Holy Ghost Panel in Horseshoe Canyon
by Kathleen Bishop
Title
Holy Ghost Panel in Horseshoe Canyon
Artist
Kathleen Bishop
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Dubbed the “Holy Ghost” panel, these painted and pecked Barrier Canyon-style pictographs stare out at the world from a south-facing cliff in Horseshoe Canyon, Utah. It is an eerie vignette of a much larger panoramic “Great Gallery” depicting an assortment of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures stretching nearly 330 feet across the canyon wall.
There is much debate among academics about the age of these paintings and of the cultural traditions of their creators, as well as their relationship to other groups in the region. Pigments can be carbon dated but it’s difficult to get reliable dates from these paintings through radiocarbon analysis due to contamination of the pigments and natural weathering.
Other dating methods employed suggest Archaic Period dates. Clay figurines, resembling Barrier Canyon Style figures, that were recovered in excavations within the Horseshoe Canyon system have been dated from 6630 b.c.e. to about 4600 b.c.e.
Superimposition of Fremont and Anasazi style rock art over Barrier Canyon style pictographs proves that Barrier Canyon paintings were produced earlier. Researchers have concluded that Barrier Canyon anthropomorphic figures in the Great Gallery were created by different artists over a span of more than 4,000 years. That is several hundred generations of artists following the same stylistic tradition!
©Kathleen Bishop. All Rights Reserved. kathleen-bishop.pixels.com.
Uploaded
December 2nd, 2019
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