about petroglyphs

While not pretending to understand the original intent of these Glyphs, I have painted some of the images, hoping to give some sense of this remarkable space/time to people who will probably never experience them in person.

All of the most ancient stories from the most ancient peoples we know about mention people who were before them.

We have no direct knowledge of these pre-historic peoples, except pictures and symbols carved or painted in stone, and what remains of some structures they erected.

Examples of this kind of record are found scattered all over the world, often in remote or extreme locations as well as in places built carefully by large numbers of people working on the project for generations.

While we cannot decipher much of this imagery, some is fairly clearly understood.   there are calendars in several places, marking accurately the passage of time and the movements of the earth, moon and sun. there are groups of images that tell stories - some people today still use them to tell their children  the stories of their ancestors.   some images are apparently warnings, indications of territory.

Even the images we don't understand communicate - they express ideas in some less defined way, but still convey information.

If we choose to put aside all questions of translation, there is a power to the imagery - aesthetically they communicate regardless of the original meaning.