These petroglyphs are precious, but even the place names suggest a complicated past. The TempíPóOp is a Paiute word meaning “rock writing,” but the trail is more commonly known as Anasazi trail. The rock art in the top right is on private property, land owned by the McConkie family but only since 1935. And the image at the bottom right is at Fremont Indian State Park which came into existence because villages built by Native Americans in about 1400 AD were discovered when road crews were constructing Interstate 70. The name “Fremont” derives from John C. Fremont, who explored this area before the Civil War – safe to assume the original inhabitants never referred to themselves as the Fremont people.
Recently I was able to join a local educator, John McHugh, as we looked at Native American rock art at Utah Lake, not far from my house. A lot of the rock art there dates from the Archaic Period and is estimated to be at least 4,000 years old. One panel John refers to as “Table Rock” is more recent, probably pecked somewhere between 700-1,000 years ago. It has already been found to display a series of markings that align with the summer and winter solstice.
We were out there because John thinks that another two marks on the rock are also aligned with the fall equinox (spoiler alert, he discovered that the marks do in fact align with the fall equinox).
“This thing is just magic,” John said. “There's so much knowledge encoded in that little stone, and there's so much I can't even explain.”
But there are threats to these treasures. Housing developments steadily encroach into this area. Someone’s recently added their initials to the petroglyph.
John then shows me a bullet that grazed the petroglyph itself, more bullet marks on the side of the rock, and a nearby “No Shooting” sign that was riddled with bullet holes. People use the area to shoot clay pigeons, bottles, plates, you name it. The ground is littered with spent shells and casings. John says that if the rock was tilted just a bit or down another 20 feet, the whole petroglyph would have been shot off.
“This thing is so vulnerable. The ancient wisdom encoded into this stone is just amazing. The people who created this were just geniuses. They’ve encoded their world view and their sacred beliefs into this rock.”
