Reservations strictly required;
click for info.

Rock Marking Interpretation

“We should have brought our rock art translation book, Honey.”

That would be worth a million bucks...if such a thing existed!

Mystery is part of the allure of rock-art sites. Who made these marks? What were they saying? You mean they let their kids write on the walls? :-)

One of the surest things we know is that the symbols were not hastily created. Paint, brushes, chisels, knives—all had to be handmade. And the deepest cuts in the rock at Palatki were made before there were metal tools!

People want to know the meanings of the markings. So much so, that when a guide says, “We don’t know,” a visitor often announces what he or she has decided it’s going to mean! :-) That’s fine—and fun— so long as we remember imaginings, guesses, and even archeological assumptions are not facts.

Palatki tours are free with a Red Rock (or comparable) Pass.
Reservations strictly required; click for info.

The Four Corners: Timeless Lands of the Southwest, Kathleen Bryant

Sedona: Treasure of the Southwest, by Kathleen Bryant

Kokopelli’s Gift
by Kathleen Bryant

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We do have some good ideas, and even a few facts, about markings from the last few hundred years. What about the markings from well over 10,000 years ago, when there was no concurrent written history to provide clues?

FACT: Without context, we cannot possibly KNOW what the symbols mean.

So, since we don’t know the people from 10,000 years ago, and don’t know any direct descendants, we don’t know much about the meaning of the oldest markings.

Ambiguity Freak Out

Some people are more freaked out by ambiguity than they are by the absolutely unknown. It’s easier, for example, to imagine aliens are friendly when you’ve never met one. :-)

At Palatki, there are markings that “look like something recognizable” in our culture (usually animal-like or human-like figures), and markings which don’t.

Even though the “abstract” markings—hachures and fine or heavy scratches, depending upon the timeframe—are much older than everything else—and just about everyone’s first question is “Where’s the really old stuff?”—folk are not innately drawn to nonrepresentational markings.

Why? Because we can’t relate to them. Most of us have seen a deer. A few have even seen elk. So, some four-legged-looking thing with a web of horns can at least be thought to be one or the other—and probably is, in this land where nary a moose roams.

Teasing the Tourists

I like to tell a few jokes, or incorporate humor, because most of the people who visit are on vacation. They want to do something ranging between enjoyment and downright fun.

There is a charcoal marking about the size of a hand that looks for all the world like a human rib cage. I don't know what it is, and I couldn't begin to give an authentic interpretation of it, so I tell people it’s the chief’s chest x-ray. That’s better than saying it’s a rib cage, because I do not know that it is. (Only once did someone actually believe an x-ray could be taken by drawing with charcoal on red sandstone. Yikes!)

There are a few markings we understand, usually because there are similar markings at other places and someone somewhere has written something down during the same time period, or oral tradition has survived to this day to indicate meaning. Not very often.

And some markings look exactly like something we know today, like Arizona’s state mammal, the ringtail. Another right beside it at Palatki looks the same except for a very long tail with a flourish of curlicues.

RINGTAIL DRAWING

RINGTAIL WITH A FLOURISH

Could it be a ringtail from San Francisco? (If people appear convinced, I have to stop mid-gesture to spell out that we do not know why that one was drawn that way.)

No Kidding (sometimes)

Here are some principles a friend of mine pulled out of a trash can for me, because I thought they so well expressed what we need to know when interpreting rock markings.

Virtual Tour

I’m constantly adding to the pictures here. Right now, I’m focusing on photographing a section of the Palatki rock markings at a time, choosing some people seem to find most interesting—or most typical. Because there are thousands of markings, this website will never be a complete gallery. But over time, it will include the most reliable interpretations I can find, an approximate timeframes for creation (if known).

If you see any errors, please email me with your remarks and reason or documentation for the correction. Since this is a work of love, changes will be made as time permits.