The petroglyphs were very high up on a cliff face more than 100 feet above the ground. They were not visible from the bottom. We found them only after climbing up to the base of the cliff and then by following a series of narrow passageways through the rocks.

You may wonder how the ancestral Pueblo people who created the rock art were ever able to reach this particular spot. We were barely able to photograph it standing several feet below.

Geralynn, one of the Earthwatch team members, sketched the details of the panel. Her drawing shows five forms that suggest human figures. The two larger figures are each about three feet high. Their rectangular shape, the broad shoulders, the wing-like arms, and antennae horns are typical of a style that recurs throughout southeastern Utah. Archaeologists associate this style with the earliest phases of ancestral Pueblo culture. Human figures from later Pueblo culture periods look very different, often depicted as stick figures or slender lizard-like forms.

Two other figures in the drawing appear to be playing flutes, and may be linked to ceremonies of the flute society or flute clan, which are traditional Pueblo groups.

Credits: Courtesy of Kenneth Benson (top photo)
Courtesy of Geralynn Finn (bottom drawing)