Throughout the American West, Native Americans created many types of art work. The surviving works, dated long before contact with Europeans and European culture, often consist of petroglyphs etched into the rock faces of cliffs. I've been fascinated to view these works, which are hundreds of years old. A few photos from some of our trips west:
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| Petroglyphs at McConkie ranch
in the Dry Fork Canyon near Vernal, Utah. May, 2016. |
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| Petroglyphs at Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah. We saw these from a riverboat tour in 2003. |
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| More petroglyphs at Canyonlands. |
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| Petroglyphs at the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, 2011. |
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Petroglyphs by the Hohokum Indians, Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona, 2009.
Unfortunately, this site has been defaced by some modern yahoo carving his initials in the rock. This is a terrible problem! |
Long before these American works of art were created, at the very beginning of human history, our predecessors made cave paintings. Little is known about the artists or why they painted, but their works fascinate everyone who encounters them. Because these works are very fragile, it's no longer possible to visit the caves with the actual murals. These works have been found in many locations, and much has been learned about them which I'm not going to try to duplicate here.
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| Lascaux, France. Cave painting of aurochs, horses, and deer. Dated 17,000 years ago. (Wikipedia Art) |
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A bison painted on the wall of the Altamira Cave, Santillana del Mar, Cantabria, Spain.
Dated 36,000 years ago. (Wikipedia Art) |
Each week, at a blog called Colorful World, I enjoy posts from art lovers throughout the world who share murals and street art from their own cities and from their travels. The more I think about these works, the more I see them as the current phase of a great human characteristic: wanting to represent experience through works of art: large works of art! I'm sharing this with these bloggers here:
https://sami-colourfulworld.blogspot.com/
13 comments:
What a thought-provoking post, Mae. And I think you have nailed it spot on. I don't see cats making murals, or dogs or birds or bugs. Perhaps they leave scent murals no one can see but to create something visual with thought behind it, well, that strikes me as very human, though I'd never thought of it before. Beautiful photos here, each and every one.
I love seeing old petroglyphs and other ancient graffiti. Many people moan about modern street art and graffiti but it will become history in its turn.
Magnifique ! and it's strange how my post echoes yours:-)
Sure, that's fascinating!!!
Great post Mae. Yours are the original murals indeed! Mankind has always tried to express themselves through art.
Thanks for contributing :)
fascinating!
Gracias por tu publicación.
Feliz semana desde Almería España
The early master artists, they are so fascinating to see. Great post!
it's interesting how street art and murals are such a huge thing at the moment - everywhere it seems. yes people want to express themselves, and it seems the bigger the better. i love it!
It's a shame the cave paintings are so fragile no one can now view them. Our Indigenous Australians did a lot of cave paintings. When you go to Uluru you can see some of the art in caves on the rock. Sadly, a lot of this ancient art has not been well preserved xx
Mae, have you ever looked into some of the Australian Aboriginal rock art, its likely to be amongst some of oldest in the world. I wish i was more aware of the history, but I'm sure you can find something online. Thanks for posting this i will go and find out more about my own countrys history.
Charlie Louie and Tamara -- Australian prehistory indeed fascinates me, but I've never been to any of the sites where you can see the early rock art. I hope someone who has photos from those sites will link a post to Sami's weekly meme! My blog post was of necessity not too long: just a few photos of rock art that I've seen in the US plus a brief reference to the rest of the world with a suggestion of my thoughts. Thanks for connecting my rough ideas to the broader perspective.
best... mae
Mae, thanks for your photos. I really enjoy the rock art and will do some research as it is very interesting. We have travelled in outback Australia and have been able to see quite a lot and I will post some on my blog.
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