HALLEY'S COMET PICTURED IN CHACO CANYON – REVISITED:

 

Chaco Canyon, Penasco Blanco trail, San Juan county, New Mexico. Photograph Peter Faris, May 1994.

Back on 20 November 2010 I wrote a column about a pictograph along the Peñasco Blanco trail in Chaco Canyon. That trail boasts the panel which has been designated to represent the AD 1054 supernova that gave us the Crab Nebula. This particular panel consists of a red painted ten-pointed star, a crescent, and a hand print. I had visited Chaco a few times and was fascinated by the figure below the so-called Supernova panel. A white painted dot surrounded by two white concentric circles which I identify as a sun sign. This is nice enough by itself but no really big deal. In a 1997 visit I noticed what looked like very faint red paint to the right of that symbol looking somewhat like a large stylized flame. The column I wrote about that in 2010 is reprinted below.

“Archaeoastronomy is the study of the astronomical knowledge of ancient peoples. Students of archaeoastonomy have long been fascinated with the evidence for ancient astronomy found in Chaco Canyon consisting of the Fajada Butte sun calendar and the supposed supernova panel on Peñasco Blanco trail. High above Chaco Canyon’s Peñasco Blanco trail can be found a panel that has often been identified as the Supernova of AD 1054 that produced the Crab Nebula. This well known panel includes a crescent moon, a 10-pointed star which is believed to represent the supernova explosion, and a hand print.

What is not usually mentioned is that there is more rock art at that location. Right below the supposed supernova panel on the rock overhang, and painted in white on the face of the cliff is a large concentric circle symbol, often identified as an Ancestral Pueblo sun symbol. In this case, however, what appears to be a faded flame-like extension can be seen projecting to the right from the sun symbol. This extension, which also appears to be considerably obscured by dust, seems to combine with the sun symbol to represent a comet. Using the large sun symbol as the head of the comet certainly implies that it was large and bright.

Chaco Canyon was a major center of Ancestral Puebloan culture between AD 900 and AD 1150. During that period Halley’s Comet appeared in AD 912, AD 989, AD 1066, and AD 1145. Elsewhere in the world the AD 1066 appearance figured as an omen in the Norman conquest of England and, as such was also portrayed in the Bayeux Tapestry record of Duke William’s conquest. One old written reference in England mentions it as appearing four times as bright as Venus, and another likened its size and brightness to that of the moon.

I submit that the brightest and most impressive of these appearances would be the obvious candidate for reproduction above the Peñasco Blanco trail. From the information available that was probably the AD 1066 appearance of Halley’s. The proximity of that date to that of the supernova of AD 1054 also is suggestive of the AD 1066 appearance as we know that someone in that location had painted an astronomical event probably twelve years earlier. Certainly the people there at that time showed interest in the events seen in the heavens as is proved by the Fajada Butte Sun Calendar and the supernova panel. These clues suggest to me that the faded pictograph below the supernova panel is a record of the AD 1066 appearance of Halley’s Comet.” (Faris 2010)

Field sketch, Chaco Canyon, Penasco Blanco trail, San Juan county, New Mexico. Photograph Peter Faris, September 1997.

A bright heavenly object with a long flame behind it must be a comet, but which one. For the reasons outlined in the paragraphs quoted above from my 2010 column, I decided it was very likely the AD 1066 appearance of Halley’s Comet. I studied in intently and produced the field sketch illustrated above.

Chaco Canyon, Penasco Blanco trail, San Juan county, New Mexico. D-stretch by Michael Bradford, Photograph provided by Dr. Michael Fuller.

Chaco Canyon, Penasco Blanco trail, San Juan county, New Mexico. D-stretch by Meghan Murphy, Photograph provided by Dr. Michael Fuller.

Chaco Canyon, Penasco Blanco trail, San Juan county, New Mexico. D-stretch by Rob Pettengill, Photograph provided by Dr. Michael Fuller.

Since that time new developments have given us D-Stretch technology which can be used to enhance very faint traces of paint, and I recently received enhanced images of that design from Dr. Michael Fuller which confirm that the faint red field is a comet-like tail. I now have three examples produced by different people that clearly show the tail streaming behind the head of the comet. And, although my field sketch was inaccurate, especially along the top of the comet tail, I find it hugely gratifying to have been proven right in this instance.

REFERENCE:

Faris, Peter, 2010, Halley’s Comet Pictured in Chaco Canyon, 20 November 2010, https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7760124847746733855/3107711045319457496