#respectandprotect

GC Petroglyphs 3, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, NV. Just some happy sheep.

R Panel, Emery County, UT. Definitely one of the most famous petroglyph panels in Utah, and equally one of the most impressive. The glyphs show characteristics of multiple styles including Fremont & Barrier Canyon, with some historic graffiti thrown in for good measure. This would imply that this panel has seen use for a period spanning thousands of years. The location of this site is also quite unique, with the panel being situated at the tip of a narrow ridge overlooking the confluence of two drainages. There’s just so much happening here that I’ll have to make a few other posts with some of my favorite details. You can see in the second & third photo that there was probably a lot more depicted, but a portion of the wall has either fallen off or been removed. One detail I will mention is the vertical line that runs through the panel on the left side, and reaches all the way up to the top of the wall, over 10 feet high. Just an absolutely amazing site that more than exceeds its reputation.

SJ Panel, Inyo County, CA

CRFS Panel, UT. A mix of petroglyphs, pictographs, historical graffiti, and not-so-historical graffiti. You can basically trace the timeline from the pictographs to the petroglyphs to the graffiti and really get a feel for how long this site has seen human activity over thousands of years. This was a sun-blasted day, so it’s not easy to see all the details and layers in this panel, but there are quite a few faded anthropomorph pictographs around the concentric circle design. And of course, bullet holes.

R Panel Details 1, Emery County, UT. Some specific glyphs from my last post. This group is mostly taken from the left side of the panel, where most of the large zoomorphs can be found. There is an advanced level of detail in these, with special attention given to the teeth, tongues, spines, and limbs. You can make out cranial & facial shapes like noses, brows, and ears. These were specific creatures from the mind of the person or people who made them. Whether they were real or imagined is anyone’s guess, though I suspect there is a little of both depicted here. I’m especially drawn to the animals from the 1st & 2nd Slide that look as if they are gliding through the air. There’s a real feeling of movement to these, another characteristic not often found in petroglyphs.

ER Petroglyphs, NV

SS Petroglyph, Inyo County, CA. Beauty in simplicity.

TMW Pictographs, Emery County, UT. Another famous Utah site with more examples of both Fremont (Slide 1) and Barrier Canyon Style (Slide 2) pictographs. The anthropomorphs in Slide 2 are considered some of the largest in all of Utah, measuring over 6 feet tall without considering the parts that have fallen away due to erosion. Easy visible from a busy road, this site has seen its fair share of vandalism, especially the unfortunate horned figure peppered with bullet holes.