Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs
Newspaper Rock · Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument · Indian Creek Petroglyphs
Basketmaker to Historic Ute (500 BCE – 1850 CE)·Basketmaker-Anasazi (Ancestral Pueblo), Fremont, Navajo, Ute·🇺🇸 Utah, San Juan County, Indian Creek, Bears Ears, United States
About
About Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs
200 sq ft Wingate sandstone panel beside Indian Creek densely covered with 650+ petroglyphs pecked and abraded through dark desert varnish. Motifs span Basketmaker II to Pueblo III and Ute (c.500 BCE–19th c. CE): broad-shouldered anthropomorphs, shield bearers, bighorn sheep, deer, horse-and-rider post-16th c., six-toed footprints, spirals, and historic cattle brands. Superposition chronology is unusually clear: early Archaic small deer underlie Fremont broad-shouldered figures overlain by Navajo horse scenes, making Newspaper Rock a textbook desert varnish palimpsest within Bears Ears National Monument.
Why it mattersDensest recorded desert-varnish palimpsest in Colorado Plateau; textbook for superposition dating and Fremont-Anasazi interaction.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Reading of six-toed footprints — lineage or myth
- 02Whether spiral marks solstice light
Theories
- 01Allotment board re-pecked each generation as clan history
- 02Travelers' message board at Indian Creek trail fork
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.500 BCE – 19th c. CE
- Period
- Basketmaker to Historic Ute (500 BCE – 1850 CE)
- Culture
- Basketmaker-Anasazi (Ancestral Pueblo), Fremont, Navajo, Ute
- Builders
- Colorado Plateau farming and later numic pastoral communities
- Purpose
- Creek-side story rock at canyon junction marking clan histories and travel wayfinding
- Abandoned
- c.1850 with Native removal but Ute visits continue
- Rediscovered
- 1930s Z. Johnson recording; 1960s Schaafsma corpus
- Excavation
- Not applicable
500 BCE–500 CE
Basketmaker small sheep and hump-backed flute figures
500–1300 CE
Fremont-Anasazi broad shoulders and shields
1600–1800 CE
Ute horse-riders and cattle brands overlay
On the ground
Structures & features
37.9850° N · 109.5170° W · 1680 m · 3 mapped features
Central Palimpsest Panel
panel200-sq-ft dense varnish pecking with superposition stacks
37.9852° N · 109.5172° WHorse-Rider Overlap Zone
sub panelUpper right with Ute horse-riders over Fremont sheep
37.9850° N · 109.5170° WFootprint and Spiral Cluster
motif clusterSix-toed footprints and spirals at lower centre
37.9849° N · 109.5175° W
Gallery