Indian Petroglyphs at Rock Art Ranch
Posted by Belle on 26 Jul 2007 at 07:39 pm | Tagged as: AZ, desert, travels, trips
One interesting tour we took most recently when my in-laws were here, was at Rock Art Ranch. I already showed some breathtaking pictures of the Rock Canyon River in my previous post.
As we walked through the canyon, we saw petroglyphs up and down the river. A petroglyph is an image carved or etched into rock by the ancient people known as the Anasazi. Petroglyph is among the earliest form of art or early system of writing, which dates back as far as 9,500 years ago. That is quite a while ago, before Christ even! Amazing!
Petroglyph comes from the Greek word petros meaning stone and glyphein meaning to carve.
Nobody knows for sure what these symbols meant. Look closely, what do you think the pictures depict or symbolize? Your guess is a good as anybody else’s. 
I’ve never seen petroglyphs up close with my own two eyes before. Thanks for sharing these pics. I really dig this, you know? I would love to see them someday for myself and “reconnect” with the ancient people who carved these drawings.
Ancient writings fascinates me - it lets you travel back in Centuries why they write things in those rocks. It was probably to communicate with the Gods so they leave traces. I think this where people get the idea of wrting/draw into the streets, referred to a graffitis. I may be wrong but you know mountain ROCKS in HK I believe is considered to be “HOLY” it’s as if the “Gods” are watching the earth. Remember that “BATONG PALOWAY” in Calolbon? Our elders says that the beautiful image of the Virgin Mary was found by a young boy in the mountain (not sure) in a form of a rock and it keeps getting bigger and bigger and almost visible now. You can almost see her hands appearing, the moles on her forehead makes the ‘imahen’ more beautiful. I do believed that it was all true.
I found a small image of her here. I couldn’t believe when saw it between my eyes when I last visited.
Hi Belle. Those are fasinating writings on the wall. I’ve never seen real petroglyph before but I find it very interesting. Thanks for sharing those great photos.
Kathy, it was my first time to see petroglyphs up close. i stayed there for a while trying to figure out what the drawing meant. in the last pic, i can see a woman and a man next to each other. could there be a courtship going on??
K, i have never heard that Batong Paloway in Calolbon. that is really something. whoever that boy who saw the image of Virgin Mary must be very blessed.
Rach, you are welcome. i was fascinated, too, when i laid eyes on those carvings for the first time in my life. if only i knew what the symbols meant.
Petroglyphs !!
Again you transported me to a different world. Awesome, just awesome.
I was just reading a post by tutubi last night about petroglyphs too, in the Philippines. It must be fascinating to see them up close and study what message they were trying to impart.
Those petroglyphs are fascinating. Imagine it has been there for thousands of years.