Two years ago, we passed this rock along route 191 in Utah.  Well, we passed it again today and it was good to see it.  It must have a name to the locals, wish I knew it.  From the front, it looks like a giant jar.  From the side, it has a long body out the back that makes it look not like a jar.

We’re heading for Canyonlands National Park.  One of many extraordinary places on a circuit called The Grand Circle.  We’ve been traveling The Grand Circle in Utah since Route 15 heading north to I-70 heading east and then turning south on Route 191.  Six National Parks and numerous state parks and national wilderness areas adorn the circle like a necklace.

Just before entering Canyonlands, in Indian Creek Canyon we were delighted to see this.  It’s called Newspaper Rock, a State Historic Monument.

It’s a petroglyph panel with symbols from Ancestral Puebloans dating back 2000 years, then cowboys added to it, visitors in the 1950’s left their mark also.  So it is a smorgasbord of symbols.

Archaeologists have attempted to decipher them, and there are several theories.

They may be telling a story, been a part of hunting magic, denoting clan territory, an ancient form of graffiti, or just doodling.  No one knows for sure.

In the desert, the process of wind blown clay covering rocks, then baked on, wetted with dew, blasted again and baked again, creates a coating on the rocks called desert varnish.

The symbols are scratched into the desert varnish and have stayed there for 2000 years.