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Inside Out

posted in Rock Art

Inside Out

There is a reason I am posting this photo of a large petroglyph near Moab right after posting the Quail Panel earlier. It’s because this petroglyph strongly resembles the ‘shield’ figures found in the Quail Panel over 80 miles away…only much larger! Go ahead and compare! Of course, this one is much larger and pecked instead of painted, but the resemblance is uncanny. This large shield-like figure also has a smaller anthropomorph and part of a bighorn sheep inside of it. While there are quite a few other petroglyph panels found near this one, this one stands out the most for it’s uniqueness.

>> Hidden Valley & Behind the Rocks

Quail Panel

posted in Rock Art

Quail Panel

Here’s a wide view that shows most of the pictographs that are part of the ‘Quail Panel’ I guess this panel was called that because the figures kind of look like quail? Whatever the reason for the name, I can tell you that this is a very cool panel of small pictographs. The figures here are approximately six inches in height. I don’t think I’ve seen a lineup of this many Fremont shield figures anywhere else before, and especially not painted in red and yellow. It’s interesting to note that each figure painted here appears to be different from all the others and that no two are exactly the same.

>> A Hot Day in the Swell Searching for Rock Art

Successful Hunt

posted in Rock Art

Successful Hunt

One of the many scenes found on Newspaper Rock along Indian Creek on your way to Canyonlands. The hunter on horseback appears to have just shot an arrow at a deer or an elk and hit their target. I love visiting this site and seem to stop at it at least a few times each year. It always seems like I discover something new on this panel every time I visit.

>> Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs

Cowboy’s Secret

posted in Rock Art

Cowboy's Secret

Here’s another of the rock art panels I visited this last Saturday in the San Rafael Swell, known as the Cowboy’s Secret. This is an amazing petroglyph panel hidden among many large boulders with a great view of the surrounding area. The main figure kind of reminds me of The Guardian figure painted in Canyon Pintado of Colorado which makes me believe that this could be of Fremont origin. The large snakes carved in the stone above frame this figure nicely.

>> A Hot Day in the Swell Searching for Rock Art

Una Vida Petroglyphs

posted in Rock Art

Una Vida Petroglyphs

Shortly after arriving in Chaco Canyon last month, we hiked up to the Una Vida Great House near the visitor’s center. Una Vida is in a near-natural state of preservation with no major vandalism, and with only minor excavations and preservation repairs. Time and the forces of nature have collapsed the roofs. Walls have fallen. Centuries of blowing sand have covered the rooms with a protective blanket of sand.

A short walk up the slope behind Una Vida will take you to a few petroglyph panels. This is one of the better panels that we found in the park. I actually ended up returning to the panel later in the evening so that I could photograph this site bathed in the warmer late evening sunlight.

>> Long Weekend in Chaco Canyon

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