I tend to think of Newspaper Rock, Utah, as the Social Media center of its day. I have no idea if it was, really, but it seems like a possibility. I like to try to envision an ancient ancestor of 1,000 years ago, gazing upon this rock trying to decide what message to leave today.
In a relatively small area of rock are hundreds of pictures pecked into the patinated surface, some perhaps 2,000 years old (or older). Images include animals like bison, antelope, bighorn sheep, canids (dogs, wolves, or coyotes), flying squirrels, deer, elk, lizards, birds, and even horses. Images of people abound, as do abstract symbols that may make no sense to us in the modern day. Footprints of bear, people, children, deer, and birds amble across the surface of the rock as if their maker had just disappeared over the top of the boulder.
The sheer number of images is overwhelming...below are two samples:
As in many other sites, we're not really sure who left us these images, or why. Good bets are Archaic people from 2,000 years ago or more (nomadic hunter-gatherers), and what we now call Ancient Pueblo, "Fremont", modern Pueblo, Anglo, and possibly Ute.
And why this particular rock? Today it's along a pretty busy route near the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park - perhaps this was a pathway frequented by ancient peoples as well. The patination of the surface of this particular rock is also very dark, making it very easy to distinguish images pecked into its surface. And its surface is at present-day ground level - easy to access, either for the artist or viewer.
Then again, it's very possible that this site had some sort of spiritual significance to the ancients who first used it to record a message, prayer, or important event. Later generations added to it and this possibly added to the significance of the site too.
Some images seem to record the coming of the invaders on horseback - perhaps Spanish, perhaps Anglo. Others appear to be symbols significant to modern Pueblo peoples: the Snake, concentric circles, heartlines in animals (see above), and handprints.
Whatever the messages or the significance of the site, this is one of my favorite places to visit in Utah. The sense of deep history is just a palpable here as at Mesa Verde or Chaco Canyon. People made these images. People similar to you and me - hardier in some ways, more in tune with Nature, just as intelligent and sensitive and feeling as we are. People wanting to leave a mark or a message or a prayer, or record a story or event.
We're not so different at our cores, are we?
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