A few pictures here of the road into the pictograph panels. You basically drive up Black Dragon wash and can drive right on by the panels and out of the top of the canyon if you have a serious 4 wheel drive vehicle.
Now you are driving in Black Dragon Wash.
To give you some perspective on the depth of the canyon note tha person in the alcove. The main pictograph panels are to his left.
And the Black Dragon himself. Many of the pictographs at this site have been outlined with white chalk. Modern rock art etiquette and sensibilities strongly discourage this. In fact it is illegal. And now in the age of digital photography it is easily possible to take a good digital photograph, put it in photoshop and add the outline there in an overlay. Or many other ways in Photoshop. I don't know if it is possible to remove the chalk without damaging the pictographs.
These are obviously purposefully drawn figures. The one at the left has two 'eyes' and two 'antanae' or feathers indicated. There is definite internal structure in the body torso and legs and feet are indicated. Most detail in on the right (his left or her left) arm and hand where at least 4 individual fingers and an elbow are indicated.
The middle figure is harder to figure. Three vertical 'feathers' and three internal structures. Is the number three significant?? The figure has two token feet.
And the figure at the right is the hardest to get a grasp on. There appears to be a top 'cover' of some sort over a tapered torso. There may be internal structure. A better picture in better lighting might be manipulated in Lightroom and/or Photoshop to reveal more detail.
The left figure here is the right figure of the previous picture. There appears to be a possible snake figure between the left figure and the thin middle figure. The middle figure may have two 'feathers indicated and two legs. The tapered figure at the right appears to have two upraised arms with fingers indicated on the left one. The 'head' appears to have some internal structure and possible feed are indicated. The process of creating the large figure at the left appears to have created some runoff seen at the bottom of the figure.
And this figure in a little better isolation.
And this figure in isolation. Note the pigment at the right that has not been outlined in chalk. I can't pull anything out of the picture with this lighting.
And now this figure in isolation. There was definitely some detail around the top of this figure originally. And there is some pigment to the left of the figure.
And the Dragon himself. The chalk really may be misleading us here. When I look just at the areas of pigment in the current image I am not sure at all the Dragon. Maybe in the past there was more pigment and it has weathered away.
And these two little guys again.
Another view of the 'dragon'.
Another view of this figure. There appears to have some white in the original figure which complicates the whole chalk outline business.
A more typical Barrier Canyon figure at the left and dog like 'dragon' at the right. This Barrier Canyon figure has a head but no arms, no attendent snakes, birds or other creatures in his personal space. There is definite internal structure and feet are indicated.
another look at this pair.
Under the alcove there a number of 'tally' mark type pictographs some of which are augmented by petroglyphs. A few of these have been 'enhanced' by chalk outlines as well. I present these with little comment. I think it is clear some sort of bookkeeping was being performed here. It appears to have been color coded in some case. They didn't provide a legend. Or maybe they did.
