and white paints. These ancient paints were probably made from ashes and clays mixed with animal fat and applied with fingers or a frayed stick. Later images, painted in red, most likely used mixtures of red clays and animal fat.
There are many theories about why pictographs were created. One theory is that ancient people painted them to record successful hunts or raids. A more recent theory is based on ethnography, which studies the origins and characteristics of cultural groups. This theory states that pictographs were most likely related to ceremonialism. For example, hunters who wanted to kill an elk may have painted this image on the wall as part of a ceremony to help them succeed. There are also many images of shield bearing warriors at this site. These may have been painted by warriors trying to gain the strength of the rock by painting their shields on the rock before battle. Although we continue to learn more about pictographs every day, the full meanings will most likely remain a mystery.
More recent pictographs, such as the rifles in Pictograph Cave, may be from more contemporary Native American tribes, such as the Crow or Sioux Indians. Many of the older drawings cannot be associated with modern tribes. Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, Pictograph Cave State Park Trail Guide, 1997.