Documentation, methodology and interpretation of rock art from Castle Rock Community, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado

Summary

Thirteenth century A.D. in the central Mesa Verde region was a time of socio-cultural transformations, climatic changes, and increasing conflicts and violence that took place shortly before the final depopulation of the region. Since 2011 the Sand Canyon-Castle Rock Community Archaeological Project is being conducted and it focuses on the analysis and reconstruction of the settlement and social structure in a community of forty Ancient Pueblo sites dated to the thirteenth century. The project research area encompasses several canyons of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, southwestern Colorado. This paper presents some results of the project work with a focus on the methodology of recording the rock art, both using traditional and modern techniques of documentation, such as photogrammetry and 3D scanning, as well as initial analysis and interpretations. It includes Ancient Pueblo or Fremont rock art showing anthropomorphic figures and later Pueblo petroglyphs connected, for example, with violence or possibly astronomy. The rock art from the project research area is also represented by huge panels with historic Ute and Navajo petroglyphs depicting clans' symbols, fighting warriors and hunting scenes, and also by "modern graffiti" or vandalism, like initials, names and dates from the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Methodology and Interpretation in the Archaeology of Rock Art   •
• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20005