The Three Kings Petroglyph Panel
by Kathleen Bishop
Title
The Three Kings Petroglyph Panel
Artist
Kathleen Bishop
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Fine art archaeology photograph capturing detail of a famous pre-Columbian petroglyph panel nicknamed The Three Kings, AKA The Sun Carrier panel. These imposing anthropomorphic figures carved high on a cliff wall in Dry Fork Canyon are attributed to the Uinta Fremont Indians of northern Utah. Executed in distinctive Classic Vernal Style, they exhibit trapezoidal bodies bedecked with signature elaborate necklaces and headgear.
It's difficult to appreciate the scale of these glyphs but the central figure, holding a disc or shield still showing faint traces of red pigment, is 9 feet tall! To its left is a black figure, feet dangling, which seems to be suspended by poles thrust under its armpits. Is it a dead body? It does look skeletal. And what about the disembodied "trophy" heads that appear in this panel, as well as several other Fremont panels in the Southwest? I'll stick my neck out and say that in addition to being hunters, gatherers and farmers, some Fremont were warriors.
If you look closely, you can see that the anthropomorphic figures are superimposed over older glyphs. It's difficult to attribute those older etchings to a particular culture but some of the elements remind me of Dinwoody style rock art. It would be interesting to know if they ever ventured this far south, and why.
Fremont people, contemporaries of Ancestral Puebloans and Mogollons, were comprised of tribal groups dispersed over a vast area of the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin. Nonetheless, these groups were lumped together as Fremont, based on cultural similarities such as pottery style and basketry construction.
Small groups isolated from one another by rugged terrain may not have spoken the same dialect, let alone the same language, and they may have come down through different bloodlines. There are differences in tradition within sub-groups. Still, they may have descended from a common ancestral group and over time, developed their own traditions. Or not.
In any case, evidence of their occupation after around A.D. 1350 ceased. No one knows if they disappeared entirely or if they became the ancestors of today's Native people. Either way, the stories they left behind are fascinating even if we don't have a clue what messages they carry.
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©Kathleen Bishop. kathleen-bishop.pixels.com. All Rights Reserved.
Uploaded
January 23rd, 2017
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