Rock Art or Graffiti

October 18, 2010

Is it Rock Art or is it Graffiti?

 

"Petroglyph National Monument protects a variety of cultural and natural resources including five volcanic cones, hundresds of archeological sites and an estimated 25,000 images carved by ancestral Pueblo peoples and early Spanish settlers.  Many of the images are recognizable as animals, people, brands and crosses; others are more complex."

 

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyph_National_Monument

"It is estemated that 90% of the petroglyps were created by the ancestors of today's Pueblo Indians who have lived in the the Rio Grande Valley sinced before 500 A.D.  and that most of the petroglyphs were carved between 1300 and 1680's. 

A small percentage are believed to reach back as far as 2000 B.C.

 Resource:

http://www.nps.gov/petr/historyculture/what.htm

"Petroglyphs ( alos called rock engravings)  are pictograms created by removing part of a rock surgace by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Petroglyphs are found world-wide and are often associated with rehistorci peoples.  The word comes from the Greek petros meaning stone and glyphein meaning to carve.  It was originally coined in French as petroglyphe"

 

Resource:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyph

"There were many reasons for creating the Petroglyphs, most of which are not well understood.  They are believed to be powerful cultural symbols that reflect the complex societies and religions of the surrounding tribes.  They are centraly to the monumen'ts sacred landscape where traditional ceremonies still take place.  The placement of each petroglyph was not a casuual or randon decision and have much importance to the surrounding orientation to the horizon and landscape.  Some represent tribal, clan or society markers.  Some are religious entities and some only hold meaning for its individual maker"  - 

http://www.nps.gov/petr/historyculture/why.htm

What does it mean?