Water petroglyphs , Eng. Water glyphs are a type of petroglyphs common in the American southwest. Most often, water petroglyphs are found in southern Utah , northern Arizona and eastern Nevada . It is assumed that the petroglyphs belong to the ancient pueblos . Although local farmers and ranchers certainly noticed these signs earlier, for the first time they were documented by Robert Ford and Dickson Spendlav from Fridonia in the state of Arizona . As of the end of 2007, about 270 examples of such marks were discovered during a detailed study conducted by en: GIS [by whom? ] [1] .
Content
Description
The size of water petroglyphs is usually 120 to 60 cm, and the depth of the groove is 1-2.5 cm.
Symbols usually consist of a circle or an ellipse cut in two by a straight line. The line usually extends beyond the circumference / ellipse on one side at a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the circle. Sometimes this protruding line is even bent around the corner of a ledge on a rock. A petroglyph usually has a single dimple, a “point,” within the circle or immediately next to it.
Location
Water petroglyphs are usually located on horizontal or open to the weather surfaces of the rocks. Such a location is unusual, since most petroglyphs of various cultures of the world, on the contrary, are located on the vertical walls of rocks or in other places where they are protected from weather exposure.
Varieties
The position of the recess, the “point” in relation to the image, is different - outside, inside the circle, to the right or left of the line that cuts the circle in two. Inside the circle there may be additional arcs or half-arcs, forming the shape of a month or a double ellipse.
Theories
Amateur archaeologists Robert Ford and Dickson Spendlove ( Robert Ford and Dixon Spendlove ) argue that the symbols used to denote the sources of water in the desert lands of the southwestern United States [2] [3] .
Other theories view petroglyphs as astronomical markers (solstices?), altars for victims, or even signs of Spanish travelers (the expedition of Dominguez - Escalante).
Notes
- ↑ Wilderness Utah - Water Trails of the Anasazi .
- ↑ Robert Ford and Dixon Spendlove waterglyph research .
- ↑ Robert Ford, Dixon & Cody Spendlove, David Maxwell, Gordon Hutchings (Oct. 2004), Water Strip: Utah Rock Art , Volume 24, page 29, edited by Carol B. Patterson.
Links
- Waterglyphs website.
- Wilderness Utah - Water Trails of the Anasazi .
- Vestiges: Monthly newsletter of URARA, the Utah Rock Art Research Association , 2004. Vol 24, No. 11
- In Situ: Newsletter of the Nevada Archaeological Association , 2006. Vol 10, No. 2