The Phelps Creek Petroglyph, an historic rock carving in Ashtabula County, Ohio, is described.  Local tradition indicates that it was carved at some time in the late 1800s by a local farmer, William F. Goddard, who used the outline of his wife's feet.  Some general thoughts on the interpretation of prehistoric and historic rock art are also presented

Murphy, James L., 1941-

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INTERPRETATION OF THE PHELPS CREEK PETROGLYPH: WAS MRS. GODDARD SPLAY-FOOTED? Introduction In the late 1960s, while employed by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to conduct their archaeology program, I vis-ited Camp Whitewood on Phelps Creek, near Windsor Mills, in Ashtabula County. This was the location of a prehistoric earth-work cutting across a narrow promon-tory overlooking the gulf of Phelps Creek. According to Ohio Historic Preservation Office records , the site, known as the Wind-sor Mills Fort and Village Site, was exam-ined by Emerson Greenman in 1929. In the 1980s the "fort " received some additional attention (Lee 1987) but the most specific information found in the published literature seems to be brief statements by Belov-ich and Brose (1992: 17-18) and Belovich (1998: 176) that it is one of three such hill-top enclosures in northeastern Ohio yield-ing "but few artifacts and no evidence for a deep village midden." Recovered artifacts were limited to small amounts of lith ic deb-itage and three cord marked grit-tempered body sherds. While the number of such sites is certainly debatable, for there are certainly far more than three such in the reg ion, the description of 33-Ab-3 as lack-ing a deep midden and yielding very few artifacts is correct. Since it was prec isely abundant midden and artifacts that William E. Scheele, then Cleveland Museum direc-tor wanted, no further study of the Wind-sor Mills Site was possible at the time, but I was told of a petroglyph that had formerly existed on the brink of the high waterfall on Phelps Creek. Many years later I learned that the carvings were still in existence and had been mounted above a fireplace man-tle in the Camp Whitewood Lodge. Sea-sonally restricted access to the camp and other constraints have prevented me from examining the actual carvings. "Foot-print Rock" Recently, however, I obtained a postcard photograph of "Foot-print Rock in its Old Location" at Camp Whitewood. It bears a 2 cent coil Jefferson postage stamp first issued in 1954, which suggests a terminus ante quem date for the postcard and photograph, although this particular stamp was used for many years after 1954, into the 1980s. The photo shows what appears to be a rather larger pair of drastically splayed feet, sur-by James L. Murphy Emeritus Professor Ohio State University Libraries 1858 Neil Avenue Mall Columbus, OH 43210 rounded by a plethora of carved initials. Nonetheless, I assumed these to be prehis-toric petroglyphs similar to carvings of human hands and feet found at several petroglyph sites throughout Ohio, for prehistoric petro-glyph sites are often marred by the accretion of more recent carvings (e.g., Adams County petroglyphs, Swauger 1984:13). In researching the history of this petro-glyph , however, I soon found a website about Camp Whitewood which includes numerous excerpts from a history by John P. Parker, Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University Extension . According to Parker's research, "Sometime in the late 1800's, a young couple from Orwell , Mr. and Mrs. Will Goddard , were picnicking at Warner's Hollow. Mr. Goddard had his wife stand barefoot on a wet cloth , then on the rock. He drew around the wet prints with a pen-cil and then, with a small mallet and chisel, made the realistic footprints. Residents in the Orwell and Windsor areas in the 1800's generally were aware of the origin of the footprints ." Further, "About 1950, someone decided they wanted the footprints from the rock. They were chiseled out of the rock and sto-len. Because of their historical importance, a reward was offered for their return by Mr. Tom White. As a result , the individual tak-ing the footprints returned them, the reward was donated to the camp, and the foot-prints are now located in the GrindstQne Creek Lodge and Conference Center." The identity of Mr. and Mrs. Will Goddard is easily confirmed by federal census records. William F. Goddard (1853-1929) is listed as a farmer in Orwell Township in 1900 along with wife Wilmot (1858-1930) and three children. Mr. Goddard 's other chief claim to fame is a patented hay-elevator and carrier (U.S. Pat. No. 206, 104), patented at the age of 25 in 1878, and , together with his brother Roland (1841-1907), a patented machine for weav-ing basket-blanks (U. S. Pat. No. 691 , 621) in 1902. Interpretation Footprint impressions are relatively com-mon on Ohio prehistoric petroglyph sites but are often so generic as to leave the interpreter guessing whether they represent human feet or ursid paws (Swauger 1974: 98; Murphy 2009). The Camp Whitewood 18 footprints are clearly intended as human, however. While it would be interesting and desirable to examine these carvings closely to determine any existing distinctions between them and documented prehistoric examples, such a project is hampered by seasonal and physical inaccessibility of the Camp Whitewood carvings and the heavy degree of weathering that has affected known prehistoric examples. Some may question the ready accep-tance of what is essentially oral tradition in assigning these carvings an Historic age when many authorities previously urge caution in accepting modern-day Native American interpretation of petroglyphs based on oral tradition , but there are sev-eral considerations. The present oral tradi-tion goes back no further than one or two generations and has been maintained by local inhabitants who have remained in the area for generations. Furthermore, there is no religious interpretation or political motive that might cloud the issue of the origin of the Camp Whitewood petroglyph . The Camp Whitewood carvings are much more realistic in depiction than compa-rable prehistoric examples, which would accord with the method described for their production . Finally, no known prehistoric examples display the remarkable splay-footed ness shown by the Camp White-wood petroglyph. If deemed prehistoric or historic aborigi-nal, no doubt there would by now be roman-tic Running Bear-type explanations of the location of these footprints at the top of a cliff, perhaps even imaginings of prehistoric Aztec - or Inca-like human sacrifice, expli -cations just as culturally insensitive and demeaning as the possible over-interpreta-tions of these rock carvings as Historic arti-facts. Did Mr. Goddard have a foot fetish? (Not enough evidence). Did Mrs. Goddard have rather big feet and walk splay-footed? (Again, not enough evidence, though I can't help being reminded of Dr. Olaf Prufer's fond and perhaps overly-frequent use of the axiom " If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck .. . ") Perhaps the best interpre-tation is to interpret all such objects with caution - even as to whether they are pre-historic or Historic - and not overload them with cultural, sociological or psychological preconceptions. References Belovich, Stephanie J. 1998 Defensive or Sacred? An Early Late Woodland Enclosure in Northeast Ohio. p. 154-179 in R. C. Mainfort, Jr., and L. P. Sullivan, ed. Ancient Earthen Enclosures of the Eastern Woodlands. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Belovich, Stephanie J., and David S. Brose 1992 Late Woodland Fortifications in Northern Ohio: The Greenwood Village Site. Kirt-landia 47. Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Figure 1 (Murphy) The Phelps Creek petroglyph. Lee, Alfred M. 1987 Archaeological Reconnaissance in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Archaeologi-cal Research Reports 78. Murphy, James L. 2009 The "Lost" Barnesville Track Rock. Ohio Archaeologist v. 59, no. 2 (Spring 2009), pp.29-34. 19 Swauger, James L. 1974 Rock Art of the Upper Ohio Valley. Akade-mische Druck-u Verlagsanstalt, Graz. 

Interpretation of the Phelps Creek Petroglyph: Was Mrs. Goddard Splay-footed?

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Interpretation of the Phelps Creek Petroglyph: Was Mrs. Goddard Splay-footed?

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