Wandering through Time and Place

Exploring the world with Curtis and Peggy Mekemson
  • About This Blog
  • Bios
  • Chapter from The Bush Devil Ate Sam
  • Five Reasons to Travel
  • Meet Bone: World Traveler, Fearless Adventurer, and Sex Symbol
  • Strange Gods… The Rock Art of Three Rivers Petroglyph Site

    Posted at 5:00 am by Curt Mekemson
    Jun 19th
    Petroglyph in Three Rivers Petroglyph site of southern New Mexico.

    This is one of my favorite glyphs from the Three Rivers Petroglyph site in Southern New Mexico– but what does it mean? I’ll go out on the proverbial limb. My guess is it represents a drug induced shamanistic vision. There is some thought that the circle with dots represents Datura, a powerful hallucinogen (and also a favorite flower subject of Georgia O’Keeffe).

    A lot of guessing takes place in determining the meaning of rock art. Present day Native American myths and rituals provide some clues. Others can be deduced from the petroglyph itself. An antelope filled full of arrows relates to hunting, but is it a record of an actual event or a hopeful prediction of the future?

    Today I am featuring petroglyphs from the Three Rivers site that represent humans and gods. Some can seem quite strange while the one below seems… quite human.

    A realistic portrayal of a human found at the Three Rivers Petroglyph site in southern New Mexico.

    This is the most realistic portrayal of a human we found among the Three River Petroglyphs. Note the ear rings.

    Petroglyph at Three Rivers Petroglyph site in southern New Mexico.

    I also found this triangular face fascinating. Many of the petroglyphs at Three Rivers take advantage of the rocks natural features. This one uses the ridge to set off the nose and eyes, and cracks to outline the chin.

    Petroglyph at Three Rivers Petroglyph site in Southern New Mexico.

    According to Alex Patterson in his book, Rock Art Symbols, this is either the Mother of Animals or a woman waiting for her honey. It could be she is having a baby. Check out her expression. Two different versions are below.

    Petroglyph at Three Rivers Petroglyph site in southern New Mexico.

    Another possible version of Mother of Animals at Three Rivers Petroglyph site.

    Petroglyph at Three Rivers Petroglyph site in southern New Mexico.

    And a third.

    Three Rivers Petroglyph.

    I introduced a close up of this character in my last blog. Here he is located in his rock setting. I am thinking “boo!”

    Petroglyph from Three Rivers Petroglyph site in southern New Mexico.

    Talk about scary, this guy qualifies. Big eyes and big, sharp teeth

    Three Rivers petroglyph.

    Petroglyphs can be quite graphic in their portrayals…

    Petroglyph from Three Rivers Petroglyph site in southern New Mexico.

    …And abstract. Geometric patterns are often included.

    You can tell your god or someone's status in society by the headdress he or she wears. The plant on the left may be corn.

    You can tell your god by the headdress he or she wears. The plant may be corn.

    Petroglyph from Three Rivers Petroglyph site in southern New Mexico.

    I’ll conclude this blog with this spiky haired character who appears to be waving bye-bye.

    NEXT BLOG: We will enter into the petroglyph animal kingdom of Three Rivers.

    Mountain lion petroglyph at Three Rivers Petroglyph site in southern New Mexico.

    I check out a mountain lion petroglyph.

    Share this:

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest

    Author: Curt Mekemson

    Wanderer, writer, photographer and activist. I've now settled in Southern Oregon. 1.8 million acres of national forest are out the backdoor and the beautiful Applegate River is out the front door. I like travel, reading, history and wild places. I am married to the lovely, funny, bright Peggy.
    Posted in National Parks, On the Road US | Tagged Mother of Animals petroglyph, Native American rock art, New Mexico, petroglyphs, rock art, Three Rivers Petroglyph site |

    7 thoughts on “Strange Gods… The Rock Art of Three Rivers Petroglyph Site”

    • shoreacres

      June 20, 2013 at 5:44 am

      Truly wonderful. The top image reminds me of a toy I had as a child. I can’t quite bring the images to mind, but the concept remains clear. It was rectangular, and a different person was on each side. It had been divided horizontally into three sections, and you could twist them. By twisting, you could put the head of #1 on the body of #3, with the feet of #2, and so on.

      I suppose it was the cracks in the rock that brought it to mind. In any event, it does look just slightly twisted!

      Reply
      • Curt Mekemson

        June 21, 2013 at 7:27 pm

        Shamanism has always been fascinating to me. I read Carlos Castaneda early on when I was young and impressionable. Don’t you just wonder what he was doing hovering over big eyes. Sending him back or bringing him out? (grin) –Curt

        Reply
    • The Writing Waters Blog

      June 21, 2013 at 3:10 pm

      The study of what petroglyphs mean is fascinating–a chance to imagine stories and piece together evidence. There is also a wonderful mystery that we will not know all that it means.

      Reply
      • Curt Mekemson

        June 21, 2013 at 7:20 pm

        How right you are. They present a wonderful puzzle. –Curt

        Reply
    • sixdegreesphotography

      June 25, 2013 at 4:42 pm

      These are so cool (I know, a lame word) ..but they are.. I love the way these drawings tell a story and while we may not know that story, we can interpret them the way we want..Love the mountain lion one (that would make a great photograph by itself-although you look dashing next to it) 🙂

      Reply
      • Curt Mekemson

        June 26, 2013 at 11:55 am

        As you can imagine, Lynne, I have at least a dozen photos of the mountain lion. As for dashing, one of my friends sent an Email: “Mountain lion about to pounce on old goat.” With friends like that… You know the saying. 🙂

        Reply
        • sixdegreesphotography

          June 26, 2013 at 4:22 pm

          🙂

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

    Gravatar
    WordPress.com Logo

    You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

    Google photo

    You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

    Twitter picture

    You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

    Facebook photo

    You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

    Cancel

    Connecting to %s

    • Bush Devil Ate Sam

      The Bush Devil Ate Sam is an important record and a serious story, yet told easily, and with delightful humor. This is one of the most satisfying books I have ever read, because it entertained me thoroughly AND made me feel better informed. —Hilary Custance Green: British Author... Click on the image to learn more about my book, the Bush Devil Ate Sam, and find out where it can be ordered.

    • Special Thanks to Word Press for featuring my blog and to my readers and followers. You are all appreciated.

    • Top Posts & Pages

      • The Starfish of Harris Beach State Park, Oregon
      • A Close-Encounter with a Train... Plus
      • First Grade Flunkee… Growing Up in a Graveyard
      • Truth Is Beauty: A 55-Foot Tall Woman... Burning Man 2013
      • Highway 191: National Parks and Navajos... The Backroad Series
      • New Mexico’s Three Rivers Petroglyph Site… Where Art Rocks
      • Sixty Thousand Bikes… Burning Man 2012
      • Harris Beach State Park... Another Gem on the Oregon Coast: Part 1
      • Watson Lake: A Forest of 70,000 Signs… North to Alaska
      • The Ghostly Town of Bodie: Part II... The Highway 395 Series
    • RSS Feed

      • RSS - Posts
      • RSS - Comments
    • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

      Join 8,555 other followers

    • Thanks for stopping by.

      • 612,938 Visitors
    • Categories

      • At Home in Oregon
      • Burning Man
      • Essays
      • Genealogy
      • Memoirs
      • MisAdventures
      • Miscellaneous
      • National Parks
      • On the Road US
      • Outdoor Adventures
      • Peace Corps
      • Uncategorized
      • Wandering The World

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×