REVISITING NEWSPAPER ROCK, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH:

Newspaper Rock, San Juan

County, Utah. Photograph

Peter Faris, September 2018.

On October 1, 2018, I posted a column titled Public Access/Public Servants/Responsiveness/and Responsibility, an editorial about my attempt to visit the rock art of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, in Montezuma County, Colorado on September 24, 2018. I was refused access by Marietta Eaton, the Monument Manager, who was totally uncooperative with my hopes to be able to bring some of its rock art to RockArtBlog. (Ironically, as recently as May 2018 they were advertising an Artist-in-Residence program which was supposed to provide access to all of its cultural resources including rock art to the winning artists)

Newspaper Rock, San Juan

County, Utah. Photograph

Peter Faris, September 2018.

Instead, a very helpful young lady at the Monument Visitor Center referred me to Newspaper Rock, in San Juan County, Utah, and gave me a map to the site. I had been to Newspaper Rock before, but it was nearly forty years ago, so I took the opportunity to revisit it. Back around 1980 you had to find the site on your own, now there are signs and a parking lot for visitors, a paved trail, and a large slab of flat rock turned into an improvised viewing platform, and they have put a fence around it to suggest to visitors that they stay back. In other words Utah's response to visitors is the polar opposite from that of Eaton and the Canyons of the Ancients. And, while not mitigating in any way my anger and disgust at the policies of Canyons of the Ancients, a visit to Newspaper Rock is always worthwhile, and it was a lot like reconnecting with an old friend.

Newspaper Rock, San Juan

County, Utah. Photograph

Peter Faris, September 2018.

Newspaper Rock is west of the midpoint between La Salle Junction and Monticello, Utah, off of State Highway #211. It is open for visitation like most Utah sites, and nowadays has a nice paved parking area. (Back when I first visited there it was dirt roads and parking lot). 

Interpretive sign,

Newspaper Rock, San Juan

County, Utah. Photograph

Peter Faris, September 2018.

The panel itself is behind a fence to demark the area that visitors are asked to stay out of, and it is accompanied by an explanatory sign with the following explanation: "Newspaper Rock Archaeological Site:

Newspaper rock is a petroglyph panel etched in sandstone that records approximately 2,000 years of early human activity. Prehistoric peoples, probably from the Archaic, Basketmaker, Fremont and Pueblo cultures etched on the rock from B.C. tom to A.D. 1300. In historic times, Ute and Navajo people, as well as European Americans made their contributions.

In interpreting the figures on the rock, scholars are undecided as to their meaning or have yet to decipher them. In Navajo, the rock is called "Tse' Hane'" (Rock that tells a story).

Unfortunately, we do not know if the figures represent storytelling, doodling, hunting magic, clan symbols, ancient graffiti or something else. Without a true understanding of the petroglyphs, much is left for individual interpretation. Newspaper Rock is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Please continue to preserve it." (Utah Parks sign at Newspaper Rock).

The petroglyphs themselves are pecked through a coating of patina that is literally blue-black over most of the surface and so even fairly old images show up spectacularly, making for great photography. If you are ever in that area you should make a point of visiting it, it is well worth the few extra miles.