San Rafael Swell Pictograph

by The Forests Edge Photography - Diane Sandoval

Title

San Rafael Swell Pictograph

Artist

The Forests Edge Photography - Diane Sandoval

Medium

Photograph - Nature Photography

Description

This rock art panel is found easily in the San Rafael Swell area in Utah and in researching the history of the panel, I found that it is an exceptional art panel which makes this even more special.

The panel contains unique images of the Barrier Canyon Style that are found nowhere else and it contains both Barrier Canyon Style and Fremont type images. These two cultures existed during two different times in our history. The large size of one of the figures is about six feet tall which suggests that the creators of these paintings wanted their images to be easily seen. Their large size also seems to suggest that these images were of some exceptional significance to their creators.

There is what appears to be a large dog with finely drawn hairs on its tail and a white stripe through its middle. This may also have been the figure of a mountain lion due to the rounded toes on the feet. Another amazing figure to the far left has been called "Cactus Woman". Where the face should have been there is only a large open oval area with five thin horizontal lines across it and on each side of the head there appears to be earrings. this gives an appearance of a prickly pear fruit which is known to be an important part of the lives of the Barrier Canyon Style people, and may possibly be of symbolic significance.

Sadly, this beautiful panel has been damaged by vandals on numerous occasions. I have attempted to digitally remove the bullet holes from what remains of the panel. The elements and natural erosion has also caused much of the panel to fall throughout time. Despite that, it still remains a bold and powerful piece of art to see.

Credit goes to Steven J Manning for the historical background on this piece. Thank you, it was a fascinating read.

Uploaded

June 20th, 2019

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