Saturday, April 23, 2005

Kokopelli Rests

A close-up of the rock art found in Canyon de Chelly. The famous Kokopelli can be seen reclining here but still playing his flute. I have read that this may symbolize where a group of migrating people stopped to rest.



There are many handprints here (positive and negative) where some have dipped their hands in paints and marked a spot and others have blown pigment onto and around their hand to creative a negative print. Also seen here is a zig-zag symbol which may mean lightning or echoes.

The Crystal waters of of the Little Colorado River flow slowly through Greer, deep in the White Mountains of Arizona. This spot is so small that it's more of a country hamlet than a town. Nothing much to do here today, so we had a beer in the local bar and watched ducks, geese and dogs frolic on the river's edge.

Ancient Condo Living

The Kinishba ruins are a few miles away from the historic Fort Apache (of John Wayne fame).



It is the remains of a village built and occupied by ancestral Pueblo dwelling people between about AD. 1250 and AD. 1400. Kinishba is an anglicized Apache phrase that translates to brown house. According to Hopi elders, Kinishba may once have been called Ma'ip'ovi (place of the snake grass).

Read All About It

This is a photograph of the excellent pictographs found scribbled on Newspaper Rock.

Rock Woody

On the way to Canyon de Chelly, we took a trip through the Petrified Forest and I took this photo of some petrified wood lying below a formation known as the Teepees (which are large cone-shaped mounds of mudstone). This section of the Painted Desert lies along a volcanic rim with spectacular views of red-rock mesas and slopes.

Antelope House

We took a guided Jeep tour in Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "De Shay"). The tour company was Canyon de Chelly Tours and I highly recommend their guides. These ruins are called Antelope House and is named after the rock art painted nearby.



Our Navaho Guide, Daniel, told us the colorful antelope artwork was added to the cliffs sometime around the 1830's by a Navaho artist named Little Lamb. The other art found here is much older and was left by the Anasazi people. The Swastika shown in this photo is actually an ancient native American symbol which could mean four seasons, four directions or an indicator of migrations. This area was the last stop on the The North Rim tour and is located at the point where Canyon del Muerto and Black Rock Canyon come together.