Petroglyphs: 400 year old stories!
The Petroglyph National Monument, in Albuquerque, was established in 1990 and we are glad they did! It helps to protect one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America (over 20,000 of them.) We visited two out of the three areas of the monument and these rock carvings, dating back 400-700, were surrounded by houses!
Bird.
The light spot, front right, was used to sharpen tools.
The petroglyphs were "carved" out of a volcanic rock escarpment by ancient pueblo people, by removing the desert varnish, or patina, that had come to cover the boulders after years of heat, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles. The darker the carving, the older it is. (Fun fact: A pictograph is painted on the rock, rather than carved.)
Petroglyphs in this area can be animals, people, or symbols, such as the cross. The cross created by ancient pueblo peoples can signify the four directions. Some crosses were also created by Spanish shepherds who came to the area later, and are Christian religious symbols.
The meaning of symbols is not know, or if known is often not shared due to its sacred nature. It's thought that some symbols serve ceremonial purposes, while others were more practical, signaling trade routes or used to communicate with people traveling from pueblo to pueblo in the Rio Grande Valley.
Sadly the area has also been defaced....we are not sure but figure the smiley faces to the right aren't 400-700 years old.
We didn't see many like this man.
Or this guy...
Most of the trails in the monument are quite short (.25-.5 miles) This was a longer one and was about two miles.
On the way home...horses!