Mongolian Skulls at Stone Macaw Panel

Exploring Rock Art in SE Utah

Mongolian Skulls

We spent a terrific 2 and 1/2 days with Bob and Sue Ludtke in the Bluff and Blanding areas of SE Utah. Bob and Sue were excellent hosts, with good knowledge of and experience in the area coupled with great patience. Unfortunately, we had to depart before the visits were finished, so we headed to Cortez. Along the way to Cortez, we visited the Stone Macaw panel in Montezuma Canyon (note the two macaws in the top right of the photo). A group of three professionals were recording the sunlight/shadow interactions on the panel, taking a photograph every 10 seconds, with the intention of producing a 20-second video. They became extremely excited as they watched and predicted the movement and the timing of the movement. Finally the shadow touched the top ring of the smaller spiral, and they were almost overwhelmed. However the highlight of this visit was that one of URARA's intrepid explorers, Wisconsin Jeff Allen, a distant cousin of the lesser known Indiana Jones, located 4 Mongolian skulls, one each of red, blue, green, and crystal color. One of the attached photos shows Wisconsin Allen with the red skull. Remember Indiana Jones took a full two hours of movie time to find one crystal skull and Wisconsin Allen found four skulls in less than 30 minutes. We will be doing more research on the Mongolian skulls, but we have been told that China is building a huge dam, and the excavation for the dam is yielding these skulls. The skulls are being sold to help finance the dam. An international connection for URARA.

Canyon de Chelly - Possibly new Management

Since we paln to visit Canyon de Chelly and take a full day trip in the spring, this article was very interesting.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Protection Efforts on Two Major Utah Rock Art Sites

COALITION TO PRESERVE ROCK ARTJon Gum 1234 West Red Butte Washington, UT 84780435-627-1086 exploringrockart@gmail.com

August 8, 2008

This is just a short note to keep you informed of the status of potential damaging actions to two extremely important Utah Rock Art sites.These sites have been lighted in Southwest Utah as very important issues regarding our preservation efforts.Regarding Parowan Gap, the following was printed in the URARA’s August Vestiges. As you might guess, we must work hard to gain momentum. From the start, most of us were surprised that the government actions were in process, and yet they did not provide sufficient time to present any meaningful arguments to the actions. Any help or advice would be appreciated, since we will probably fail if we do not receive your support and your communications with the BLM.Parowan Gap DevelopmentsJon Gum, Coalition to Preserve Rock Art, http://www.exploringrockart.com/Can anybody perform miracles? We might need some help.Citizens were given until June 30, 2008 to answer the EA on oil and gas leasing and potential drilling around The Parowan Gap area, west of Cedar City. We want to protect the Parowan Gap from damage and prevent a Nine-Mile Canyon debacle from occurring in SW Utah.On July 2, 2008, the public notification of parcels for lease was issued. The government did not give the input from concerned citizens (several letters went in from Coalition to Preserve Rock Art members) a careful reading or perform a thorough management review of the comments received. Some person might have read them, but to my knowledge, they were not categorized and submitted to staff for a serious review. Therefore, we lost to the bureaucracy and the lack of concern regarding cultural resources. In the Parowan Gap case, they gave the interested citizens almost 30 days to respond, noted their responses, and then did what they set out to do, regardless of the input received. We are fortunate that the BLM was stopped at Parowan Gap in January 2007, since it gave us another 18 months to enjoy these cultural resources before the BLM dictated that Parowan Gap would be inflicted with the “Nine-Mile Canyon disease”.We will request a meeting with the BLM staff in Cedar City. We are also checking the Native American tribes to see if they want a coordinated effort in responding. I hope that other concerned organizations will be involved.Regarding Nine-Mile Canyon, two articles are attached that discuss a recent lawsuit filed (yesterday) attempting to stop the drilling of 25 wells on which adequate data has not been collected and potential damage to Cultural Resource sites could occur.Throughout the 2008 RMP process, the failure of BLM to understand in detail the public areas that BLM manages has been highlighted. Anybody who wants to understand the process and the rebuttals offered to concerned citizen and organization RMP responses should request a copy of the CD “Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement dated August 2008. Many decisions are being made without serious study and without knowledge of the areas being managed. In most cases, you (the citizens who hike, who explore, and spend time in the wilderness areas) are much more informed that the BLM personnel. That’s unfortunate, since BLM should learn from those who have experienced the “land”. Without that knowledge base, they will continue to make irrational decisions.Please review the two attachments. Several organizations are working together to impact a recent BLM decision that could effect some of our Cultural Resources and their efforts should be supported.Thanks, next time I will catch up on some other activities in SW Utah,Jon

Lawsuit to Protect Rock Art in Nine Mile Canyon Utah

Eco groups sue to stop drilling in Nine Mile Canyon
By Patty HenetzThe Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/07/2008 12:52:53 PM MDT


Posted: 12:39 PM- Three conservation groups are suing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in a bid to halt gas drilling in eastern Utah's scenic Nine Mile Canyon. The Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and The Wilderness Society filed the federal lawsuit this week in Salt Lake City, alleging the BLM acted illegally when it approved Bill Barrett Corp.'s request to drill 25 new natural-gas wells on the West Tavaputs Plateau. The lawsuit argues the BLM's Price field office failed to properly analyze the harm big-rig traffic is doing to ancient Puebloan rock art and other artifacts, failed to include the public in its decision and didn't consult Indian tribes before the action, as mandated by environmental-protection law. The Price field office used a loophole in the 2005 Energy Policy Act that says one broad environmental-impact statement on one drilling application can serve for all subsequent requests. In February, Brad Higdon, planning and environmental coordinator in the BLM's Price field office, said that before drilling can begin, each well location, pipeline and road will get a separate evaluation based on "ground truth" culled from on-site surveys involving biologists, archaeologists and other resource specialists. "Nine Mile Canyon is an unusual place full of rock art, prehistoric ruins and historic
reminders of Utah's military, farming and ranching history," said Pam Miller, chairwoman of the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition's board of directors. "By using a loophole to issue drilling permits, BLM is avoiding considering the importance of these resources and the impacts of industrial development on our past." Mike Stiewig, the Price field office associate director, also named in the lawsuit, wasn't immediately available Thursday for comment. With about 100 wells already developed, big rigs serving the Denver-based Bill Barrett's gas fields make hundreds of trips up and down the steep, narrow dirt road. Chemicals used to suppress dust, strong enough to corrode concrete, have stuck to rock-art panels. The fugitive dust further degrades air quality and affects water quality, riparian areas and visibility, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants BLM to study further. phenetz@sltrib.com

Lawsuit to Protect Nine-Mile Canyon Rock Art

News Release

BLM’s Approval of 25 Natural Gas Wells in Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon Region Sparks LawsuitGroups challenge BLM’s illegal “act first, think later” practice


SALT LAKE CITY (August 7, 2008) – A coalition of historic preservation and conservation groups yesterday challenged a recent spate of decisions issued by the Bureau of Land Management to fast-track natural gas drilling in Utah’s remarkable Nine Mile Canyon region. BLM’s decisions approved Bill Barrett Corporation’s requests to drill 25 new natural gas wells without any analysis or consideration of the impacts that drilling and maintaining those wells will have to the area’s unique rock art and renowned collection of cultural sites. BLM approved these 25 new wells under a loophole in the Republican-controlled Congress’s Energy Policy Act of 2005.
“Nine Mile Canyon is an unusual place full of rock art, prehistoric ruins, and historic reminders of Utah's military, farming, and ranching history,” said Pam Miller, chair of the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition’s board of directors. “By using a loophole to issue drilling permits, BLM is avoiding considering the importance of these resources and the impacts of industrial development on our past.”
Nine Mile Canyon has been increasingly threatened by unchecked drilling and development activities that threaten the area’s integrity. The approval of these 25 wells is in addition to the proposed drilling of more than 800 new natural gas wells by Bill Barrett Corporation in the “West Tavaputs natural gas full field development project,” which is being planned for archaeologically rich West Tavaputs plateau in the northeast portion of Carbon County.
“The Bill Barrett Corporation announced on Monday another record quarter of profits and has many other non-controversial areas that it could target for drilling, but it has chosen to focus on an area that is truly one of the West’s ancient treasures,” says Stephen Bloch of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “BLM is also complicit because the agency has chosen to ignore environmental safeguards, which could result in irreversible damage to the cultural artifacts of the Nine Mile Canyon region.”
In addition, the West Tavaputs project has been widely and universally panned. The BLM received more than 53,000 comments in opposition to the project from citizens across the country, and also received letters criticizing the project from the state of Utah, the Hopi Tribe, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. The Environmental Protection Agency rated the draft environmental impact statement as “inadequate” and required BLM to prepare a supplemental analysis for public review to consider impacts to air quality. Copies of these comment letters are available on-line at www.suwa.org/WestTavaputs.
The lawsuit filed yesterday asserts that BLM’s rapid approval of 25 new natural gas wells violated federal laws that require the agency to “think first, then act.” The National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act require BLM to analyze the full range of environmental impacts caused by the natural gas drilling and development before it gives the green light to new activities. By approving these activities under loopholes known as “statutory categorical exclusions” BLM is not considering these potentially significant impacts.
“Over the past seven years, as the administration has relentlessly pushed oil and gas projects into iconic Western landscapes, BLM has repeatedly and embarrassingly been forced to rescind ill-considered leasing decisions,” said Suzanne Jones, regional director of The Wilderness Society’s Central Rockies Office. “When it comes to BLM’s illegal practice of acting before thinking, the West Tavaputs project is certainly one of the most egregious examples.”
The groups participating in the legal challenge do not oppose drilling on public lands—and indeed do not challenge the vast majority of leasing and development proposed for BLM lands—but are concerned about the damage to important public values when drilling is located in proposed wilderness or areas with rich cultural resources such as Nine Mile Canyon, and/or adequate safeguards are not required to ensure that the impacts of drilling are minimized on these other important public land uses.
Background on West Tavaputs Full Field Development Project
The West Tavaputs project is by far the largest of several Barrett projects that are rapidly changing the face of the Nine Mile Canyon region, an area that the state of Utah describes in its website as an “outdoor museum” that “should be shown the respect due to one of the West’s ancient treasures.” According to the BLM’s website, the Nine Mile Canyon region contains the “the greatest concentration of rock art sites in the U.S.A.” More than 1,000 of these sites have been identified, along with centuries-old standing structures such as cliff dwellings and pit houses.
The West Tavaputs project would industrialize an area that has received global recognition for its cultural resources and would permanently alter its unspoiled and wild nature. The proposed drilling would effectively eliminate large swaths of the Jack Canyon and Desolation Canyon BLM wilderness study areas, as well as two adjacent areas that BLM recognizes as having wilderness character. Under BLM and Bill Barrett Corp.’s “preferred” alternative, 230 wells – more than a quarter of the total number of project wells – would be drilled in these wild areas. The Desolation Canyon portion of the Green River, one of the West’s most iconic and remote stretches of river, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1969. Because of that designation, the BLM is required to manage the canyon to retain its remote and natural setting.
The West Tavaputs project “preferred alternative” would authorize approximately 800 new natural gas wells over a 20 year period over a 137,000 acre project area in a largely remote and wild corner of east-central Utah. Though the project area has seen limited oil and gas drilling over the past 50 years, the level of development proposed by Bill Barrett Corp. would exponentially exceed the number of wells previously drilled in the area. The vast majority of the project is located on public lands managed on behalf of all Americans by the BLM.
Photographs of the types of cultural resources at risk from the West Tavaputs project can be viewed at SUWA’s website. Also available are electronic copies of comments submitted by various groups and organizations

Protection Efforts on Two Major Rock Art Sites

COALITION TO PRESERVE ROCK ART

Jon Gum 1234 West Red Butte Washington, UT 84780

435-627-1086 exploringrockart@gmail.com

August 8, 2008


This is just a short note to keep you informed of the status of potential damaging actions to two extremely important Utah Rock Art sites.

These sites have been lighted in Southwest Utah as very important issues regarding our preservation efforts.

Regarding Parowan Gap, the following was printed in the URARA’s August Vestiges. As you might guess, we must work hard to gain momentum. From the start, most of us were surprised that the government actions were in process, and yet they did not provide sufficient time to present any meaningful arguments to the actions. Any help or advice would be appreciated, since we will probably fail if we do not receive your support and your communications with the BLM.

Parowan Gap Developments
Jon Gum, Coalition to Preserve Rock Art, http://www.exploringrockart.com/

Can anybody perform miracles? We might need some help.

Citizens were given until June 30, 2008 to answer the EA on oil and gas leasing and potential drilling around The Parowan Gap area, west of Cedar City. We want to protect the Parowan Gap from damage and prevent a Nine-Mile Canyon debacle from occurring in SW Utah.

On July 2, 2008, the public notification of parcels for lease was issued. The government did not give the input from concerned citizens (several letters went in from Coalition to Preserve Rock Art members) a careful reading or perform a thorough management review of the comments received. Some person might have read them, but to my knowledge, they were not categorized and submitted to staff for a serious review. Therefore, we lost to the bureaucracy and the lack of concern regarding cultural resources. In the Parowan Gap case, they gave the interested citizens almost 30 days to respond, noted their responses, and then did what they set out to do, regardless of the input received. We are fortunate that the BLM was stopped at Parowan Gap in January 2007, since it gave us another 18 months to enjoy these cultural resources before the BLM dictated that Parowan Gap would be inflicted with the “Nine-Mile Canyon disease”.
We will request a meeting with the BLM staff in Cedar City. We are also checking the Native American tribes to see if they want a coordinated effort in responding. I hope that other concerned organizations will be involved.

Regarding Nine-Mile Canyon, two articles are attached that discuss a recent lawsuit filed (yesterday) attempting to stop the drilling of 25 wells on which adequate data has not been collected and potential damage to Cultural Resource sites could occur.
Throughout the 2008 RMP process, the failure of BLM to understand in detail the public areas that BLM manages has been highlighted. Anybody who wants to understand the process and the rebuttals offered to concerned citizen and organization RMP responses should request a copy of the CD “Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement dated August 2008. Many decisions are being made without serious study and without knowledge of the areas being managed. In most cases, you (the citizens who hike, who explore, and spend time in the wilderness areas) are much more informed that the BLM personnel. That’s unfortunate, since BLM should learn from those who have experienced the “land”. Without that knowledge base, they will continue to make irrational decisions.

Please review the two attachments. Several organizations are working together to impact a recent BLM decision that could effect some of our Cultural Resources and their efforts should be supported.

Thanks, next time I will catch up on some other activities in SW Utah,

Jon

Uranium Mining and Mt. Taylor

Save a mountain, divide a community
Filed under: Mining, Public Lands, Tribes — Ernie Atencio at 1:11 pm on Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Ernie AtencioNew Mexico’s Mount Taylor, sacred to several tribes and under threat of uranium mining, has been designated (again) as a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP). Uranium mining historically wreaked havoc in the area and left a legacy of environmental destruction and cancer and among miners and residents, including many Native Americans. The Acoma, Hopi, Laguna, Navajo and Zuni tribes requested the designation after a recent flurry of uranium permits and exploration on the 11,301-foot mountain that disturbed some shrines and grave sites.

Uranium is hot in more ways than one right now, climbing from $7 to $130 per pound without declining once since 2003, and sure to threaten other landscapes around the West.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, the public hearing on Saturday at the Grants High School gym divided the community between Indians supporting the designation on one set of bleachers and Anglo and Hispano opposition on the other. Those opposed to the TCP designation worry that it will hinder the economic salvation that mining represents in this impoverished area.

I hope the racial characterization is oversimplified, because issues of land, culture and economy in what we like to imagine as the “New” West are seldom that black and white.

The State Cultural Properties Review Committee made an initial determination in February but had to reconsider after the state attorney general ruled that it did not give adequate public notice. Following hours of heated and impassioned debate on Saturday, the committee reaffirmed its original decision in a 4-2 vote.

A TCP is a designation under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), like, say, a historic district. But it is intended to protect “cultural practices or beliefs of a living community,” not just architecture. A TCP can be a single shrine site or, in this case, an entire sprawling landscape of 422,840 acres of public and private land.

Supporters say that TCP designation will not freeze development, but all proposed projects within the area will have to go through a review by the state Historic Preservation Office to make sure that they do not endanger the cultural values under protection. Imagine the kind of protection historic buildings have and the bureaucratic red-tape you have to go through to change a simple architectural feature. Now imagine trying to get a permit to mine uranium in a way that will not endanger the cultural values embodied in the sacred southern peak of the Diné homeland – Tsoodzil – the Acomas’ Kawesktima or the Zunis’ Dewankwi Kyabachu Yalanne.

TCPs, and another NHPA designation called a Rural Historic Landscape, are underused tools that can provide powerful protection for rural lands. They look beyond simple environmental preservation to also recognize cultural values attached to the land. Like some other rural communities that have suffered the brutal economic shift away from industrial mining and logging, the divided community around Mount Taylor might even come to appreciate this protective designation.

Petroglyph in the Ohio River - another version

Grand jury indicts Ironton man over Indian Head Rock
Jun 19, 2008 @ 09:10 PM
By DAVID E. MALLOY The Herald-Dispatch

GREENUP, Ky. -- The battle between Ohio and Kentucky over the Indian Head Rock took a more serious twist Thursday when a Greenup County grand jury indicted an Ironton man on a felony charge of removing an antiquity.
The charge carries a possible prison sentence of from one to five years upon conviction.
Steve Shaffer, an Ironton resident, spent three years diving in the Ohio River for the eight-ton sandstone rock before finding it last summer in 16 feet of water and bringing it out of the river last September.
"I'm quietly amazed," Shaffer said Thursday at the charge against him. "I guess they consider me the ring leader. There was no criminal intent. This is just bizarre."
Shaffer and some divers from the Huntington area would dive in the Ohio River looking for the rock that has been submerged since 1920.
"We turned it over to the city of Portsmouth," he said.
The rock currently is stored in a city of Portsmouth garage. "A number of people are coming to see it."
The state of Kentucky wants to put the rock back in the river, Shaffer said. "It's ludicrous."
Greenup Commonwealth's Attorney Clifford Duvall told The Associated Press the case is not about the fate of the rock, but whether it was removed without a proper permit.
"What's important is that all of these things be protected and that the law of Kentucky be observed," he said.
Ohio State Rep. Todd Book, D-McDermott, said the indictment "seems a bit out of control."
The city of Portsmouth was going to remove the rock in 1908, he said.
"For them to do this, I don't know," Book said. "They must have too much time on their hands. I hate to see it go down this path. There's a fun way to resolve this, but they haven't chosen to do that."
"This rock tells stories about the people who settled this land, those who lived here, worked here and left their legacies for future generations to uphold," Book had said earlier. "We want to preserve history; the people fighting this in Kentucky just want to return the rock to its watery grave at the bottom of the Ohio River. This is too important a part of Portsmouth's history to allow that to happen."
Book has proposed having an annual competition between Kentucky and Ohio residents to determine who would get to display the rock for a year. He said there could be a rafting competition, a game of rock, paper, scissors, a tug of war or something along those lines on an annual basis.
The border battle over the rock has garnered national media attention in the New York Times and the "CBS Evening News." Officials in Frankfort have asked for the rock to be returned while officials in Columbus have met to ask Kentucky to relinquish its claim to the rock. The U.S. Supreme Court in the 1800s ruled that the Ohio River belongs to Kentucky up to the low water mark on the Ohio side in 1792. A series of dams has raised the river level over the years.
Shaffer admits the rock was closer to the Kentucky shore than the Ohio shore.
"It was lost ... forgotten," he said. "It was a lost piece of history. We wanted to solve the mystery. People from Portsmouth would go over and carve their names or initials on the rock. There are stories about it in the Portsmouth paper."
The rock also has a crude face that some claim is a petroglyph carved by an unknown American Indian. It was registered as a protected archeological object with Kentucky state government in 1986, according to The Associated Press.
Shaffer said an expert called in by the state of Kentucky, Dr. Fred Coy Jr. of Louisville, believes the carving isn't native American.
"He believes it was carved with metal tools," Shaffer said. "It's just not native American, it's graffiti. The names (on the rock) are from Portsmouth people."

Rock in the Midwest Containing Petorglyphs

Rock was supposedly removed while underwater. Full size story at www.exploringrockart.com.

Anasazi of SW Utah: The Dance of Light and Shadow

The following Book Review was posted by www.exploringrockart.com on the Barnes and Noble website:

Research of solar interactions with Rock Art in the Southwest is frequently published and is frequently centered on Chaco Canyon. Only a small amount of the published research focuses on activity in SW Utah, in particular Washington, Kane, and Iron Counties and it is very refreshing to see a book of this nature appear on the market. This book, The Dance of Light and Shadow, may be the precursor of future research publications as Mr. Urbaniak will undoubtedly continue his research.

Mr. Urbaniak has spent countless hours in the field identifying potential sites and analyzing the interactions at Solstice, Equinox and Cross Quarter times, and at sunrise and sunset.

His analysis of the Santa Clara River site and the Little Man site shows the dedication and thoroughness of his research. Digital Photographs and clear descriptions are frequently accompanied by time-sequenced photographs of the events as they occurred. Many event descriptions also contain compass, angular orientations, and other informative information.

This book is highly recommended for Rock Art students and advocates. Those who have, or want to develop an interest in Archaeoastronomy will appreciate the many facets of prehistoric astronomy as practiced by the Ancestral Puebloans, formerly known as the Virgin Anasazi.

March 2008 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2007

In March of 2008,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

JRS Slot
Shaman's Cave
North Bluff
Santa Clara Canyon
Shanghai Mormon
Berry Springs
Quail Lake
Black Point East Parowan
Parowan Gap
Parowan Gap Cave
Snow Canyon High Panel
Cottonwood Mills
Chidago Canyon
Fish Slough
Fossil Falls
Red Rock Canyon 1
Red Rock Canyon 2

February 2008 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2007

In February of 2008,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Laverkin Creek Trail
Gunlock West
Coral Canyon
Cottonwook Mill
Virgin River Gorge
Black Canyon
Halloran Springs
Inscription Canyon

January 2008 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 3, 2008

In January 2008,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Bloomington
Site 13
Trumbull Knolls
Witch Pool
Colorado City East - multiple visits
Black Butte
Kirk's Grotto
Babe Butte
Whitney Harman
Whitney Hartman Red

December 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 5, 2008

In December of 2007,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Central Corral
Central High
Central Low
Corral Canyon
Colorado City East Basket
Lower Raven's Crack
Upper Raven's Crack

November 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 6, 2007

In November of 2007,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Apple Valley Cave
Gunlock
Peter's Leap
Willow Springs
Tranquility Point
Wupatki
Ash Fork

October 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2007

In October of 2007,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Big Man
Cattleguard
Cottonwood Canyon Panel
Cottonwood Canyon Rock
Cottonwood Canyon Ruin
Cross Canyon
Newspaper Rock
Potash Road
Shay Canyon
Site 4
Site 7
Blue Buffalo
Valley City Reservoir
Kane Creek
Bluff Ladder Site
Procession Panel
Capitol Reef
Friendship Panel

September 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2007

In September of 2007,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Calf Creek
Escalante River
Hundred Hands
Fish Cove
Three Fingers Canyon
Wildhorse Canyon
Lower Brush Creek
McConkie Ranch Upper
McConkie Ranch Lower
Cub Creek Site 13
Cub Creek Swelter Shelter
Jones Hole
Lizard Site
McKee Springs
Thomson Wash
Black Ridge
Boch's Canyon
Petroglyph Park
Black Point

August 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2007

In August of 2007,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Cave Valley 1
Cave Valley 2
4-headed Man
Birthing Cave
Trumbull Knolls

July 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 8, 2007

In July of 2007,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Above the Virgin
Confluence Park
Ash Springs
Stone Cliff 1
Stone Cliff 2
Three Rivers
Hurricane Rock
13 Site
Algar Wash
Diamond Valley Black Rock
Pine Valley
Tomand
Nampaweap
Paiute Cave
Witch Pool
Mt. Irish
Ash Springs
Delamar
Paraghanent
Shooting Gallery
Many Sheep
Rockpile
Triad

June 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 2007

In June of 2007,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Gunlock Multiple Sites
Fremont Wash
Manderfield
Manderfield 2
Little Creek
Anasazi Hill
Black Point - East and West
Mt. Irish - Multiple Sites
Crystal Wash
Ash Springs
Delamar - Multiple Sites

May 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2007

In May of 2007,

www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Browse
Birthing Cave
Lone Pine arch
Lone Warrior
No. Pleasant Creek
Sinbad
Temple Wash
9-Mile Canyon
45º Rock
Buckhorn Wash 1-2-3-Petro-Picto-Cave-TKG
Daisy Chain
Naeferitti
Price Road
Railroad Rock
Silent Sentinel
Tusher Canyon 1-2-3-Main
Coal Canyon
Stubbs Canyon
Cedar City Canyon North - south
Summit
Virgin River
Boch's Canyon
Parowan Gap
Telegraph Hill

April 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2007
In April, 2007, www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Whitney Hartman, NV
Whitney Pockets Red, NV
Kohta Circus, NV
Pictograph Canyon, AZ
Catstair Canyon, UT
Willow Springs, AZ
Kachina Point, AZ
Newspaper Rock, AZ
Puerco Ruins, AZ
Canyon De Chelly, AZ
Lone Pine Arch, UT
Little Creek, UT
Snake Gulch, AZ
Birthing Cave, UT
The Clamshell, UT
Animal Panel, UT

March 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2007

In March of 2007, http://www.exploringrockart.com/ visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Brownstone Canyon, NV
Calico Basin, NV
Ft. Pearce
Little Creek (multiple sites)
Babylon
Canyon Breeze
Telegraph Hill
Capitol Reef
Hog Canyon
Arch canyon
Fishmouth Canyon
Sand Island
Monarch Cave
Wolfman
Highway 162
Coldspring Cave
Moon House
So. Longfinger
Butler Ruins
Gunlock
Snow Canyon

February 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 20, 2007

In February of 2007, www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Ft. Pearce
Santa Clara Canyon
South Airport Hill
Snow Canyon
Upper Arrow Canyon, NV
Canyon Breeze
Calico Basin, NV
Red Rocks, NV

January 2007 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 20, 2007

In January of 2007, www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Telegraph Hill - St. George
South Airport Hill (2) - St. George
Jackson Red Sands - West of Gunlock
Jackson Red Sands Cave - West of Gunlock
Lone Pine Arch
Gunlock (2)
Utah Hill
Red Desert Preserve
Lost Buffington 1
Lost Buffington 2
Lost Buffington 3
Upper Arrow Canyon
Buffington Pockets
Colorock Quarry

December 2006 Rock Art Visits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2007

In December 2006, www.exploringrockart.com visited the following archaeological sites to explore Rock Art to present in this website:

Little Man - Hurricane
North Bluff Street - St. George
Raven's Crack Rosy Canyon 1 - Kane Beds, Utah
Raven's Crack Rosy Canyon 2 - Kane Beds, Utah
Hobgoblin - Gold Butte, Nevada
Babe's Butte - Gold Butte, Nevada
Valley of Fire - Nevada
Kirk's Grotto - Gold Butte, Nevada

Gunlock Site #4

The initiative of Coalition to Preserve Rock Art and Dixie Archaeology Society resulted in BLM taking action to protect this site. This particular site is on horizontal sandstone panels that erode easily with repeated ATV or foot traffic. Hopefully, the action taken will provide a relief from the constant traffic and allow the panels to exist for many more generations.

The top three pictures show the signs in detail. The fourth picture shows some of the Rock Art being protected.

The last picture shows how the signs are oriented to protect the site.

Revisting Rock Art Sites

Yesterday we had guests in from Germany who are members of the Caolition to Preserve Rock Art and have done a tremendous amount of hiking and rock art exploration in the Western US.

The experiences remind us how important it is to revisit sites that you think you know completely because you have already visited the site.

Santa Clara Canyon, St, George. A very nice 2-3 mile one-way hike, we found Rock Art that we had not previously seen , and we enjoyed the early morning light as we photographed a couple of key panels.

Anasazi Hill, St. George. This was my first visit since Solstice July 2007. The new Santa Clara Preserve setup by a group of BLM- Ivins- Santa Clara probably provides better protection and may diminishment the intentional, malicious destruction to the site. Unfortunately the strenous hike uphill to the rock art site prevents the disabled and handicapped from enjoying the experience. In this case, it's likely the positives outweigh the negative for the Rock Art enthusiasts.

Gunlock Road, The Rock. Better views were obtained and some clouds in the sky may add to the photographs previously available.

Site #4, Gunlock. Another very interesting visit to this site of interesting horizontal panels. In Q4, 2007 we (Coalition to Preserve Rock At, Dixie Archaeology Society) encouraged the BLM to protect the site. It was evident that there was considerable ATV and foot traffic on the rocks containing the petroglyphs that was degrading the quality of the symbols. BLM has installed warning signs and posts to advise visitors to take care and preserve the Rock Art. Hopefully the signs will reduce the amount of traffic on the petroglyphs. As many of you know, our impression of the BLM is not very high - however, give them credit here, nice job, well done. Hope that it's enough to solve the problem.