Last updated: May 14, 2023
Place
Piedras Marcadas Canyon Petroglyph Viewing Trail Stop 4
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Amenities
2 listed
Cellular Signal, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
This is Stop 4 along the Petroglyph Viewing Trail in Piedras Marcadas Canyon. You have now hiked half a mile, or .85 kilometers.
Identification of some petroglyphs is based on interpretations by today’s Pueblo people, or the descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans. We cannot say for certain what the images represent, nor is it appropriate for Pueblo people to reveal the meaning of an image to others. Pueblo nations have differed meanings and any single image may have complex ore multiple meanings based on its context.
Most petroglyph images in the park are dated by relative dating techniques. For example, the design elements on petroglyphs can be compared to previously dated pottery, or Ancestral Puebloan murals. These murals had colorful painted images on the plaster walls of subterranean ceremonial rooms known as kivas. Most of the mural images were created after the year 1300, suggesting that new ideas were beginning to emerge in Pueblo culture. This can be contributed to an influx of new groups traveling through or settling in the Rio Grande Valley. The results of relative dating reveal many of these petroglyphs were created approximately 400-700 years ago.
To learn more about these cultural transitions and other ancestral groups in the Rio Grande Valley, continue to Stop 5 located 100 yards from here.
Identification of some petroglyphs is based on interpretations by today’s Pueblo people, or the descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans. We cannot say for certain what the images represent, nor is it appropriate for Pueblo people to reveal the meaning of an image to others. Pueblo nations have differed meanings and any single image may have complex ore multiple meanings based on its context.
Most petroglyph images in the park are dated by relative dating techniques. For example, the design elements on petroglyphs can be compared to previously dated pottery, or Ancestral Puebloan murals. These murals had colorful painted images on the plaster walls of subterranean ceremonial rooms known as kivas. Most of the mural images were created after the year 1300, suggesting that new ideas were beginning to emerge in Pueblo culture. This can be contributed to an influx of new groups traveling through or settling in the Rio Grande Valley. The results of relative dating reveal many of these petroglyphs were created approximately 400-700 years ago.
To learn more about these cultural transitions and other ancestral groups in the Rio Grande Valley, continue to Stop 5 located 100 yards from here.