Archaeologica.org

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE—An analysis of 50 cave art and 44 outdoor art sites in the southern section of the Appalachian Mountains indicates that, more than 6,000 years ago, Native Americans were mapping the cosmological universe onto the physical landscape around them. The tiered system had at its highest elevations depictions of heavenly bodies and weather phenomenon, at its middle section images of nature, and at its lower reaches drawings associated with death and renewal. "This layered universe was a stage for a variety of actors that included heroes, monsters and creatures that could cross between the levels," said University of Tennessee, Knoxville, anthropologist Jan Simek.

http://www.archaeology.org/news/1014-ap ... -cosmology

Very intriguing study, thanks for the post. Here is another article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... lives.html

And a good image gallery:

http://news.discovery.com/history/archa ... 130610.htm

Quote from 2nd link:

He and his colleagues suspect that the open-air rock art and the cave art were connected as part of “an organized alteration of the landscape,” with the creators of the images mapping “their conceptual universe onto the natural world in which they lived.” This happened in three dimensions, with upper (celestial in nature), middle (plants and animals) and lower (darkness, death and danger) worlds matching content with where it was placed in the region.

JAN SIMEK, ALAN CRESSLER, NICHOLAS HERRMANN AND SARAH SHERWOOD/ANTIQUITY PUBLICATIONS LTD.