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Ute equestrian figure. West of Denver, CO.

Photograph Peter Faris, September 22, 2005.

Location of Ute equestrian figure. West of Denver,

CO. Photograph Peter Faris, September 22, 2005.

Field sketch of Ute equestrian figure. West of

Denver, CO.  Peter Faris, September 22, 2005.

On September 22, 2005, I visited a rock art site in the foothills west of Denver. It is the second site that I know of in what is called the “Hogback Valley” the gap between the first ridge of foothills – “the Hogback” – and the Rocky Mountains west of Denver. This site sported a small, crudely painted, black figure that apparently represents an equestrian figure. Judging from the location it was probably created by the Ute.

Rock shelter west of Denver, CO.

Photograph Peter Faris, January, 1995.

Linear markings in rock shelter west of Denver, CO.

Photograph Peter Faris, January, 1995.

The other site I mentioned I last visited in January 1995. It consists of numerous short grooves in a rock shelter, and yes, attempts have been made to read them as Ogam - just not by me. It has been long held that there was no rock art in the Denver metro area. We now know of a couple of minor sites west of Denver, and a few others from up and down the Front Range, the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northern Colorado between say Pueblo and the Wyoming border.

The question is – why aren’t there more? The answer to that is presently unknown. If we could figure it out it might provide insights into why rock art was created, and where? There are certainly plenty of good rock faces for rock art. So why is there so little? What we can say is that the Front Range of northern Colorado was, for much of recent prehistory, and I suspect farther back in time as well, basically a frontier, a place where cultures of the Great Plains rubbed up against the peoples of the mountains.

Doesn’t that suggest that this rock art was not created as signs to other people? A very few minor examples of pictographs and petroglyphs, essentially hidden away and hard to find do not make for very good communication of messages of ownership, and they make poor “No Trespassing” signs. That suggests to me that the few examples we do find must have more local or personal relevance. The creation of it was not to broadcast a message to larger society in general, it seems to have been meant for much more private purposes, but what they may be I cannot say. What do you think?

And Oh yes, I did not mention the locations because I have been asked to keep them secret by the managers of the land they are on, sorry.