Do You Know This Site?
Answers: This panel consists of pictographs painted onto sandstone caprock with red hematite. The carrot-shaped images are human-like figures that archaeologists call anthropomorphs, even though they do not possess any extremities. These trapezoidal anthropomorphic figures measuring from 12 to 18 inches high are classified as the Barrier Canyon style. Named for a well-known site in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, this rock art style is believed to date to the Late Archaic period, from 2000 BC to AD 500. Although no radiocarbon dating has been conducted on this particular panel, it has stylistic similarities with rock art in Utah that has been dated. The Barrier Canyon style is known to extend from the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona to northwestern Colorado, spanning much of eastern Utah. Characteristics of the Barrier Canyon style include long, tapered bodies with broad shoulders, lacking arms and legs, and frequently containing intricate designs. These figures range in height from a few centimeters to more than two meters and can be elaborately decorated. They often appear in rows of two or more, crowded together on the walls of cliffs and rock alcoves. Body forms are shown in outline as stripes or as solid forms. Large round bulging eyes are commonly the only facial features. These goggle eyes create a ghost-like or supernatural appearance. Heads may be small and round, often with headdresses, whose forms include a “two-horn” or crowns of dots or plant-like images. The Barrier Canyon style includes a combination of both pictographs (painted images) and petroglyphs (pecked, incised or carved images). Polychrome figures in the style are relatively rare in Colorado; paintings are usually monochromatic with red the color of choice. Some archaeologists believe that these sites have religious significance and that prehistoric peoples returned to them again and again. This rock art style may have been symbolically renewed and ceremonially changed over time by adding scratched, abraded, pecked, and painted designs. Often images were obliterated by removing paint and portions of the rock surface, or by covering them with mud. The Carrot Men Pictograph Site is listed in the National Register
of Historic Places.
|
