Petroglyphs are pictures and symbols pecked into a rock face (often in areas where there is ‘desert varnish’ to give a nice shiny black surface) by Native Americans who lived long ago, and they are beautiful. If you want more information, follow the link.
On our recent US holiday, we made visits to several petroglyph sites, and that picture up there is a close-up of one of the rocks at Parowan Gap. I have to say, these were some of the high points of our travels for me, because the thought that these fragile-looking things were carved into the rocks several thousands of years ago, and here I am standing looking at them, well, it’s mind-blowing. A true link to the past – another time, another people, and a whole different culture.Â
This particular part of the panel appealed to me immensely because there is a warning at the site about falling rocks, and this pair of petroglyphs seemed to portray an unfortunate individual suffering a very near miss. In fact, he looks kinda squished to me.
Parowan Gap proved very difficult to find. We had Susan*, but she didn’t seem to quite understand the geography, or the road layout or something, because she sent us down blind tracks to ‘Private, keep out!’ notices hung on barbed wire, and into farmyards, and at one point, through a perilously low conduit under a freeway. More to the point, after making a huge and very slow twenty mile circle around the general area, we were still no nearer finding the site and the sun was beginning to sink lower so we stopped and made enquiries. And yes, it turned out we had indeed made a huge circle, all the way around Parowan Gap itself.
Eventually, of course, we found it, but I was very sad to discover that this is one of the vandalised sites, desecrated by the initials of tiny-minded lovers, and by crude attempts to reproduce the Indian ‘rock art’ itself. Even the information board didn’t escape.
See that? Looks like a bullet hole to me – what do you think? Looks like the writing has been affected in a wide circle around that hole, maybe by heat.
Stupid people.
Anyway, this is my offering for Macro Monday this week; the first for nearly a month. MM people perhaps won’t know, but I haven’t been at home, you see. I’ve been travelling in exciting places almost all the way across the US of A, from Delaware to Vegas, and it was great fun!
Oh, and here’s a picture of a larger area
I must say, searching for, marvelling at, and photographing these things is really addictive – especially in the glorious weather we had while we were in Utah. And now I want to go back.
*Our GPS unit.
Hi Jay;
A wonderful post you have here. How interesting, and it’s too bad some folks always have to be destroying. I can only imagine how it would feel to be looking at these carvings from so long ago. Amazing.
By the way, our GPS, “Lizzie” does the very same thing! She and all the rest of the GPS’s must have attended the same class called “How to Send Travlers Down the Path of NO Return!” One time ours led us on a logging road where there was absolutely no way to get back, and we drove miles before we were able to turn around.
Becky
Becky´s last blog ..Macro Monday
Very nice shots. I do love these special way of writing from long time ago. Thanks for visiting my “home”
Marie Carpe Diem´s last blog ..MÃ¥ndags Tema v 45
Very, very cool. You are so lucky to be taking this trip and seeing such neat things. Thank you for sharing!
JD at I Do Things´s last blog ..I Got a Shot so you don’t have to
It does make you marvel when seeing these things
In the last photo you have the head of a large cat, maybe a leopard. Can you see it?
babs – beetle´s last blog ..A little bit of heaven on a spoon
Beautiful. The first one even comical! Our aborigines used ochre paints rather than petroglyph art but the sheer age of the wanjini hands on outcrops of sandstone and granite are indeed a wonder! I hate that sort of vandalism, there’s just no point.
Baino´s last blog ..Memelicious Monday
Thank you for your marvelous post. It does seem to be a bullet hole in the gravestone.
John McDevitt´s last blog ..Monday Musings: Farewell to Autumn
Should’ve had the Vegas CSI team examine that sign for ‘residue’ and blast pattern.
Glad we’re starting to see a few of the US photos. Come on, girl…….stop teasing and post a few hundred more. Please.
Silverback´s last blog ..Halloween – Time To Be Silly
Becky – Thank you! Yes, it was awesome, in the true sense of the word.
I think your Lizzie and our Susan must be from the same GPS school. How funny!
Marie Carpe Diem – Thanks! And thank you for visiting me, too.
JD – I know I’m lucky, I really do! I never, ever thought I’d get to do these things, not in a million years! But I do try to make the most of each trip.
Babs – Yes! I do! He’s a panther, I think, in the rock to the bottom left. Quite a large one, too. The local pumas and bobcats had better watch out!
Baino – Senseless, isn’t it?
The Native Americans used pigment to paint on the rocks, too – sometimes a combination of the two techniques, but the paint fades. Chipping designs into the desert varnish seems to keep them visible for a lot longer.
John McDevitt – How kind – thank you!
Silverback – Haha! Be careful what you wish for! I have hundreds. LOL!
I love petros! I hate that some people feel the need to deface them! Our GPS is George, lol, like. . .Which way did he go George, which way did he go?
Lisa’s Chaos´s last blog ..Nip it
Those are amazing. Great photos.
Thank you for sharing.
Regina´s last blog ..Vibrant Living
This looked like so much fun I would have had a blast shooting here. You close ups are great they show all the great little details, it is nice to see an interesting post like this and to be able to read the background on the photo is very helpful!
I do so envy you Jay. What a great road trip. And you have done the things that I love to do. Thanks for taking me with you in my mind.
ann´s last blog ..BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT
Lisa’s Chaos – George, huh? For our Susan, it’s not so much ‘which way did he go’ but (often in duet with OH) ‘Shut up, Susan!!‘ ROFL!
Regina and Amanda Moore – Thank you for your comments! I’m so sorry to have missed them out earlier – they must have been in ‘waiting to be approved’ list when I answered the others.
Amanda – I’m so glad you enjoyed the ‘back story’, and thank you for your kind comments on my photography.
Ann – I’m happy to have had you along for the ride!
I have OH, of course, which is great, but sometimes I wish I had more people to share these things with. Inevitably, there are things which appeal more to me than to him, or vice versa, which is why I called the petroglyph canyon my ‘Kennedy Space Centre’. I am awed by the space centre, but not so much as by things like this! And he loved the petroglyphs too, but again, not so much as I did.
oh, thanks for the belly laugh at the end – GPS, indeed (snort)! Truly fascinating, isn’t it? And yes, seems thuggery is a world wide pestulance, sad to say (sigh).
shrinky´s last blog ..Sisters
Aaahhh, ancient graffiti, always interesting. Modern vandalism, always very disturbing. Could spend a lot of time trying to decipher the last photo. I thought the first one was a comet or something. Perhaps the arrival of our old friend you-know-who?
How is Sid?
Our GPS is called Gretchen because she speaks German. She can also speak English (we have a British car), but then she also assumes we are driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. Which can be very confusing
Glad you are back and that you obviously had a great time.
These are not only terrific photos, they are fascinating artistic wonders from history! I never knew these were in Utah nor have I been to that state. These are great! I was watching the history channel yesterday while treadmilling and learned of places in Peru (I think) where other natural wonders were made. (Huge stone art that they think may have also been an astronomy learning attempt.)
Gel´s last blog ..Guts or Nuts?
Jay – these are really cool images and I liked the story that went along with it. Amazing to think of how long they’ve been there. Timeless.
Dave Ingram´s last blog ..Downtown Downy Woodpecker
i like these images a lot. Especially the rock-ones
and I guess that after your trip we will see a lot of great photos:-) Thanks for commenting
Christina, Sweden´s last blog ..Ordlös Onsdag – BlÃ¥
Awesome… I get tingles too when viewing things from the past like this.
But I have to wonder: did the grownups back then chide their teens about “defacing” the rocks too ?
Maureen´s last blog ..The Scariest Part of Halloween
Shrinky – Thanks! I’m always happy to hear I made someone laugh!
Yes, Susan is our GPS, and actually, the voice OH downloaded for it is actually called Susan, too! It’s a coincidence, because she was called Susan before that.
Carolina – Haha! Gretchen sounds very difficult, but it could be amusing!
Yes, that first one does look like a comet, doesn’t it? You think Data would travel by comet? Mmmm … maybe!
Gel – I have heard that Peru has some wonderful history, and scenery, too! You only have to read Don’t Bug Me’s blogs on the subject!
But if you’ve never been to Utah, I recommend it! It’s gorgeous.
Dave Ingram – Thanks! Yes, they do seem timeless, don’t they? It’s easy to feel very small and very mortal in their presence.
Christina, Sweden – Thank you! Yes, I’ll gradually be posting some of the hundreds of pictures I took!
Maureen – I think it was the adults who were doing the ‘defacing’ back in those days! LOL!
On our recent trip to Vegas, I (after a few drinks on an empty stomach) thought it would be just hilarious to see how many of those ‘business’ cards I could collect. I had hundreds, no 2 were the same!!
The Incredible Woody´s last blog ..Virtual Travel
Oops – posted that comment on the wrong post:)
The Incredible Woody´s last blog ..Virtual Travel