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we were up for a short hike up to a nearby petroglyphs location. We drove a short distance and continued by foot.
What a gorgeous day for a walk in the desert!
I was distracted by the abundance of agates on the way, my eyes to the ground, when I realized that I was talking to a cactus while Tony was way ahead of me.
We left the bajada and started climbing the side of the mountain.
We could see the van parked down below.
A short way up we came upon a large boulder covered with petroglyphs.
and another, smaller one, nearby.
We tried to find information about these petroglyphs, but couldn’t find any, so their date and meaning remains unknown. Dating petroglyphs can be by association to other artifacts or sites nearby and by measuring the patina on them.
It’s hard to tell whether the boulder was part of the cliffs towering above (look back at the first photo), or carved in place after tumbling down.
What story are they telling? There are many interpretations by archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians, some, with little evidence. In many cases we see recognizable figures, but we don’t know what story or teaching they meant to tell.
What do you see in these rocks?
We went up a mountain and now we started making our way down the hill (bonus points if it made you laugh and you saw the movie)
Saw some cows roaming in this open range zone.
I still had eyes to the ground looking for rocks when I started spotting artifacts. At first it was a few chert flakes and as I started focussing my search, I found a large cluster of flakes. This was a site, which is not surprising given it’s proximity to the petroglyphs.
I know what I will find next, and there it was, a broken projectile point made from a beautiful pink and white chert. The flintknapper was probably very upset when it broke!
We will forward this information to the BLM archaeologist just in case they are not aware of this site.
And that was the cool find of the day.
If you want to read about our other trip to Arizona and the the petroglyphs (and other stories), you read it here.
Next stop: Quartzsite.
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