Exploring Ancient Petroglyphs

Come take a walk with me… to the Petroglyphs

What is it like to see the world’s oldest artwork up close and in person? In my opinion, it’s pretty damn awesome! It’s like an ancient ‘choose your own adventure’ novel, except rather than being written onto paper, they’re etched into stone.

It’s been said many times that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the world of pictographs (painted) and petroglyphs (carved) a picture can be worth just a single word. Putting those rock hewn pictures together however, leads me to imagine a riveting story.

On our year-long adventure, Kristin and I have journeyed to two different ancient sites. One site on a long, narrow winding road high up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and the other in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park, Texas.

Both areas come with their own legends of humans who lived there thousands of years ago. And on both occasions after attempting to decipher them, I left with more questions than answers. But that’s half the fun, the other half is the trek…many of these sites require a bit of an Indiana Jones type spirit for exploration to get to. So, come take a walk with me to Indian Head…

Indian Head, Big Bend National Park, Texas

Along the Rio Grande, in Southwest Texas, we ventured to a remote location within Big Bend National Park simply called “Indian Head”. It is an ancient, mystical place that we found out about from a kind, local Native American woman (a fascinating lady to talk with who was also married to a shaman!). She approached us one morning while we were staying in Marfa, TX and asked about our Destination Tree RV Decals.

After telling her our story, she must have appreciated our ‘positive energy aura’ because she let us in on the secret location of this ancient spiritual site.

Indian Head is not the kind of place you’ll find on a map. The only way you’ll find it is if someone who knows about it is willing to tell you its location. So with no maps, no cell coverage, and with our 4X4 truck we followed her exact directions across the dry, arid desert, looking for the landscape reference points she described in order to find this ancient site where petroglyphs could be found.

Our Petroglyph Expedition

Wanting to get an early start before the scorching heat of the day, it was in the pre-dawn hours that we arrived.

There are no parking areas or trail heads, just a bit of flat desert ground at the base of a series of small mountains that were pockmarked high up with what appeared to be caves. Caves, mind you, that a person would have to literally repel down to get into as climbing was not an option, unless you have some professional gear and skills. I really wish I knew what was up in them… or at least I think I do.

From the moment that the dogs hopped out of the truck we could tell they were disturbed by this place. They love car rides. They love walks and hikes. Normally, they’d be bouncing from excitement. But we’ve never seen them act so fearful and antsy before.

With the sun creeping up over the horizon, we loaded up with water and hiked towards the back of the mountain range where the woman told us we could find the petroglyphs.

In a sort of unnerving way she had also informed us that there would be a veil of energy we would have to walk through on the edge of a dry riverbed where evil spirits had been cast down in the past by the natives who occupied this area. No problem, right!?

As we carried on, even I had to admit that it felt as though we were never alone out there. The vibe I was getting was one of being watched by unseen eyes. Well, after a half hour hike, we reached the site of the petroglyphs. There they were in all their glory! It was in this place, long ago in a time now forgotten, where many chapters of a far older race had been carved out on boulders of various immense sizes.

On one particular rock, I read about a sky queen giving birth to mankind in the mountain area of the four corners of the earth.

And on another, the story told of two giant bubble headed snakes battling it out in the presence of excitedly dancing spectators. (Kristin says I have quite an imagination.) Take a look and decipher some of your own stories…

With so many artistic stories being told on the numerous earthen canvases, we could have been entertained for hours. However with the heat of the day approaching rapidly and two scared and tired dogs in tow, we decided to leave this amazing place of legend behind, head out through the spirit veil, and find our way back to society again for water and a break from the heat.

Fading Relics

Seeing some of the world’s oldest artwork up close and in person is truly a super cool experience. And it is the only way to see them. Pictures just don’t do the whole experience justice, although we tried. We plan to visit many more parts of the country where they can be found. (By the way, we learned that there are 26 states were these artistic relics are located…And those are just the ones where they’ve actually been discovered!)

Although sites like these are all around our country, time and human desecration is putting their staying power to the test. Sadly, for every one stony story we could still read on the boulders, there were many more that were no longer visible or legible. However, for those that are willing to look, there’s still an opportunity to seek these ancient stories.

So, if you’re feeling up to the challenge, choose a petroglyph site, put on your brown hat, grab your satchel & whip and go have fun using your imagination Indy style.

I’d love to hear your adventure story.

Cheers to the ancient and modern storytellers,

Matt