“The Primal Prayer” Dan Garrett

“The Primal Prayer”

“This sculpture is of a Paleo-Indian from 12 – 15 thousand years ago, of the Southern California region.

From the first time I saw the skull of a saber-tooth tiger (Smilodon californicus), I knew I had to work it into a sculpture someday. After reading a magazine article on Paleo-Indians, I realized the time period they were on this continent, the Pleistocene era, was the same time period that the saber-tooth tiger was here. I saw my opportunity to use the tiger skull with my favorite subject, the human figure, in particular, the head. After further research, I found that the proportions of the saber-tooth tiger skull and the human head fit together like they were made for each other.

I speculated that, like the historic Indians, the Paleo-Indians would have believed they gained power and wisdom from honoring the magnificent predators of their time. This would have been done in various ways, one of which was using different parts of the animas for head dresses and other personal decoration. I used clam shell earrings because they were found in ancient sites, of this period, in southern California. The meat was eaten and the shells probably would have been used for a variety of things, including jewelry/decorations. The large claws on the medicine bag are from the saber-tooth tiger. Dire wolf claws, also from the Pleistocene period, were used on the neck strap.

There are no hard facts to support that this is what Pre-Historic Indians looked or dressed like, however, they were on this area of the continent with these animals at the same time.” Dan Garrett