Fremont Indian Petroglyphs in Capitol Reef National Park, UT
N 38° 17.322 W 111° 14.532
12S E 478819 N 4237875
Quick Description: These petroglyphs are located in Capitol Reef National Park, along Hwy 24, between the Historic Fruita School and the Hickman Bridge Trailhead.
Location: Utah, United States
Date Posted: 5/9/2011 2:00:01 PM
Waymark Code: WMBDF9
The prehistoric Fremont Culture existed throughout Utah and adjacent areas of Idaho, Colorado and Nevada from approximately AD 600 - 1300. Fremont ‘culture’ is primarily defined by a consistent set of traditions and practices that have been identified as unique and separate from their contemporaries, the Ancestral Puebloans, better known as the Anasazi. The Fremont Culture was named for the Fremont River Valley in which sites were discovered and first defined.
Fremont figurines and rock art resemble each other. Pictographs (painted on rock surfaces) and petroglyphs (carved or pecked into the rock surface) depict people, animals and other shapes and forms on rock surfaces. Anthropomorphic (human-like) figures usually have trapezoidal shaped bodies with arms, legs and fingers. The figures are often elaborately decorated with headdresses, ear bobs, necklaces, clothing items and facial expressions. A wide variety of zoomorphic (animal-like) figures include bighorn sheep, deer, dogs, birds, snakes and lizards. Abstract designs, geometric shapes and handprints are also common.
The meaning of rock art is unknown. Designs may have recorded religious or mythological events, migrations, hunting trips, resource locations, travel routes, celestial information and other important knowledge. Many archeologists propose that rock art uses symbolic concepts that provide an observer with important information and that it was not simply artistic expression.
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