Just another Wednesday at the office

Revised Friday, 12/15 One of 50 petroglyph boulders we found in Lobo Valley, and "nearly a world class rock," according to the rock art experts, Jim and Bernie.
Bernie photographs a deer painting underneath the rock ledge. The ancient rock artist's fingerprints and fingertip strokes of the paint are still visible, many centuries later. A detail of the same deer painting, below.

Yesterday I got to explore private ranch land with two petroglyph experts, retired educators who've traveled all over the world researching and writing papers about ancient rock art. It was fun to see them stand in front of a boulder, and quietly say in awe, "THIS is a good rock." They spent the day photographing and sketching the markings, and I got to tag along, learning as much as I could.

I most enjoyed seeing how the artists used the bumps and fissures in the rocks to accentuate their drawings. The horse eye (above) is easy to see because of a protrusion in the rock, and the jawline is partially defined by a ridge on the surface.

The figures we saw were varied in both age (some from the Archaic period up to 2,500 years old; others less than 1,500 years old) and design (human, animal and plant forms; geometrics; calendar or counting systems).

One cluster of rocks was deemed a place of importance to women of ancient times. A vulva-shaped opening had been carved into a boulder which allowed rainfall to pass through it. Today the water nurtures a resurrection fern living below. While carvings are not usually done by women, there were some marble-sized indentations usually attributed to women artists. It is thought the carvers might have been seeking the rock's curative powers for umbilical cord scars and other medicinal needs. The petroglyphs on the rocks indicated fertility and Jim and Bernie felt the rock might have been a birthing place.

Seeing these rocks would be an incredible experience for tourists, but I have to be careful about promoting petroglyphs. Even though the sites are on private land and hard to get to--you have to know someone with a key or hire a guide--poaching is a problem. My guide pointed out one rock that had its face chipped away. She said, "there used to be a horse picture here."