Existing comment:
They Walked the Valley:
Petroglyphs:
Drawings made on cliff faces, boulders, and bedrock were a major art form for America's early peoples.
In Valley of Fire, the most common rock art type is the petroglyph, a symbol cut into a natural rock surface. As style and content reflect continuity and change through time or between regions, petroglyphs help shed light on culture history.
Most of the art in the park was made by hunters and gatherers who lived here between 4000 and 1000 years ago. No one alive today or in the recent past made these drawings.
Since the people who made them vanished long ago, the meaning of the images found in this rock art cannot now be determined. Only a few ancient symbols are recognized: atlatls, bighorn sheep, people. Why the designs were made and what they mean, we can only guess. Modern Southern Paiute people want the petroglyphs to be protected. They believe the symbols were carved on the rocks by supernatural beings at a time when humans and spirits lived harmoniously together on the earth. With the general decline of religious belief throughout the world, the spirits no longer communicate in this way. The ancient messages still remaining should be respected as sacred sites.
Ideas were communicated through these rock art images, but the symbols do not link together to tell a connected story. These designs do not represent speech; rock art is not writing.
Rock art is the dimly heard voice of the ancient ones. If you listen carefully, you will heart their faint whispers. Let us show them care and respect, and work together to preserve these links between the peoples of the past and the children of the future. |