Rock Art New Mexico

FREQUENCY OF OCCURANCE OF CLASSIFIED PETROGLYPHS
AT TWO NEW MEXICO SITES

In June, 1990, Petroglyph National Monument (PETR) was established by presidential decree to “preserve, for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.... the nationally significant West Mesa Escarpment, the Las Imagines National Archeological District, a portion of the Atrisco Land Grant, and other significant natural and cultural resources, and to facilitate research activities associated with the resources” (Public Law 101-313).  Although a number of national parks and monuments have significant rock art present, Petroglyph National Monument is the only unit of the National Park System to be established primarily for the preservation and interpretation of rock art.  Petroglyphs are images scratched or pecked on rock surfaces, whereas pictographs are painted images.  The petroglyphs are positioned on a 17-mile (28 km) volcanic escarpment on the west side of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, at west longitude 106 degrees 36 minutes and north latitude 34 degrees 3 minutes.

Since the establishment of the Monument, dozens of volunteers have worked literally thousands of hours to inventory the petroglyphs within the monument boundaries. (Fletcher and Sanchez 2003)  To date (May 2005) a total of 25,114 elements have been entered into the data base, including 5,500 images which are either Historic (dating from 1550-1950) or modern Graffitti dating from 1950-present.  According to Monument staff there are still “several hundred” more images which have been recorded but have not yet been entered into the data base.  Thus, this is a preliminary analysis and any formal statistical analysis will have to wait until the data base is completed.  However, the addition of a “few hundred” more images is not anticipated to substantially alter the percentages because of the size of the data base.  The data have been entered into a data base program and a Geographic Information System (Arcview) which allows a variety of numerical and sorting operations to be performed, including detailed spatial analysis since each image carries a unique geographic coordinate location determined by Global Positioning Units. (Fletcher, et al 1994).

Simultaneously, the Rock Art Field School of the Archeological Society of New Mexico acquired the hardware and software used at Petroglyph National Monument and began using them to record petroglyphs in other locations in New Mexico.  Two sites in the Galisteo basin, one site SW of Santa Fe, and one large site north of Espanola are currently using the same recording techniques and hardware.

One data entry field in all these surveys is a “Category and Subcategory” field which allows petroglyphs to be arbitrarily grouped into one of 15 main categories and several dozen sub-categories.  (Table 1)

The recording process has also been completed on another petroglyph site, located some 43 air miles ENE of Albuquerque in the Galisteo basin.  This site has a length of 3.6 miles (5.6 km) and contains 4875 recorded images. Locally known as Creston, the site is primarily on private land and access is strictly controlled.

Table 1 presents the 15 primary categories used and the  numbers and percentages of each found at Petroglyph National Monument (PNM) and Creston.  The total number and percentages of all sub-categories are also shown. A blank in the table means that the percentage is so small as to be insignificant.

Since this is a preliminary analysis, few definitive statements can be made but even a casual examination of the table show some significant items.  At Petroglyph NM, 20% of the images are recent graffiti (Category 14), while at Creston, only about 7% of the images are classified as graffiti.  Both human and animal figures are more common at Creston, on a percentage basis, than at Petroglyph NM.  At Creston one of every three images are human or animal figures, while at PNM the percentage is 18.5% or approximately one of five.  Although the numbers are small, at Creston there are relatively 20 times more shorebirds, 4 times more ducks, 11 times more swallows, and twice as many dragonflies as are found at Petroglyph NM yet the entire length of the Monument is within 2 or 3 miles of the Rio Grande, a permanent water source, while Creston is several miles from even an ephemeral water source.  The presence of numerous petroglyphs of water-associated fauna in an arid environment is certainly a puzzle.   The absence of certain images can also be informative.  Although rabbits and hares were no doubt a desirable food items, their images are so rare as to not even merit mention in the sub-categories although two sets of rabbit tracks are reported at PNM.

In the category of Linear Designs, the most common element at PNM is a straight line while at Creston curved lines or arcs dominate.  In the category of geometric designs the circle or oval is the most frequently encountered at both sites.  In category 4, Human figures, the mask or face represents 7% of the images at PNM and 10% at Creston.  Although unidentified birds and animals make up the greatest percentages of images at both sites, among the identifiable animals snakes make up between 1 and 2 percent of the images at both sites.  Thunderbird images are 7 times more common at Creston than at PNM on a percentage basis.  In Category 6, Prints and Tracks, human hand and footprints make up between 1.8 and 2.0 percent of all images at both places, but bird tracks are nearly three times as common at PNM as at Creston.  Plant images are rare at both sites with less than 70 plant images in the entire 30,000 images considered.  Of the identifiable plants, corn is the most common at both sites.  Among Artifact Forms, arrows are most common at PNM while shields dominate the category at Creston.  Among Celestial Bodies, stars dominate both sites but are nearly 3 times more common at Creston.  In category 10, Mythological Beings, star beings (stars with legs, headdresses, etc.) are the most common, again being twice as common at Creston as at PNM.  In Category 13, Historic (1550-1950) Christian crosses make up about 1% of the images at both sites, but initials, names and dates are 4 times more common at Creston than at PNM.  However,  when Category 13- Recent Graffiti and Human Damage (1950-present) is considered, initials, names, and other graffiti make up 20% of the images at PNM, but only 7 percent at Creston.  This probably reflects the proximity of PNM to the urban center of Albuquerque.

As more sites are recorded and data bases are completed, comparisons between sites can be accomplished.  Although the category system was designed for the Pueblo style of rock art, other areas may be able to use the system with minor modifications.  Petroglyph National Monument, with a data base of more than 25,000 recorded images, provides an excellent base-line with which to compare other petroglyph sites.

REFERENCES

Fletcher, M and Denise Sanchez

1994 Etched in Stone: Recovering Native American Rock Art.  GPS World 5(10): 20-28

Fletcher, Milford, Kerri Mich and Dara Saville.  2003 New Technology: GIS and GPS in Rock Art Survey of Petroglyph National Monument. pp 83-88   In

Climbing the Rocks. The Archeological Society of New Mexico, No.29

ISSN: 0587-1719.

 
ATTACHMENT: (click below)
Table 1. Frequency of Classified Petroglyphs at Two NM Sites

 From a paper presented by Dr. Milford Fletcher at the 2005 ARARA Conference in Sparks Nv.