AN EARLY ROCK ART RECORD BY DOMINGUEZ AND ESCALANTE:

Kokopelli, Canyon Pintado, Rio Blanco County, CO.

Photograph: Peter Faris, September 1990.

In 1776 the Spanish priests Fray Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Fray Sylvestre Velez de Escalante led an expedition from Santa Fe to try to reach the Spanish missions in Monterey, California.

Fray Dominguez was born in Mexico City about 1740, and joined the Franciscan order on 1757 at the age of seventeen. The first known reference to him is at the Convent of Veracruz as Commissary of the Third Order in October 1772, when he was thirty-two years old and in the order fifteen years. In 1775 he was sent to New Mexico from the Mexican Province of the holy Gospel to make an inspection of the Custody of the Conversion of St. Paul. He arrived in Santa Fe on March 22, 1776. He was also under instructions to investigate the possibility of opening an overland route between Santa Fe and Monterey, California. In 1777 he was recalled to Mexico and served as chaplain of presidios in Nueva Vizcaya. He was at Janos, Sonora, Mexico, in 1800. He died sometime between 1803 and 1805. 

Fray Escalante was born in the mountains of Santander in the town of Trecino, Spain, about 1750. He took the Franciscan habit in the Convento Grande in Mexico City when he was seventeen years old. He came to New Mexico in 1774 and was stationed first at Laguna pueblo and then, in January 1775, was assigned to Zuni. He continued to be its minister until summoned by Dominguez to Santa Fe in June the following year. He remained in New Mexico for two years following his return from this expedition. He died in Parral, Mexico, in April 1780, while returning to Mexico City for medical treatment. He was scarcely thirty years old.

On September 9, they encountered a large amount of Fremont-era and Ute rock art in a canyon south of present-day Rangely, Colorado. They named this Canyon Pintado in their journal of September 9, because of the painted pictures. Most sources state that they specifically noted the flute-player Kokopelli in the journal but in my cursory reading of the material I have been unable to locate this specific reference. “Half way down this canyon toward the south there is a very high cliff on which we saw crudely painted three shields or chimales and the blade of a lance. Farther down on the north side we saw another painting which crudely represented two men fighting. For this reason we called this valley Cañon Pintado.” In any case this 1776 record is an early report of rock art in western North America.

In October, with their expedition in Utah, deciding that they would not reach Monterey before winter, the fathers chose to return to Santa Fe. They reached Santa Fe, their starting point, on January 2, 1777.

The Kokopelli is painted on a surface that is sheet-spalling off the cliff face, and has in the past been reinforced with a cable set into the rock to hold it in place, an effort that has so far succeeded. This is one of the most compelling examples that I know of to provide motivation for developing improved conservation methods for pictographs and petroglyphs.

OCHRE PIGMENT IN PICTOGRAPHS:

Ute pictographs, Shield Cave, Glenwood Canyon, Eagle

County, Colorado. Photograph: Peter Faris, 1991.

Humans have been using naturally occurring ochre as a pigment almost as long as we can trace the human lineage. Ochre has been found in Neandertal burials, and even earlier in hominid contexts.

In its use in rock art ochre is found in a range of colors from yellow to brownish red. Yellow ochre (Fe₂O₃ • H₂O) is a hydrated iron oxide, and red ochre (Fe₂O₃₎ is the anhydrate of yellow ochre, which turns red when heated because heat drives off the water. This was described by Paul Bahn (1998): “the colour of ochre is modified by heat, and Palaeolithic people very clearly knew this, since even in the Chatelperronian of Arcy there were fragments at different stages of oxidation still in the hearths. Yellow ochre, when heated beyond 250° C, passes through different shades of red as it oxidizes into haematite.” (Bahn 1998:100)

Ute hearth with fragments of red and yellow ochre.

Shield Cave, Glenwood Canyon, Eagle County,

Colorado. Photograph: Peter Faris, 1991.

An excellent example of this can be found at Shield Cave, in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado. In the back of shield cave is a vein of yellow ochre which gives every indication of having been extensively mined. In roughly the middle of the floor of the cave is a stone hearth which includes samples of not only the original yellow ochre, but deep red colored ochre apparently produced by roasting the mined yellow ochre in the fire. At the mouth of the cave are painted a number of red pictographs of shields, as well as figures on horseback produced by Ute artists. (see my 1991 photograph above of samples of ochre on one of the rocks around the fire place).

All of the natural materials for producing pictographs is present at this site. Inside the cave is the pigment and the fire pit for preparing it. At the mouth of the cave the vertical cave walls provide the surface for painting upon, and outside the cave on the slopes can be found not only the wood for the fire pit, but yucca plants to provide yucca juice for the vehicle and binder of a paint, and yucca leaves for brushes.

Fremont/Barrier Canyon style pictograph, Westwater Canyon,

Grand County, UT. Photograph: Peter Faris, Oct. 2001.

Ochre nodule in cliff face. Westwater Canyon, Grand

County, UT. Photograph: Peter Faris, Oct. 2001.

In other locations I have noticed the presence of ochre naturally in the vicinity of painted images that may have been done with the local pigment. In Westwater Canyon, Grand County, Utah, captivating painted figures can be found on the canyon walls. Ochre nodules may also be discovered in areas of the cliff face with careful search and the talus at the bottom of the cliffs might have been mined for ochre nodules already weathered from the rock.

Probable Fremont pictographs in Wild Horse Draw,

 Canyon Pintado, Rio Blanco County, CO.

 Photograph: Peter Faris, July 2005

Ochre nodule in cliff face. Wild Horse Draw,

Canyon Pintado, Rio Blanco County, CO.

Photograph: Peter Faris, July 2005.

This is also the case in Wild Horse Draw off of Canyon Pintado, in Rio Blanco County, northwestern Colorado, where painted images may be found on cliff faces that also contain ochre nodules which would serve as the pigment. They also may have been prehistorically recovered by searching the talus at the cliff bottoms for nodules which had weathered out of the rock.

In both these instances the other materials for creating the paintings are available locally as well with yucca cactus readily procured. Yucca sap or juice would make an excellent paint vehicle and binder as it contains natural latexes which would polymerize upon drying, and the leaves of the yucca can be made into effective brushes.

REFERENCE:

Bahn, Paul G., and Jean Vertut

1998    Images of the Ice Age, Facts on File, New York., p. 100

HISTORIC INSCRIPTIONS - GENERAL CROOK:

Rock art researcher and expert Dr. Lawrence Loendorf has recently recorded a historic inscription which reads “G Crook 1876” from a location in an area where Crook was known to have been that year. He reports that “it may be legitimate and represent General George Crook the famous western Indian fighter”. Larry is very interested in trying to find other examples of inscriptions of General Crook “to see if there are matching attributes”.

"G Crook 1876" inscription field sketch.

General Crook was figure of great importance in the history of the later years of the Indian Wars in the West. A petroglyph panel in Canyon Pintado in Moffat County, Colorado, has been identified by locals as “General Crook’s Horse” (see below). According to local historian Hartley Bloomfield, the petroglyph was created by a Ute Indian who had scouted for General Crook and commemorated it with this image. Also, according to Mr. Bloomfield, the markings on the side of the horse had been confirmed as a horse brand which would be consistent with General Crook’s time and situation.

"General Crook's Horse",

Canyon Pintado, Colorado.

If you know of any other inscriptions (or maybe have heard rumors of them) from regions where General George Crook could have campaigned or passed through on his travels please respond in the comment box below, and be sure to include contact information so Dr. Loendorf can contact you personally. This is your opportunity to play a part in recovering information from an important era in the history of the West, and to collaborate with a bona fide rock art expert in this study. Send us your comments.