What did the native Americans use pictographs for?

Answer 1

The short answer is to aid the memory.

The long answer is much more complex and many very good books have aimed to study the subject in great depth.

Garrick Mallory has published an excellent two-volume book entitled "Picture Writing of the American Indians" (Dover Press) - although the title is misleading because pictography does not record language, as true writing always does.

Mallory covers signs carved on rock (petroglyphs), tattoos, textiles, wampum belts, winter counts, maps and notices, tribal designations, clan symbols, property markings, religious symbols, charms and amulets, records of expeditions and battles, signs carved on trees as direction indicators, colour symbolism and modern fakes and forgeries, among many other topics. He includes examples from all over the Americas and compares them with similar symbols used in the rest of the world.

"Winter counts" are perhaps a good example of the use of pictographs as memory aids; many survive in the form of buffalo hides painted with symbols arranged in spiral form to record a major event relating to each successive year. In the winter count of Lone Dog, a set of thirty black lines arranged in three parallel rows indicated the year 1800 to 1801, when thirty Dakotas were killed by a Crow war party; a man's head and torso covered in spots indicates the year 1818 to 1819, when a measles epidemic broke out and many Dakotas died; a picture of meat drying on racks indicates the year 1845 to 1846 - a year when buffalo meat was plentiful and everyone had extra meat that could be dried to preserve it over the winter.

These signs clearly do not record language or words, but simply assist the reader to remember specific events of the time.

The subject is far too complex to give a detailed answer here, but this will give you some idea of the way pictographs work.

Answer 2

Native Americans used pictographs as a form of communication and storytelling, often portraying historical events, religious beliefs, or recording important information such as maps or calendars. Pictographs were also used for ceremonial and artistic purposes, showcasing the cultural heritage of different tribes.