Prehistoric Petroglyphs

  • Sites are scattered throughout the southwestern U.S. on cliffs, boulders and cave walls. These images are composed of petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pictographs (rock paintings). Many are found in the Petrified National Park and Painted Desert.
  • Most petroglyph sites in the park date from about 1000-1350 AD.
  • It is believed that the petroglyphs are solar calendars to track the yearly movement of the sun across the sky through the interplay of sunlight on the petroglyph.
  • Petroglyphs were made by pecking away the dark surface (desert varnish) of the rock to reveal the lighter underlying rock, generally sandstone. Archaeologists have categorized petroglyphs found in the park into six groups: Anthropomorphs, Zoomorphs, Kachinas, hands\tracks, geometrics, and indeterminate.
  • Anthropomorphs and Kachinas represent the human form.
  • Zoomorphs include large and small animals, reptiles, and birds, such as lizards, snakes, birds, bats, coyotes, and rabbits.
  • Hands and tracks include bear paws, bird tracks, cloven hooves and human feet or handprints. Some human tracks even appear in pairs.
  • Geometrics consist of textile and pottery designs, spirals, circles, and other geometric shapes.

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