FCC Pictographs, UT. This spot could have been one of the most spectacular rock art sites in all of
FCC Pictographs, UT. This spot could have been one of the most spectacular rock art sites in all of Utah, but it’s become a prime example of what can happen when vandalism goes unchecked. I think the main downfall to this site is its placement at ground level and the relative ease with which one can approach the wall. It’s just too easy a target for stupid people. As far as the actual indigenous art goes, the pictographs and petroglyphs are impressive. The zoomorphs here are practically life-size (possibly Barrier Canyon style?), and the shield-type pictograph is still vividly colored with iron oxide & white. It’s hard to tell if the headless animals are meant to be that way or if they’re just incomplete. One looks to have a rider on top (Slide 3), but I don’t think these are meant to be horses. They look way too old for that. In Slide 4 you can see some pecked hatch marks and bits of color (Below the large shield) that look like ornate necklaces, possibly belonging to more anthropomorphs that have since faded. There are just so many layers here, and it’s hard to see what’s what. The vandalism is prolific and spanning decades, from 1881 to as recent as 2004 from what dates I can make out. Some of the names look more recent than that. It’s the kind of site you could spend hours staring at and more images would keep coming to the surface, but there’s an overlaying sadness here. No matter how hard you stare, the bullet holes and names and dates won’t go away, They’ve been shot and scratched into this canvas deeper than any marks the Old Ones ever left here. And those bullet holes and names and dates will be here long after all the beauty from this site eventually fades into nothingness. -- source link
#rockart#petroglyphs#pictographs#nativeamerican#archaeology#anthropology#indigenous