The weather continues to be wonderful - sunny and calm with highs around 72 degrees. Perfect weather to be enjoying the outdoors.
We spent today exploring Petroglyph National Monument which is practically surrounded by Albuquerque's residential neighborhoods. The park is wonderful and it was a pleasant surprise that dogs are allowed on all trails except for one - so Abby got to explore with us.
There are an estimated 20,000 petroglyph panels in the monument, all having been etched between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 1700, although most are thought to have been created between A.D. 1300 and 1680 when massive pueblos were built along the Rio Grande a few miles away. Just about anything imaginable has been etched into the stone - from recognizable images of faces
to hand prints
to foot prints
to geometric patterns the meaning of which is not readily apparent
and the macaw is a prominent element of a few panels similar to Bandelier (see previous post).
We took hundreds of photos and it was a nice day walking and exploring in the sunshine.
Who knows what we will do tomorrow during the day. But in the evening we have dinner planned with a couple who were graduate students with Rick at the University of Utah. It will be fun to catch up with old friends and colleagues.
How were the petroglyphs created? Did the artist use a rock or some other tool? Is color applied to the rock in such a way that it won't wash off?
ReplyDeleteReally simple questions, but I don't know.