On our way to White Sands National Park, we spied a sign directing us to the Three Rivers Petroglyphs site just outside of Tularosa, New Mexico.
Petroglyphs? I’m in! So we veered off the main road and drove 36 kilometres to a national park that contains over 21,000 (!!!!!!) petroglyphs.
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| Big horn sheep |
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| Big horn sheep with arrows |
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| Human face |
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| Bird |
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| Fish? |
I was in archaeological heaven! I could have spent days looking at all the masks, sunbursts, handprints, animals, birds, humans, fish, and geometric designs that date back to between 200 - 1450 CE. I tried to take photos of all 21, 000 petroglyphs. I really did. D had to lure me away with the promise of fresh pistachio nuts from a local farm. That was the only way he could get me to leave!
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| World's largest pistachio in Alamagordo, New Mexico |
Archaeologists today have only the faintest ideas of what these petroglyphs mean. Could it be ancient graffiti? The first form of colouring or drawing book? Scholars suspect the petroglyphs are religious in nature, and may also tell stories of daily life, myths and events of significance.
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Visitor from outer space? Three Rivers is not that far from Roswell...
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Oh, to be able to go back in time to find out what these people really were thinking…
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