White Mountain Petroglyphs

After we have crossed the Red Desert and begun our drive north, we find a ridge, banded with white and pink strata, that runs east to west.  We go east along this ridge through a plain of sagebrush and shadscale.  Sand makes mini volcanoes around sagebrush.  There are pale umbels of buckwheat flowers and tight yellow heads of Rabbitbrush flowers.  

We stop at a crooked finger of beige stone that points southward from the ridge.  Shallow caves have been hollowed from the base of the stone.  On facets of stone near these caves we find petroglyphs.  We walk from facet to facet and most are crowded with designs.  Incised striations and hatching or arches appear to be abstract, and, yet, a zig-zag line could be a mountain range or string of days.  Many designs are doodle-like but others offer a story that even those us who emerge from cars can read. There is a hunt scene.  There are various animals—elk, deer, dog, and bear. There are many humans.  Stick figures.  All are composed of deeply incised lines.  

The most arresting images are incised hands.  It is as if hands had been pressed into softened stone, leaving deep impressions, and then the rock had hardened around them.  I know someone spent hours, if not days, chipping and rubbing this stone to incise the fingers.  The work was done with precision.  Ridges rise between the impressed fingers.  The best-incised hands have palms.  One set of hands has been especially deeply incised.  These obsessive hands hold dark shadows.

Comments

[Lucy]

Hi, I just found our blog. It's beautiful and inspiring. Great texts and pictures. I'll read more...
Best,
Lucy

[larry]

Lucy--Thanks very much. Larry