On Wednesday Dec. 10, at 11 a.m. at a location near the Bogachiel Fish Hatchery, the Quileute Tribe recovered a newly-discovered petroglyph in a ceremony near where it was found along the Calawah River. The limestone rock, hand-carved prior to contact with Europeans, depicts a legendary battle between the tribe’s creator and a monstrous red lizard that guarded passage on the shortest path between the Sol Duc and Calawah rivers.
Elders and tribal leaders say the rock is the only known petroglyph depicting a Quileute legend on the tribe’s traditional territory. Nearly all of the tribe’s art from pre-contact days was lost in an 1889 fire that destroyed its village at LaPush.
The rock was discovered last December on state-owned shore-lands by a local fisherman, Erik Wasankari, and authenticated by Washington State Department archeologist Lee Stilson, who was on hand at the event.
With the river rushing by and rain falling the recovery ceremony included a Quileute prayer, led by Tom Jackson, songs and remarks from tribal leaders as well as remarks from Erik Wasankari, and Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark.
Following the ceremony the petroglyph, which was moved to higher ground on the river bank yesterday because of heavy rain, was loaded up with the help of a small piece of equipment. It then traveled by vehicle through Rayonier land and then on to LaPush, where the Quileute will have another ceremony this evening at the A-Ka-Lat. It had been planned initially to take the rock by boat, but the with the rivers running so high that plan was dropped.
Carvings in the rock show K’wati, the legendary figure who transformed the tribe from wolves to humans, with a red comb atop his head and three defined teeth and a tongue extending to the head of the Red Lizard. According to the legend passed down through generations of tribal members, the Red Lizard built his lair, called Xa’laxti, on the path between the two rivers, preventing people from using it.
K’wati killed the lizard along with many other monsters at the Time of Beginnings.
When Erik Wasankari found the rock last December he was bank fishing with his son and had stopped to have some lunch, when he noticed a marking on the rock that was then covered with moss. As he and his son began removing the moss they could see they had found something special.
Wasankari took pictures of the rock at that time and shared it with a few people that agreed it was special.
Wasankari contacted the University of Washington and the Quileute tribe to report his find. State Archeologist Lee Stilson, who just retired a week ago, called the discovery the most significant of his career. It is Stilson’s thought that the carvings extend to the underside of the bolder as well.
