Are Native American Indians responsible for portable rock art? Well that is actually a loaded question, obviously the indigenous peoples of America are surely responsible. However various researchers often try to ascribe their finds to a particular culture, Woodland or Archaic for example. Yes those cultures obviously did produce artistic objects, but if you compare the majority of
portable rock art and
figure stones finds to artistic objects found by professionals and ascribed to any particular culture, a big difference in style and technique is clear.
Here is a quick test which should give you a clue as to who made any particular art object:
Is it polished? These began to appear in the Archaic period.
Is it pressure flaked? Officially that would appear from the Clovis period and after.
Is it Ceramic? They appear in the Middle Archaic period.
Does the rock show multiple combined images? These are from an unknown pre-clovis culture.
The following pictures are all of modern fine flint artworks from Don Wilcox found on
https://flintknappers.com/ These were made with the exact same technique used by the Clovis culture. So Clovis peoples were capable of making such items, and yes a few ancient portable rock art finds have been found that do look very similar to these. I think that pretty much debunks the idea that woodland culture etc. peoples were responsible for many items labelled as portable rock art, and would suggest that a much older culture would be responsible for many of the genuine items labelled as portable rock art or figure stones.
