How does Tony Hillerman use imagery in A Thief of Time: A Novel?

Imagery:

"If an Anasazi had risen from his thousand-year grave in the trash heap under the cliff ruins here, he would have seen the Humpbacked Flute Player, the rowdy god of fertility of his lost people. But the shadow was only the shape of Dr. Eleanor Friedman-Bernal blocking out the light of an October moon."

"When the rocks were hot enough and the fire had burned itself down to the coals, he covered the sweat bath frame with the tarp and slid under it. He squatted, signing the sweat bath songs that the Holy People had taught the first clans, the songs to force contamination and sickness from the body."