Ancestral Puebloan Art

The Ancestral Puebloans, once called the Anasazi, lived in the Four Corners region for over a thousand years until about 1300 CE. They moved south and east to the Hopi mesas, Zuni, Acoma and the Rio Grande valley. They are the ancestors of today’s Pueblo peoples. Their rock art is both pecked and painted and often found near dwellings and granaries and along canyon walls. It includes flute players, bighorn sheep, birds, spirals, handprints, faces, and shield figures. The panels in this gallery show a few of these themes.

The Crane Panel: petroglyph of a long-necked crane with outstretched wings and a circle — The Crane Panel.

Petroglyph of a crescent moon over bighorn sheep and a face — Crescent moon over sheep and face.

Petroglyph panel with a large human figure, birds, plant-like forms and round shapes, some marked by bullet holes — Forms on this panel may be baskets, an atlatl dart, a staff, birds, animal prints, and the well-defined anthropomorph. The “light bulb” forms on the right are seen on many Ancestral Puebloan panels in the area and no one has any idea what they represent.

Petroglyphs on dark desert varnish: two bird-headed human figures, a wavy line and small animals — There are a lot of human-like forms with a bird head in this area but this is the largest and best of them I’ve seen. I have always assumed the birds were ducks but archaeologists won’t make that claim. It’s possible this is a clan symbol.

Faint petroglyph figures on the underside of a rock overhang, above a small stone wall — Twins. These are pecked on what appears to be an old dwelling or storage area.

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