The Danita Delimont Collection offers adventurous journeys, unexpected horizons. Next stop Mouse’s Tank hike where we’d see more petroglyphs.Favorite Petroglyphs at the Mouses Tank, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, USA Row 4: rain, (can’t read), atlatl, four directions/friendship. Row 3: broad downward motion, gone/empty, four directions/crossing, coming down. ![]() Row 2: general upward motion, sun, mystical bat woman, going up/water tank/spring. Row 1 left to right: Tortoise/turtle clan, Big-horn sheep, personal signature/death, Shaman/strong medicine/powerful. Do you think they climbed a ladder to this particular rock? It is unfortunate that modern people felt the need to add to these mysterious stories.Īrcheologists try to figure out what the petroglyphs mean. The second figure from the top under the big-horn sheep is suppose to be an atlatl which is a spear thrower used before the bow and arrow for hunting by native people. I’ve never seen an atlatl petroglyph before. The grid on the stairs isn’t particularly dog friendly, or Sasha friendly anyway, but we did see a guy descending with his dog. In fact the barrier at the top makes it difficult to photograph the entire panel. To access the “featured” and unique atlatl petroglyph requires climbing a steep set of stairs put in I’m sure to keep people off the rock and destroying the multiple panels. In fact natural processes have removed the mineral varnish and taken away some of the petroglyphs so some of the story is missing. Plus of course there’s natures art as well where spalling and mineral leaching creates interesting patterns. Some panels are way up high making me wonder why there, although there is usually a ledge or sloped face making it possible for these expert rock climbers to reach their pallet. I think I see water signs, dragonfly and yucca plant. Seeing footprints in a row makes me think someone took a journey. Some boulders have fallen from the cliff faces as parts of the story are buried in the sand where they landed. Yet the scarcity of water probably limited their stay. The earliest people here included the nomadic Fremont and later the Ancestral Puebloan farmers from the nearby Moapa Valley who came here to hunt and gather plants. Yet I am fascinated by the stories told here so long ago. ![]() I took hundreds of photos so will try not to share them all. We saw another shrinking pool hidden behind the cliffs. Of course we had to climb up about 10 feet to discover water, a rare and exciting find in this dry environment. First we saw what looked like an improved check dam once built to hold back water in a natural dip, or tank, in the rocks. ![]() I’d read to look in a tiny side canyon littered with boulders just to the left of the actual “feature”. A big landscape spreads out from the rock cliffs where the petroglyphs are prevalent. The day after hiking the White Domes loop and Fire Wave trails at Valley of Fire we started the morning with a short walk from camp to see the 4,000 year-old petroglyphs at Atlatl Rock. Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. ![]()
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