Desert Messenger

10 www.DesertMessenger.com September 21, 2016 FREE CLASSIFIEDS Desert Messenger offers FREE Classified Ads! HERE'S THE SMALL PRINT: Items for sale under $1000. Private Party Only. 1 per month. Yard/Ga- rage/Craft Sales, Wanted, Give-a-ways, Free, Lost & Found, etc. (non-commercial) For more information, contact Rain at 928-916-4235 or Email: Editor@DesertMessenger.com How rocks can change your life ADVENTURES WITH ROCKS ™ www.RocksInMyHead.com The 1000 year old carvings in the ba- salt cliffs spoke volumes. These cliffs deep in the Kaibab National For- est were created by an ancient lava flow from the San Francisco Volca- nic Field. In this particular area be- tween Williams and Flagstaff, along old Historic Route 66, the scenery is a mix of pine, fir, spruce and aspen, with a dry and porous soil composed mostly of lava cinders and ash. Wild- flowers, grasses, and small cacti poke up through the rocky ground. Moun- tains of cinder cones and outcrop- pings of basalt give depth, color, and dimension to the panorama. This is the landscape of the San Fran- cisco Volcanic Field, which covers just over 3000 square miles, and lies on the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. It extends eastward in an ir- regular belt from Williams, AZ to just east of Flagstaff. Volcanic activity in this area began deep underground about 6 million years ago, and re- mained largely subterranean until about 1000 years ago when lava flows and eruptions began. The Sinagua people, ancestors of the Puebloans of the Four Corners area whose name means "without water", inhabited the forests of this area living in pit hous- es, hunting, gathering, and cultivating corn in an arid landscape. The Hopi refer to these people as Hisatsinom, or "those who lived long ago", and it was these peo- ple whose lives were dramatically altered by the eruptions and flows of the San Fran- cisco Volcanic Field. Although the exact dates of the eruptions are not known, geo- logic and anthropo- logic research has sug- gested that the initial eruptions occurred around 1050 AD and continued for about 100 years. Cin- der cones grew up around the region, spewing cinders and ash across the landscape. Lava flows oozed across the land. Cinders and ash coated the soil. The Sinagua people witnessed these dramatic events, and stories of these eruptions are embedded into the oral traditions of the modern day Hopi people. Sunset Crater near Flag- staff, and the lands around it, are still today considered sacred to many of the Pueblo people. The eruptions drastically altered the Sinagua homeland. Agricultural land immediately surrounding the volca- noes and cinder cones was covered with a thick layer of cinder and ash rendering it unsuitable for farming. Enormous chunks of basalt flowed across the land building bluffs, buttes, and craggy ridges throughout the once gentle landscape, and pushing boulders out ahead of it. The lands immediately around the volcano we know today as Sunset Crater were no longer inhabitable by the Sinagua and became the sacred dwelling of the spirit being Kana'a Katsina. But further from the Sunset Crater Vent, the ash layer was thinner. Here, the ash layer acted as a water-retain- ing mulch, greatly enhancing the soil and establishing a rich environment for agriculture. The lava flows also created new hunting grounds and diverted water to previously dry ar- eas. Tall basalt cliffs formed canyons, while fissures and cracks in the basalt formed caves and shelters. Waterfalls suddenly appeared where there once were flat slow moving streams, and concave basins in the impermeable basalt collected water into shallow pools teeming with life. It is at one of these pools where 1000 year old stories are carved into the rocks - stories of how rocks can change your life. Stories about how specific exploding rocks changed the lives of one group of people quietly living in the arid plateaus of Northern Arizona, before it ever was Arizona. These are the petroglyphs of Keyhole Sink, a beautiful box canyon formed by a lava flow of the San Francisco Volcanic Field. Here, amidst the tall pines, two flows come together form- ing a keyhole shaped box canyon. In the spring, snowmelt cascades over the cliffs into a "sink" at the bottom. Aspens and shrubs line the base of the cliffs, and a lush meadow of grasses and wildflowers blankets the canyon floor. A cave provides shelter, and a perfect vantage point for observing wildlife as they came to drink and browse. Even during a dry summer, there is water here. The sink is sur- rounded on three sides by tall cliffs, and the narrow open end is sheltered by trees. It is the perfect hunting grounds and rest stop, and it is here, about 30 miles from Sunset Crater, where new pit house villages sprung up after the eruptions. Surrounding the site, for a radius of about fifteen miles are the remnants of pit house foundations. And inside the canyon, the petroglyphs, dat- ing from 700 and 1100 AD, tell the story of how the canyon was used for hunting and rituals. One prominent glyph depicts animals being herded into the canyon, with the only escape route cut off. Looking around at the water, the lush meadow full of berries and other wild foods, and the cave for shelter, it is apparent how these basalt cliffs made life in this forest so much easier. These stories, carved into the stone, beautifully explain just some of the ways that rocks did, in- deed, change the lives of the ancient people of Northern Arizona. If you are near Flagstaff, stop at the ancient sites of Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments, and then head to Keyhole Sink. We will be open in Quartzsite at A37 in Rice Ranch at the beginning of November. We carry a very nice selection of Native Ameri- can artifacts, as well as rocks, miner- als, and fossils, plus everything you need for rockhounding, prospecting, lapidary, and more, at RocksInMy- Head. You can visit us online at www. RocksInMyHead.com or order by email at Jenn@RocksInMyHead.com or over the phone at 605-376-8754.

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