Interesting. Is this grafitti??? I judge it not to be. If so is Fremont on top of Barrier Canyon grafitti?? More modern grafitti, after enlightment regarding regarding rock art can be properly labeled grafitti. Also note the faint petroglyph of a tapered figure (Fremont?) at the bottom of the picture.
Another fugure on the east wall. Your guess is as good as mine. It does appear to be of the period.
Now getting to the rest of the figures on the east wall. This little fellow has a split head dress. Is solid with a tapered body. It does have a thin neck which I have not noticed in most Barrier canyon style art. Note the overlying petroglyphs at the bottom.
Well here is a big fellow with feathers, a stronger neck etc. And the orange fellow at his right. The density of the pigment on this figure appears to vary in a purposeful way - around the head, shoulders, waist and bottom. Also off his right shoulder may be the start of a hand. There are definitely some sort of ear treatment. The 'feather' appears to be in three parts or represented by three thick lines. After I look at these figrues for a while I may be starting to see things.
Now here is a figure with two fine bifurcated horns an a feather(?). No eyes, minimum neck. Overlying petroglyphs. The vertical line to his left may be part of the next major figure based on the similar pigment color.
Not sure about these little pictographs but note the petroglyphs at the bottom. Some appear to be very old, really repatinated, yet clearly overlying the red Barrier Canyon pigment attesting to its age and authenticity. In this case Fremont grafitti with repatination establishes the antiquity of the prior Barrier Canyon art. Or so I think.
And finally the dude on the right. First the head/neck is sort of distinctive. And there is definitely a right hand on this figure. The hand has four fingers and thumb realistically portrayed. The fox like creature to the figures right appears to be an original part of the work. A spirit fox?? Coyote??
The faint figure to the lower right of the picture. I don't know. And again it appears that Fremont style graffiti(art) overlies this figure.
Also on the eastern canyon wall is this much overlain panel. This is definitely the type of panel that requires an artist at the site to unwind the glyphs by age as best they can. There are some very interesting glyphs here if one takes the time to examine the panel closely. If the light was better the day I was there I might have taken many more pictures and tried to work it out from photos alone.
Now to the main Fremont panel. And just look at those faint Barrier Canyon style figures there in the background. Even the Fremont figures appear to be of a wide age range. The most visible Fremont figures have the requisite taper, trapezoid head, tilted feather and elaborate necklace. The more faint Fremont figures do not appear to have the feathers or necklace but possible some other head treatment. Or are they just incomplete??
By the way, that figure with the connected dots. That is significant. There is one on the eastern canyon wall as well but It is very faint and tone-on-tone so as to be almost invisible. This dot to dot figure theme appears elsewhere in this region.
What is deemed to be a Ute panel. Note the horses. But also the shields. I think this panel has been chalked in to make it more photogenic. The art is tone-on-tone in its' natural state.
Previous picture with a full Lightroom manipulation.
And another shot of that.
And a flash picture of the Fremont panel. I am not sure this is an improvement. I struggle and experiment to find the best way to capture the details of these panels. Each panel presents its' own challenges based on the rock surface, rock underlayer, time of day, clouds, direction the panel if facing, pictograph or petroglyph etc. And of course there is Lightroom work after the photo is safely in the camera. Still after I get home and examine the pictures I want to return to the site and get more pictures. This picture was taken with flash.
A close up of that dot-to-dot feature. The little dots around the top of the dot-to-dot are buckshot but the little '+' to the upper right appears to be original. Is this some sort of astronomical figure. In the lower center note the sheep with cloven hooves. And the line of Barrier Canyon style figures in the background similar to Buckhorn wash among others. This picture was taken with flash.
Some more of the Fremont panel. I am not sure these panels have not been reworked in modern times. They may have all been as faint as the current faint fugures. There are a couple of hand figures in this part of the panel. One coming from behind one of the faint Fremont figures to the right. And the one obvious one. The faint Fremont figure to the very right appears to have a feather and faint headdress. This picture was taken with flash.
And the rest of that panel. I think the Barrier Canyon style figures on this panel merit some more work. They are very faint and may soon be lost. At the top I see a figure with his right hand out, a snake(?) under it and something(a scalp?) being held up iin his left hand. This picture was taken with flash.
And the rest. Note the beaver and another sheep with cloven hooves. Maybe two such sheep.
And the whole thing one more time with flash.
That previous picture with a full Lightroom manipulation. I don't know if this is helpful or not. I do notice details of the panel in this picture that I did not notice in the more accurate photo. Such 'tricks' may help students to more quickly identify the more subtle aspects of some panels. In any case it is utterly non-invasive, non-destructive.
Wow. The big Barrier Canyon style panel. It is worth noting that very little later art overlies this. There is no attempt to overmark previous territorial markings as it were. Clearly someone did not want to anger the gods of the ancestors. Even to an old Christain boy like me, this looks like big medicine.
