About Singing Desert

Singing Desert is a collection of my photographs of American Indian rock art, petroglyphs and paintings from the canyon country of the Southwest. Most were taken in Utah, with others from Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Colorado.

I am not an archaeologist, and no one really knows what this rock art means, but the artists were clearly saying something. I enjoy trying to figure out what that is. I find the art always interesting and sometimes sublime. The interpretations here are mine, and they’re only my opinion. I’d welcome hearing yours.

To see how the styles on this site relate to each other, see Rock art styles, oldest to youngest.

If you're new to the site, First Look is a good place to start.

Visiting rock art

These panels have survived for hundreds or thousands of years, and they are easily damaged. If you visit rock art sites:

• Don’t touch the rock art. Oils from skin wear away pigment and patina.
• Don’t chalk, trace, wet or make rubbings of figures.
• Don’t climb on panels or lean against them.
• Leave artifacts where you find them, and don’t move rocks or build cairns.
• Stay on existing trails and walk lightly around ruins.

Further reading

• Polly Schaafsma, Indian Rock Art of the Southwest (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1980).
• Polly Schaafsma, Rock Art in New Mexico (Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1992; first published 1972).
• Polly Schaafsma, The Rock Art of Utah (Cambridge: Peabody Museum, Harvard University, 1971).
• Sally J. Cole, Legacy on Stone: Rock Art of the Colorado Plateau and Four Corners Region (Boulder: Johnson Books, 1990; revised 2009).
• Ekkehart Malotki, Kokopelli: The Making of an Icon (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000).
• F. A. Barnes, Canyon Country Prehistoric Rock Art (Salt Lake City: Wasatch Publishers, 1982).
• Utah Rock Art Research Association (URARA), a group that studies and works to preserve rock art in Utah and the surrounding region.

Contact

Questions or corrections are welcome: doak.heyser [at] pm [dot] me

All photographs © Doak Heyser.