@article {9667,
	title = {Red is the Colour of Blood: Polychrome Rock Art at Rattlesnake Cave, Alberta, Canada},
	journal = {Canadian Journal of Archaeology},
	volume = {38},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {027-075},
	abstract = {<p>Rattlesnake Cave (DgOw-20) is a small rockshelter located within Rocky Coulee just outside the west boundary of Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park in south-central Alberta. Approximately 40 faint pictographs are found inside the shelter, all drawn in black but a few also showing traces of red pigment. Close examination of the pictographs using colour enhancement indicates that the red was used to show blood from wounds to humans and horses as well as bloody tracks marking the travel of these wounded individuals. This is the first report from a Great Plains rock art site of the use of the colour red to show blood on black drawings. Humans, animals and material culture are described, and 9 narrative compositions\&mdash;primarily involving combat and horse stealing\&mdash;are proposed to account for the action depicted at DgOw-20. Rock art at DgOw-20 dates to the Post-contact Period and quite certainly is of Blackfoot origin. Rocky Coulee is interpreted as a focal point in the region for the creation of Biographic style rock art, while the nearby site of DgOv-2 is interpreted as the focus of Ceremonial art.</p>},
	author = {James D. Keyser and David A. Kaiser and Jack W. Brink}
}
