A small Barrier Canyon Style pictograph panel located high up near the back of a large alcove. Even though these pictographs have not survived as well as the nearby Perfect Panel, you can see that they were at one time just as detailed. You can click on the image to view a larger size on Flickr where you can get a better look at the fine details that remain.
When we headed down to Escalante this last weekend, it was one of my main goals to try and find this particular pictograph panel. I had seen a photo of this pictograph a while back, and because it was so unique I just new I wanted to find it and see it for myself. I have seen many petroglyphs and pictographs, but nothing like this one before. It’s very interesting that each person around the circle is different from one another…no two are exactly the same.
Unfortunately, I have no clue what style this pictograph is, but if I had to guess it would be from a later culture, after the Fremont/Anasazi were gone from this area. Perhaps it is Ute or Paiute? There is a small rainbow off to the right (just out of the frame) so maybe I am wrong and it is Fremont? If anyone out there has some thoughts or information on this pictograph panel, I’d love to hear them in the comments below.
This weekend, Amanda and I headed down to the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument so that we could search out some rock art and ruins in the area. Our first stop yesterday was to visit the Hundred Handprints near the Escalante River. Unlike the last cave that I visited which claimed to have 100 handprints, this one actually delivers. This panel of many white handprints is located high up in a shallow alcove, which makes them very visible if you know where to look. The steep slickrock to to access this panel was much too steep for my climbing ability, even if I hadn’t been wearing sandals!
The Moqui Queen and her dog are prominently displayed at the back of a very large alcove along North Wash in southeast Utah. Not only are these impressive examples of Barrier Canyon Style pictographs, they are situated in a spectacular location, which is what I tried to convey in the image above.
I’ve seen many bighorn sheep petroglyphs while out exploring the desert, but for some reason this one has always seemed to stand out to me. I consider it one of my favorite sheep petroglyphs, and have visited it a number of times. It’s carved on a canyon wall along Kane Creek near Moab that has many other petroglyph panels nearby, including some that are quite large and impressive- but for some reason I always gravitate back to this precisely pecked petroglyph (say that three times fast!).
