Ancient
Cultures of
Utah
EXPLORING
ROCK ART
Table of Contents
History of Utah........................................................................................................... 2
The Great Salt Lake................................................................................................. 2
Ancient Rock Art......................................................................................................... 3
Best Rock Art Sites..................................................................................................... 3
Archiac....................................................................................................................... 3
Fremont...................................................................................................................... 3
Ute.............................................................................................................................. 3
Newspaper Rock......................................................................................................... 3
Nine Mile Canyon........................................................................................................ 3
Potash Road, Moab (Arches National Park).................................................................4
Sego Canyon.............................................................................................................. 4
Preservation............................................................................................................... 4
UTAH TRAVEL INFORMATION
History of Utah
Utah has been the home of many people. Early
culture groups include the Desert Archiac, Anasazi,
and Fremont. Then a thousand years ago, such
Numic-speaking hunter-gatherers as the Shoshones,
Utes, Southern Paiutes, and Goshutes began moving
into Utah. They were joined by an Athapaskan group
called, the Navajos.
White men came along much later. Their first
Newspaper Rock significant incursion came in 1776 as a party of
Spanish explorers traveled much of the length of
Visitors come from around the
present-day Utah. Led by Franciscan friars
world to visit Utah's many Rock Dominguez and Escalante. Fifty years later, mountain
Art sites. men searching for beaver explored, trapped and
A Few Popular Sites befriended the Indians living here. Such men as Jim
Bridger, Etienne Provost, Miles Goodyear, and
9-Mile Canyon Jedediah Smith gave names to many of the area's
Newspaper Rock distinctive geographical features.
Sego Canyon
Finally, in 1847 came the Mormon settlers questing
Facts About Utah: for a religious sanctuary in the remote West.
Immigrating in large numbers, they laid out
Area: 84,990 sq. miles communities, built homes and churches, established
Neighboring States: farms, and achieved statehood in 1896.
Nevada, Arizona,
Wyoming, Colorado,
The Great Salt Lake
Utah is home to the largest U.S. lake west of the
New Mexico, Idaho
Mississippi River. The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of
Population: 2,233,169 ancient Lake Bonneville, a prehistoric freshwater lake
Capital: Salt Lake City that was 10 times larger than the Great Salt Lake is
today. The current lake is 75 miles long and 28 miles
Ancient Settlers of Utah:
wide, and covers 1,700 square miles. It has a
Archiac maximum depth of about 35 feet and is typically 3 to
Fremont 5 times saltier than the ocean. Due to the high
salinity, the lake is fish free. The largest aquatic
Anasazi
critters are brine shrimp and brine flies. The Great
Utes, Goshute, Paiute, Salt Lake is one of the largest migratory bird magnets
Shoshone in Western North America
The first white person known to have visited the
Great Salt Lake was Jim Bridger in 1825.
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Ancient Rock Art
The quality and quantity of Utah's prehistoric rock art is unmatched anywhere. This
rock art takes two forms: those that are pecked into the surface of the rock are
called “petroglyphs”; painted designs are called “pictographs”.
The earliest rock art is attributed to the Archiac Culture. The Archiacs were hunters
and gatherers. Scholars generally agree that this form of rock art is at least 2,000
years old. Much of Utah's rock art is credited to the Fremont Indians who occupied
most of the state between 800 and 1,500 years ago. The Anasazi also produced
rock art, from slightly before the time of Christ to 700 years ago. More recent
groups, such as the Numic-speaking Ute, Paiute, Shoshone, and Goshute, who
replaced the Fremont Indians, also created rock art.
Best Rock Art Sites Archiac Fremont Ute
Newspaper Rock x x
Nine Mile Canyon x x
Potash Road x x
Sego Canyon x x x
Newspaper Rock
This famous site is along a well-traveled access
road into the Needles district of Canyonlands
National Park, 12 miles from US 191 and 30
miles from the park boundary. The 200-square-
foot rock is covered by hundreds of petroglyphs
—one of the largest, best preserved panels in
the Southwest. The petroglyphs feature a mix of
human forms, animals, and abstract artwork.
Newspaper Rock was designated a State
Historical Monument in 1961
Nine Mile Canyon
Some of the most spectacular rock art in Utah is
in Nine Mile Canyon northeast of Price. The
canyon is actually 40 miles long, do not let the
name deceive you. Nine Mile Canyon is remote,
hostile, unblemished and roughly beautiful.
Called "the world's longest art gallery" it is
UTAH TRAVEL INFORMATION
home to numerous rock art panels, including the famous "Hunter Panel". Most of the
rock art was created by the Fremont Indians who occupied this area some 1,000
years ago.
Potash Road, Moab (Arches National
Park)
The entrance to Arches is located 5 miles north of
Moab, UT along Highway 191. Opposite the entrance
to the park is the beginning of Potash Road. Potash
Road has many wonderful sites you can view from
your car – no major hiking required! You won’t even
need a GPS to locate the rock art because they are
clearly marked with highway signs.
Some of the best attractions are two large panels of petroglyphs and several
dinosaur tracks. This is an adventure everyone can enjoy.
Sego Canyon
The sandstone cliffs of Sego Canyon are a
spectacular outdoor art gallery of petroglyphs
painted and carved by Native Americans peoples
over a period of around 8,000 years. They are
characterized by more than 80 haunting life-
sized figures with hollowed eyes or missing eyes
and the frequent absence of arms and legs.
Some claim that the mysterious figures are
evidence of alien visitation in our ancient past,
while scholars maintain that the strange beings
represent shamanistic visions produced in trance-like states.
Preservation
Unfortunately, people are the major destructors of ancient rock art. Visitors have
damaged these cultural treasures by trying to remove them, writing over the top of
them or beside, painting them, and carving into the stone next to them. Destroying
rock art is a crime. Please help to preserve this important history by protecting rock
art, not destroying it.
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