Desert Messenger

12 www.DesertMessenger.com December 21, 2016 If we listen, the rocks will speak ADVENTURES WITH ROCKS ™ www.RocksInMyHead.com What do Tanzania, Bolivia, South Af- rica, France, Spain, Algeria, Portugal, Australia, China, India, Aruba, and the United States all have in com- mon? Rocks, of course! More spe- cifi cally, talking rocks. Rocks that tell us stories about ancient peoples. Prehistoric rock art has been found all over the world and some of the biggest and best preserved sites con- tain thousands of images. Some of the oldest images have been dated to 35,000 years. The heaviest concentration of rock art sites here in the US is found in the Southwest, but rock art sites ex- ist from the southernmost edge of the country all the way to Writing Rock and Medicine Rock on the northern border of North Dakota. Rock art sites have been found from the west coast all the way to Florida and Ala- bama. One of the most famous east coast sites is Track Rock in Georgia, though petroglyph sites can be found throughout the eastern half of the US in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Massachusetts, just to name a few. In the Midwest, rock art is found in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Minnesota. Rock art is a broad term describing prehistoric images left on stone out- croppings, in caves, on cliff faces, and on boulders. Rock art sites are often found in association with other arti- facts like pottery shards and points, or other indications of settlement such as grinding holes or trash middens. In most cases, rock art is found in cultur- ally signifi cant areas such as hunting grounds and water sources, but some- times can also be located at or near sa- cred places, ceremonial sites, battle- grounds or burial grounds. Rock art sites can also be found at important stops along trade routes, like a meet- ing point, camp, mountain pass, or river crossing. There are three types of rock art. Petro- glyphs are images that are pecked or carved into the rock. The majority of rock art images found in the United States are petroglyphs. Painted images are defi ned as picto- graphs.Most of the rock art sites in Af- rica are pictographs, and the most famous pictograph site in the world is Lascaux in France. Signifi - cant pictographs are found in Utah near Moab, and recently some were discovered in a cave in Tennessee. The third type of rock art is called geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are gi- gantic images that are made by scrap- ing or gouging several inches into the earth, removing the darker top layer and revealing a lighter sublayer. Of the over 600 geoglyphs that have been discovered in the desert southwest and Mexico, the majority of them are found along the Colorado River in Ar- izona and California. Geoglyphs, also known as intaglios, depict enormous geometric designs, human forms, and animal fi gures, the largest of which measured 176 feet in length. Dating rock art sites can be challeng- ing. Identifying regional, cultural, and chronological differences in the im- ages allows archeologists to relatively date rock art. Other artifacts and cul- tural remains found in association with rock art sites can offer additional clues to the age of the images. In some cas- es, styles and techniques used to cre- ate the images can be associated with a specifi c culture and dated according- ly. One example of this is the Grimes Point site near Fallon, NV, where the archaic Great Basin Pecked style is distinctive from the other glyphs at the site. The Great Basin Pecked style shows coarsely created abstract and geometric forms like dots and lines as- sociated with the Fremont culture of 10,000 years ago. Images from a later period found at that same site exhibit more detailed depictions of animals, humans and other aspects of secular or spiritual life. Often, however, there are several superimposed layers of images representing long periods of time and usage by multiple groups of people, making relative dating more diffi cult. Additionally, weathering of the images, or even vandalism, can sometimes make dating Rock Art sites nearly impossible. Rock Art images speak to us about the ancient peoples who created them, their environment, their beliefs, their history, and even current events and the future. The science of Cryptanaly- sis, supplemented with considerable research, guidance from tribal elders, other artifacts found in-situ, and some imagination, helps anthropologists to decipher Rock Art glyphs. Crypt- analysis is a linguistic science, and has been used to decode Egyptian hi- eroglyphics, cuneiform, Linear B, Hit- tite, and some of the Mayan dialects. Rock Art glyphs in the US present a unique challenge, however, due to the immense variety and number of sites, panels, and images, as well as the differences in language, culture, en- vironment, and world view amongst geographically diverse groups. SEE ROCKS PAGE 26 TV ANTENNAS Authorized Dealer Works in Quartzsite - Lake Havasu City - Yuma All over the USA, Canada and Mexico OLD MOVIE CHANNELS NBC • CBS • ABC • FOX • PBS • WEATHER •MORE! 18 TO 36 CHANNELS GUARANTEED TO WORK - SETUP ASSISTANCE PARTS & REPAIR TYSON WELLS MARKETPLACE SPACE #4 FRONT ROW 2 spaces west of K B Tools AZ • Quartzsite • Military Caps Rhinestone & Quartzsite T-Shirts Solitude Miles ~ John ~ 605-431-5028 Over 25 years in Quartzsite, Parker, LHC NOW OPEN! See Celia THRIFT STORE Benefitting the La Paz County Animal Shelter in Parker Supported by your generous donations! 455 E. Main St. Quartzsite Open Tues. thru Sat. 9-3 928-927-4223

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