Tag: Pictographs

Who Knew

Desert Southwest, National Parks, Photography, Utah, Zion

I’ve lived in the Zion National Park area for the last 16 years but until recently, did not know these 2 interesting artifacts existed nearby. Less than an hours drive are some dinosaur tracks and Native American Indian rock art know as pictographs. Pictographs are painted onto the rock and petroglyphs are carved into the sandstone.

The figure of a man is on the right and on the left is a small Desert Bighorn Sheep.

The dinosaur that made these tracks is the Dilophosaurus which resided in this area about 190 million years ago during the Jurassic Period.

Petroglyphs and Pictographs- Snake Gulch Has Both

Arizona, Desert Southwest

On a hike last week into remote Northern Arizona, we encountered petroglyphs and pictographs. Both are Indian rock art, produced by Native Americans hundreds of years ago. A petroglyph is an image carved, incised or scratched into stone. A pictograph is a painting on stone using natural pigments. 

 

Entering Snake Gulch practicing social distancing. There were no others there as we expected.

 

Petroglyph

 

Petroglyph

 

Pictograph

 

Pictographs are usually found in caves or alcoves that offer protection from the elements of sunshine, wind-blown sand and precipitation.

 

Pictograph