Rock Art

You can't turn a corner in New Mexico without coming face to face with the ancient inhabitants of the southwest. The rocks still show us cryptical artwork of these peoples, and I have enjoyed finding and viewing it.

What does it all mean? I honestly have no idea! Even the experts speculate. All I believe is that people spent countless hours pecking, scraping and painting these designs, and that it was important to them in ways we will never fully understand.

Many of the photos in the first gallery were taken along the Santa Fe River, and are labeled by the nearest settlement: La Bajada, La Cienega or La Cieneguilla. The Crow Canyon petroglyphs are Navajo, and located in San Juan County, New Mexico. The Horseshoe Canyon pictographs feature the famous "Grand Gallery" from Utah's Canyonlands National Park.

The second rock art gallery is all New Mexico, and all petroglyphs. One location is the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, near Alamogordo, and another is Petroglyph National Monument, inside the Albuquerque metro area. Both sites feature many thousands of glyphs. Another great area is the Galisteo basin, but access is difficult at this time.