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Fly Away

posted in Rock Art

Fly Away

Here’s a very intriguing Barrier Canyon Style pictograph that Philippe and I accidentally discovered in the San Rafael Swell last month. This is just the very top portion of the panel I’ve called The Unexpected Panel and it is very well preserved…it’s also my favorite part of this entire panel! The ‘holes’ in this figures’ hands and feet remind me of the Skeleton Shaman located at the Head of Sinbad, though this one has much longer and curved fingers. It seems to be interacting somehow with the ‘flying circles’ which might represent birds? Below those ‘flying circles’ there also appears to be a dog-like zoomorph with some details painted in it’s body that are reminiscent of the Intestine Man near Moab.

>> An Unexpected Surprise in the Swell

Through the Arch

posted in Rock Art

Through the Arch

A small Barrier Canyon Style pictograph panel in the San Rafael Swell viewed through a small arch in the sandstone. The day I visited this site (and a couple of others) it had been snowing on us all morning and never let up the whole day. Fortunately, this panel was well protected under a nice overhang so I could get this photo. Of course, the view through the arch required that I stand in the snow to see it, but it hardly mattered as I was already soaked from head to toe…..the things I do to see rock art!

>> Snow Day in the Swell

Snake Dance

posted in Rock Art

Snake Dance

This is just a small portion of the well-known Buckhorn Wash Pictograph Panel located in the San Rafael Swell. Because of the panel’s close proximity to the Old Spanish Trail and currently next to a wall-traveled road, there has been a steady stream of potential vandals passing by this spot for over two centuries……and vandalize it they did. Thankfully, as part of the 1996 Centennial Celebration, citizens of Emery County initiated the restoration of the Buckhorn Wash Panel.

While I rarely try to figure out the meaning behind the rock art sites I visit (I prefer just to enjoy them for what they are), I did read an interesting theory about this panel in a book called ‘On the Trail of Spider Woman’ by Carol-Patterson-Rudolph. While this site is usually categorized as Barrier Canyon Style, LaVan Martineau has presented an interpretation that associates these pictographs with the Hopi Snake Dance Ceremony and dates them from AD 1000 to 1300. It’s an interesting theory and I enjoyed reading about it, but in the end, who really knows? The theory did help me come up with a name for this photo, though.

>> Swell Rock Art & Arches

Rochester Creek Panel

posted in Rock Art

Rochester Creek Panel

A different perspective of the very impressive and well known petroglyph panel at Rochester Creek in the San Rafael Swell. Some rock art experts attribute the panel to the Fremont, while others believe it is Barrier Canyon Style….I’m guessing it is a mixture of both with some other later styles in there, too. It’s an amazing panel and there are many other petroglyphs located nearby, so I will have to post some closer and more detailed photos in the future.

>> Swell Rock Art & Arches

Fremont Rainbow Panel

posted in Rock Art

Fremont Rainbow Panel

Here’s part of an amazing Fremont pictograph and petroglyph (pictoglyph) panel located in the Ferron Box of the San Rafael Swell. The panel extends to the left, but that part of it was destroyed by a vandal who left behind a layer of plaster after a failed attempt to make a copy. It’s unfortunate, I would love to have seen the full panel intact.

>> The Ascending Sheep & Ferron Box

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