Four Corners Furtherance: Petroglyphs

A quick history of Utah usually begins with the Church of Latter Day Saints pioneers who settled in Salt Lake City in 1847. But there were people already there, among them the Ute. On the left are petroglyphs of a fairly recent origin, taken near the trailhead of the path that leads to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. Since among the depictions are riders on horseback, most likely participating in a hunt, they could have only been carved in the post-Columbian era. The National Park Service believes they were engraved between 1650 and 1850.

Within Capitol Reef National Park are petroglyphs created by the Fremont people, who were contemporaries of the Ancestral Puebloans who I wrote about in my posts about Mesa Verde National Park. Since the Fremont, like the Ancestral Puebloans, were not a literate people, we don't know what they called themselves. Archaeologists named them for the Fremont River.

You may have to click on the image to make it larger, but these petroglyphs are typical of the style of engravings and were probably created sometime between 900 A.D. and 1300 A.D.

Next: Endangered arch

Earlier posts:

Arches National Park and the symbol of Utah
A final look at Capitol Reef
Butch Cassidy
Chimney rocks
Fruita
Capitol Reef National Park
The controversial Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
A final look at Bryce
Different scenes of Bryce Canyon
"Hell of a place," Bryce Canyon
Red Canyon
Cedar Breaks
Taylor Creek Trail
Kolob Canyons
The geology of Zion National Park
Overview of Zion National
Moqui Cave
Arizona's White Mesa and roadside stands
The dogs of Kayenta
Monument Valley at sunrise
Monument Valley at sunset
The road to Monument Valley
The monument is closed and in the wrong spot
More of Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde National Park and the Ancients
Gerald R. Ford Memorial Highway
Flatlanders battle the Rocky Mountains and a car gets altitude sickness
Buffalo Bill's gravesite
Buffalo Bill's Scout's Rest Ranch
My rattlesnake sighting

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