Tag: petroglyphs

A visit to an archeological site in Sedona

The canyons that surround Sedona are known to contain many Native American dwellings and other artifacts. Visiting these sites can be an exciting adventure—especially if you don’t actually know where they are.

I suppose there are web sites and other sources of information that might show where these are and even include photographs and GPS coordinates. I’m less interested in visiting these web sites to get precise information than I am in exploring and finding them on my own. I certainly won’t find many this way—but that’s okay. It’s the adventure that provides the interest.

So we have been visiting and re-visiting some canyons in the area and trying to determine where dwellings might exist. There are several ways to do this. One is to look carefully at the cliff walls and decide if these might support a dwelling. The next is to look for faint paths created by others that lead to the hidden sites within the canyon. And the third is to listen for loud folks who’ve found something and follow them ;-)

Cliff dwelling in a canyon near Sedona.
Cliff dwelling in a canyon near Sedona.

Methods two and three above worked in our favor recently and we visited this dwelling. It was well preserved and there were some pottery sherds (also sometimes called “shards”) as well as corn cobs. As is often the case, visitors had picked up these artifacts and placed them on rocks or walls for easy viewing—although most archeologists suggest they be left where they were found.

Ancient rock art on canyon walls.
Ancient rock art on canyon walls.
Pottery sherds laid out on nearby rocks.
Pottery sherds laid out on nearby rocks.

Our appetites whetted, we plan to visit these canyons again and try to find more
sites.

Rock Art in Red Tank Draw on a Warm Spring Day

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Not too far from the highway and only a short walk from a challenging forest service road are some amazing panels of rock art. Welcome to Red Tank Draw.

The draw is a deep wash draining from Rarick Canyon on the Mogollon Rim into Wet Beaver Creek, often carrying cold snow melt in the early spring. But today the flow of water was quiet and gentle. It’s been a warm and dry winter, after all.

From an article in the Red Rock News:

“Petroglyphs are the main attraction but multicolored lichens growing on the sheer rock walls can be found here as well, some forming designs as intriguing as the etchings.”

“As ancient as the rock art, lichens are the unlikely combination of a fungus and an algae (although sometimes a fungus and a cyanobacterium)”

On this warm spring day, we wandered up and down the draw examining numerous panels of rock art. We’ve been here before and knew where to look so we went for our favorites.

Rock art panel containing the "sabre tooth cat" along with colorful lichen.
Rock art panel containing the “sabre tooth cat” along with colorful lichen.

This panel is often referred to as the “sabre tooth cat” panel. It looks like a sabre tooth cat but is probably a more common feline predator such as a bobcat.

The premiere panel of rock art found in Red Tank Draw.
The premiere panel of rock art found in Red Tank Draw.

But the best panel is found on a large sandstone wall that has evidence of geologically recent rockfall. As the sun moves westward and shadows creep across this face the rock art becomes more impressive until, finally, a single spear of light pierces across the rock wall.