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| 2.5 million year old fossils |
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| Found two mating Rattlers |
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| 3 hours on rough roads. 6 Hours hiking. 3 hours rough road home. |
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| See the pictographs and petroglyphs? |
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| Rachel taking photo of the rattlers |
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| Do you see the rattlers I spotted? |
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| 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.
