The White Shaman Mural

The depth and detail of [Boyd's] analysis is extraordinary and adds a much-needed level of twenty-first-century methodology to rock art studies of this region. Boyd employs a relaxed, familiar tone in her writing style, making extremely analytical details easily accessible for readers at most levels. CAA Reviews

It is rare that a book completely changes our perspective on a major body of rock art. Yet that is what Carolyn Boyd’s The White Shaman Mural will do for the spectacular Pecos River murals. Combining an impeccable ethnological approach with hard data obtained via new recording methods, this groundbreaking book is eminently readable despite the complexity of the concepts involved. It should appeal to lay readers as well as professionals. Jean Clottes, author of Cave Art

The White Shaman Mural not only provides a thorough demonstration of technique, but it also raises provocative issues regarding the history and cosmovision of Native America. Boyd penetrates the cosmological conceptions of the past as she unveils an amazing text painted on a rockshelter wall thousands of years ago in southwest Texas. Alfredo López Austin, author of The Myth of Quetzalcoatl and emeritus researcher, UNAM

This volume is surely the most important publication on Lower Pecos rock art in this—and perhaps even in the last—millennium. Boyd uses Mesoamerican ethnohistoric data and pan-Mesoamerican concepts to interpret what others have regarded as uninterpretable. This book will not simply challenge the field but will redefine it. Thomas Guderjan, University of Texas at Tyler, author of The Nature of an Ancient Maya City: Resources, Interaction and Power at Blue Creek, Belize and Ancient Maya Traders of Ambergris Caye

This is a milestone in the study of ancient American visual culture. First, it showcases the fruitful results of the scientific studies that the authors conducted, as well as their modes of analysis and analogical interpretation. Second, this work makes a major contribution to the literature on the expansive interaction spheres and fluid boundaries between the US Southwest, Mesoamerica, and south Texas. Finally, it provides a solid model for the interpretation of visual imagery from societies without alphabetic writing and especially for the study of Mesoamerican and Native American art. Carolyn Tate, Texas Tech University, author of Reconsidering Olmec Visual Culture: The Unborn, Women, and Creation