A GEOGLYPH IN SOUTHEAST COLORADO - THE MAN WITH THE SPEAR:

In southeastern Colorado, south of the town of Limon, a geoglyph composed of rocks placed to form am image has been located. This rock alignment is in the form of a man carrying a spear or long staff. I was given a photo of this image about 8 years ago by Ted Barker who I believe had taken it while standing on the hood of his pickup to get as high an angle as possible. I know of no true overhead picture of the image which would show it in clear outline. At the angle that we view this from the image is greatly distorted by perspective and it is somewhat difficult to recognize from this angle but all who have seen it seem to agree that it is the outline of a man carrying a spear or long staff made out of rocks.

Man with spear geoglyph, southeastern Colorado. Photo: Ted Barker.

As far as I know this has never been formally recorded and no tests have been conducted of the site. Thus we have no actual data as to its provenience. So who made it, and why? The fact that the figure is pedestrian, not mounted on a horse, suggests that it might be prehistoric or at least proto-historic. The rocks seem to be well seated in the ground, not sitting up on the surface, so that might suggest age. This is hard to say, however, since we do not have a geomorphologic study of the site we do not know what processes might have been at work. Are natural processes slowly sinking the rocks into the ground with the passing of time, or could wind erosion be removing surface particles of dirt to counter that process?

One can only hope that someone will complete a formal study and recording of the "man with a spear" geoglyph before a pickup truck drives across it or a bunch of the rocks are rolled away, and if you do please let me know.