moment's notice
Imagining their World
In canyons on overhung sandstone cliff faces, eroded caves, or large protected boulders, is evidence of people who once flourished throughout the Colorado Plateau. In addition to protected dwellings of admirable masonry, pottery shards, stick figurines, chipped arrows and tools of chert, maize cobs and thatched juniper ceilings, pictographs and petroglyphs give clues to what these ancient people thought and how they lived. And yet, it is hard for me to imagine their world.
Survival depended upon their intimacy with their surroundings. We carry what we need for a few days or a week into these canyons, but living off the land year-round is another matter. The climate was a bit different then, a little wetter. So that makes agriculture a little easier to imagine. But how did they communicate without cell phones and facebook?
Rock art, of course! Will we ever be able to interpret their meanings? What were these ancient people, termed Archaic Culture by anthropologists, imagining when they drew these other-worldly figures? And how did they have the time? Did they represent their spiritual world, or costumed dancers? Were they menacing or comforting or protective?
These beautiful Barrier Canyon style pictographs in Sego Canyon are easily accessible, but hard to interpet. So-called because the type specimens of this pictograph style are found in Barrier Canyon in a remote part of Canyonlands N.P., the anthropomorphic figures are elongated, usually without appendages, often have large bug eyes, and may be decorated with necklaces, or wear earbobs, horns or antennae. They may be accompanied by snakes, or tiny birds or animals sitting on their shoulders. Painted, with a red clay slip and with some delicate brushwork, you might not guess these panels have lasted over 2000 and up to 8000 years. This extensive panel sits about 10 feet up the cliff and the largest figures are 6 to 7 feet tall. These remarkable detailed figures are some of the oldest art found throughout the southwestern cultures. What do you imagine their world to be?
Imagining their World
In canyons on overhung sandstone cliff faces, eroded caves, or large protected boulders, is evidence of people who once flourished throughout the Colorado Plateau. In addition to protected dwellings of admirable masonry, pottery shards, stick figurines, chipped arrows and tools of chert, maize cobs and thatched juniper ceilings, pictographs and petroglyphs give clues to what these ancient people thought and how they lived. And yet, it is hard for me to imagine their world.
Survival depended upon their intimacy with their surroundings. We carry what we need for a few days or a week into these canyons, but living off the land year-round is another matter. The climate was a bit different then, a little wetter. So that makes agriculture a little easier to imagine. But how did they communicate without cell phones and facebook?
Rock art, of course! Will we ever be able to interpret their meanings? What were these ancient people, termed Archaic Culture by anthropologists, imagining when they drew these other-worldly figures? And how did they have the time? Did they represent their spiritual world, or costumed dancers? Were they menacing or comforting or protective?
These beautiful Barrier Canyon style pictographs in Sego Canyon are easily accessible, but hard to interpet. So-called because the type specimens of this pictograph style are found in Barrier Canyon in a remote part of Canyonlands N.P., the anthropomorphic figures are elongated, usually without appendages, often have large bug eyes, and may be decorated with necklaces, or wear earbobs, horns or antennae. They may be accompanied by snakes, or tiny birds or animals sitting on their shoulders. Painted, with a red clay slip and with some delicate brushwork, you might not guess these panels have lasted over 2000 and up to 8000 years. This extensive panel sits about 10 feet up the cliff and the largest figures are 6 to 7 feet tall. These remarkable detailed figures are some of the oldest art found throughout the southwestern cultures. What do you imagine their world to be?