Anasazi Neon, Sunset, American Southwest

(Click image to enlarge)

This petroglyph is estimated to be roughly 1,000–1,200 years old, originating around 800–1300 CE, when the Fremont culture flourished in America's southwest. It is attributed to the Basketmaker culture or Ancestral Puebloans.The figure was painstakingly pecked through the dark desert varnish that coats the sandstone surface, exposing the lighter rock underneath. Over many centuries the desert varnish will also coat the lighter exposed parts, but the three dimensional detail will remain until time wind and weather erase everything. Petroglyph age can be very roughly determined by seeing how much the desert varnish has coated the exposed lines. The style of the artwork is also major indicator, and it can be more accurate.

This panel is somewhat difficult to photograph because the only place to stand is on a ledge that is very close to the panel and slopes away from it. Photographing it at sunset also requires not casting shadows onto the panel. Even on a cool day, standing with direct sunlight on one side and the very hot rock surface on the other feels like being in an oven with the broiler on. The resulting photograph shows how the panel has always looked to anyone standing in the valley below it. It's something like a neon sign that can be seen across a large area. That may well be why the ancients carved it here. The panel may be some type of message, but we can never know its meaning.

Because it is large and bold, this particular figure first drew my attention. It is part of a large panel that contains other finer, more detailed, and perhaps more interesting, figures. Much of the panel was used for target practice many years before my visit, so I did not want to photograph it. It is fairly rare to find rock art that has not been vandalized in some way, especially when it is accessible without great difficulty.