Stalking the Past , The Rocks Begin to Speak

Artwork ID # 2306-31626-5

" How fortunate we all are, I think...to have these bits of the ( Ancestral Pueblo ) Way to provide our speculation, to humble us in this long and endless struggle to find ourselves in the world. "
- Barry Lopez, Searching for Ancestors

Prehistoric inhabitants of the Valley of Fire included the Ancestral Puebloan people who farmed the nearby Moapa Valley from approximately 300 BC to 1150 AD. This is a fine example of rock art ( petroglyphs ) found within the park. It is believed their visits were timed for hunting ( note the Big Horn sheep carvings ) and religious ceremonies.This panel consists of small anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images combined with nonrepresentational images and patterns. Many historians believe these works are evidence of a shamanic ceremony. Because of the ancient rock surface mineralization ( rock varnish ) creating a dark layer, these people took advantage of drawing by scraping and chipping through this layer to reveal a lighter layer beneath. This technique created a figure/ground relationship allowing for visual depictions.

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