Grand Gulch Rock Art- Page 1
Grand Gulch Rock Art- Page 2
Escalante Rock Art- Page 1
Moab Area Rock Art

Grand Gulch

Grand Gulch is one of our favorite places in all of Utah. The rock art there is so abundant that it's almost as if the panels are prehistoric billboards on the road down to the San Juan River. But what are they advertising? And why the need to have panels at so many locations along the route? These are a couple of questions to ponder the next time you are walking down the canyon.

Photos of Grand Gulch Rock Art- Page 1

Red and white hands with splotches of paint apparently thrown on the rock. Did the artist have extra pigment left after making the red hand prints?












Snakes and "power line" petroglyphs on a flake in a canyon bottom, Grand Gulch tributary.













Big Man panel, Grand Gulch.



















White hands, delicately done. I have only seen this style of handprint in Grand Gulch, and I have seen it in more than one location there.











Anthropomorphs, Grand Gulch tributary.

























Anthropomorph found in Grand Gulch tributary. This is one of my all-time favorite pictographs. The man is about 20 cm. in height, and is well-protected found high in an alcove. Perhaps this is why the red is so rich? According to Cole (1990:157) the San Juan Basketmaker style shares fewer characteristics with the Abajo-La Sal style (typical in Moab area) than it does with Barrier Canyon and Fremont styles. This painting is in the San Juan drainage and is probably San Juan Basketmaker style (about 100 B.C. to A.D. 750), but is very similar in style to Abajo-La Sal anthropomorphic representations.







Another rather unique anthropomorphic pictograph is seen at left. The man with bent knees is found in a Grand Gulch tributary. This pictograph, although somewhat protected, is more exposed than the red man, above.