Shamans Day

2.5 million year old fossils

Found two mating Rattlers

3 hours on rough roads. 6 Hours hiking. 3 hours rough road home.

See the pictographs and petroglyphs?

Rachel taking photo of the rattlers

Do you see the rattlers I spotted?

Amazing.

Below is from http://backcountrypost.com/threads/shamans-gallery-aka-gordons-panel-pictographs-in-grand-canyon.1990/  The most info I could find on the place.

This is a strenuous hike from the top of the Grand Canyon to the bottom and back up. The hike is actually in Tuckup Canyon (which in turn is part of the Grand Canyon). The elevation loss/gain is 1800’ in 3.8 miles (7.7 mile round trip) Not for everyone.

The GOOD STUFF:
Gordon’s Panel, also known as Shamans’ Gallery, contains the oldest prehistoric evidence of man in the Grand Canyon and is quite possibly the most important rock art panel discovered on the North American continent.

When originally found by a Grand Canyon burro wrangler (Gordan) he took photos and sent them to the experts. The reply was, “that is Aboriginal art from Australia”. He had to place these experts on horseback and guide them to the site so they could see for themselves. The pictographs here are unlike anything you will see elsewhere.

The BLM and other agencies keep this site a secret and they will not give you directions, in fact my experience has been they send you on wild-goose chases just to protect the site.

The site was used by Indian Shamans to try and communicate with the supernatural for thousands of years. Did they actually see what they painted? The images are multicolored, abstract, and life sized. Underlying these figures are earlier images. Some of the smaller figures in the caves, the oldest paintings, look like neanderthal man paintings. Other paintings look like deer with huge antlers, “space men” with antennas, and objects that look like space craft. The writings here are the oldest prehistoric evidence of man in the Grand Canyon and is arguably the most important rock art panel discovered on the North American continent dating back 1400 to 20,000 years.

Despite the importance of and unusual nature of this site, very little research has been done. There have been limited excavations near the site to help determine who the artists could have been or how they lived. The age of the site remains estimated and still debated among the experts. Some estimate 8,000 while others insist it's 20,000 years old. 20,000 seems to be the more common estimate. Most of the paintings were done with mineral pigments that cannot be carbon dated. However, it might be possible to test for organic dyes that could be carbon dated, such as Oregon Grape, a dye well known to ancient Indians for producing a yellow color.