Frozen in time, there are up to a dozen lizard petroglyphs at Cub Creek.

Photo by Dave Gibson

The "three chiefs" pictograph at Jones Hole.

Photo by Dave Gibson

A well-endowed anthropomorph at McKee Spring.

Photo by Dave Gibson

A prominent petroglyph at McKee Spring.

Photo by Dave Gibson

Red ocher paint was used to create this elk pictograph.

Photo by Dave Gibson

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DINOSAUR – Nearly 300 miles from Denver in extreme northwest Colorado lies Dinosaur National Monument. Originally 80 acres in size, it was established in 1915 by Woodrow Wilson to protect dinosaur fossil beds in Jensen, Utah.

The Carnegie Quarry there was one of the most productive 20th century paleontological sites in North America. In 1938 FDR expanded the monument to its current 329 square miles, extending it into Colorado.

Between ca. 200 and 1200 C.E., the land was home to Ancestral Fremont people. Encompassing the entirety of Utah and touching into Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado, their culture consisted of independent tribes linked by bloodlines and similar traditions.

The Fremont were semi-sedentary farmers/hunters/gatherers who grew corn, beans, and squash. They lived in partially submerged pit houses covered with timber and mud. Inside, the structures stayed cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

At Mantle’s Cave in the middle of the monument, pottery shards, projectile points, stone tools, baskets, nets, beads, pieces of clothing, and cupflower seeds were unearthed. Footwear fragments reveal that they wore thick moccasins made of deer or bighorn sheep hock leather. The cave also contains the remnants of dwellings and a granary.

During a 1939 excavation, a colorful headdress wrapped in a buckskin bag was discovered. It features over 370 red-shafted flicker feathers and six yellow-shafted flicker feathers at its crown. The 1000-year-old headdress is either of Fremont or Ute origin. It may be viewed at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.

By the 13th century, the Fremont had abandoned the land they’d occupied for millennia. Likely the result of a 100-year drought, they might have migrated south with the Ancestral Puebloans. Some may have remained and were absorbed by incoming Ute populations.

Besides the clues drawn from recovered artifacts, the only hints in regard to their daily lives are in the form of petrographs (petroglyphs and pictographs) left behind, pecked and painted on the patinaed cliffs.

Scattered within the monument, most of the rock art is of the older Classic Vernal Style. Some of the petrographs depict animals and hunting scenes. Others are less easily identifiable and theorized to represent spirits or deities, clan symbols, territorial markings, or simply the result of artistic expression.

Geometric designs of circles, spirals, and lines are abundant. Stylized human-like figures called anthropomorphs are also common. They depict trapezoidal torsos with broad shoulders that taper down to a narrow waist and simple appendages. With round, rectangular, or bucket-shaped heads, quite a few are rendered wearing headdresses, necklaces, and earrings. Some of them are holding shields. Others have horns that make them look alien.

Swelter Shelter just beyond the Quarry Visitor Center on Tilted Rock Scenic Drive contains both petroglyphs and pictographs. Some of the petroglyphs in the monument were once painted and traces of color are barely visible in their stone crannies.

Nine miles up the road is the Cub Creek petrograph site. A steep quarter mile trail leads to a wide rock art panel on the rockface. Since the exact meanings behind the petrographs have been lost to time and are pure conjecture, interpretation is your own. The petroglyph grouping of a large lizard chasing a smaller lizard chasing a little man makes me feel insignificant and vulnerable. A Kokopelli petroglyph is also found there.

More petroglyphs of interest may be viewed at the McKee Spring and Pool Creek sites.

Located 44 miles from the Quarry Visitor Center, next to the Jones Hole Fish Hatchery, the Jones Hole Trailhead leads to some magnificent pictographs at Deluge Shelter. Created using paint made of hematite red ocher mixed with animal fat as a binder, they are partially protected from the elements and estimated to be 1000 years old. Viewing the striking image of an elk and the “three chiefs” pictograph are well worth the moderate-difficulty four-mile round trip hike.

Out of respect for the Fremont and Ute people who came before us, their descendants, and all those in the future, and as good stewards, never touch the particularly delicate pictographs or petroglyphs as body oil on your hands can damage them.

Open year-round, lodging options are available in Vernal, Utah, or at the monument’s six campsites. Rain or snow can make some of the roads impassable so it is recommended that you check the weather forecast before leaving home.

For more information about Dinosaur National Monument, go to nps.gov/dino/index.htm. or call 435-781-7700. The Canyon Visitor Center is located at 4545 Hwy 40, Dinosaur, CO 81610. The Quarry Visitor Center is at 11625 E 1500 S Jensen, UT 84035.