Turtle Stuff from Tim MacSweeney

Simularocka

I just made up a new word, simularocka.

Thanks Norman.

So speaking of turtles, here’s what I found about one accepted turtle effigy…

From the html version of the file http://www.mt.blm.gov/ndfo/coteau/coteaufeis/appendixd.pdf:

“Stone effigies are arrangements of stones intended to portray specific figures or symbols. Zoomorphic effigies (Davis 1975:32; Hoffman 1953:12) and anthropormorphic representations (Deaver and Deaver 1984:16-21) have been reported at a number of locations….Site 32ME1486, commonly called “the turtle effigy” was determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. The site contains an effigy figure that has documented uses for traditional cultural purposes for a minimum of three generations and is actively used today (Deaver 2001).

The Crow and the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara) regard monumental stone structures, such as effigies and medicine wheels, as having sacred attributes. The Sioux and Assiniboines consider them wakan. Commonly, they have mythological associations with supernatural figures that make them appropriate places for fasting, prayer and making offerings. Cairns associated with these features commonly represent offerings. Effigies mark locations that have always been, and continue to be, appropriate places for fasting, prayer and making offerings. The patterns made by the stones are recognized as representations of the spiritual qualities of the area. For generations people have visited these effigies and conducted ceremonies. They continue to use these places today when access is allowed…”

My Google search of images got me this one tiny photo:

52. Turtle Effigy State Historic Site -- Located near Golden Valley, Mercer County, this site preserves a twenty-one-foot-long turtle petroform--an animal shape formed of stones. Made by Native Americans prior to European immigration, this type of site is rare and not accessible to the public.

State Historic Sites Administered by the State Historical Society of North Dakota

http://www.state.nd.us/hist/sites/aborig.htm

And then I found this:
Photo by Calvin Grinnell

Within traditional Hidatsa territory, on lands later shared with the Mandans, there is a turtle effigy on the edge of a high ridge. The turtle feature measures twenty-one feet from head to tail and is thought to be at least several hundred years old.

The tribal affiliation of the creators is unknown. Some tribes, however, such as the Ojibway, Blackfoot, Sioux, Mandan, and Hidatsa, recognize the importance of the turtle in their religious beliefs and hunting ceremonies.

"This is the only effigy I ever saw but heard that the old people knew of many others down the river near their old villages and would go there to make offerings. Anyone could make offerings of knives, pieces of hides, or dry meat and other things to eat when asking for rain or other good luck such as living to be old. If they had children, they would ask the gods that go with the turtle to send good luck. To give to the turtle was the same as giving to all the other gods that went with the bundle.

"While we stopped near the turtle, people made offerings to the turtle and the other gods that went with it. Some left knives but in the olden times the flint knife was given, for the flint was the sign of the big birds who go with the turtle and the other gods in the Missouri and the creeks around.

"After we moved on from this turtle it was so foggy one day that the leader could hardly find his way. The hunters had to hold each other's hands to keep from getting lost. An Arikara brought a knife and gave it to Clam Necklace (Mandan with a Thunder or Big Bird bundle) and asked him to try to clear the fog. Clam Necklace took the knife and marked out the shape of a turtle on the ground. When he finished shaping the turtle, he prayed to the turtle, telling him that the people could not go any farther and asked the turtle to clear the fog away. Then he stuck the knife in front of the turtle image, saying that the knife belonged to the turtle and the other six things in the water. It was not long afterwards, and while the men were standing around the image, that the fog cleared away from where the turtle lay. Then it cleared out in a circle around the turtle, growing larger and larger, until the fog entirely disappeared. Those who were connected with the big birds and the snakes of the Okipa were the ones to pray" (Bowers: 1965).

Turtle and other effigies are rare and fragile resources. Vehicle traffic, unauthorized digging, souvenir collection, and cultivation have destroyed many of these sites.

Photos by Calvin Grinnell

http://www.trailtribes.org/kniferiver/all-my-relations.htm#turtle

Turtle Effigy Diagram
Courtesy of Three Tribes Museum

From the Link to diagram of a turtle effigy