Petroglyph Panel at Petroglyph Point [Suggest Edits]

Description

For those looking to shake up their cliff dwelling experience at Mesa Verde, Petroglyph Point offers visitors a chance to run headfirst into the written history of the Ancestral Puebloans.

Petroglyphs are an ancient symbol-driven writing style that the Ancestral Puebloans used in an attempt to pass on their oral tradition. While the Ancestral Puebloan scribes could read the narrative their glyphs told, over time the original story has been lost. As a result, petroglyph experts have debated the meaning of these etchings throughout modern time.

In the contemporary view of one Hopi elder, the petroglyphs at Petroglyph Point represent the pilgrimage of two tribes, the Eagle Clan and the Mountain Sheep Clan, from their dwellings in the area to a place near the Grand Canyon, where they believed their ancestors had climbed to the surface from their refuge in the earth below.

Short Run: The petroglyphs are located approximately 1 mile from the parking area along the Petroglyph Point Trail.

Gem Type: Prehistoric Site