Palatki Pictographs* (Arizona)


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*A pictograph is a style of rock art which is painted as opposed to pecked or abraded.


Star pictograph
Star pictograph, Palatki Ruin, Verde Valley, Arizona


Located in Loy Canyon in the Sedona red rock country, Palatki must have been an incredibly gorgeous place to live. Inhabited from circa A.D. 1150 through 1300, Palatki, or “Red House,” was a two-story pueblo 120 feet long with at least seven ground floor rooms in a single row with a bow-shaped front wall built at the base of towering red cliffs. Not far from the ruin is located probably the largest group of pictographs in the Verde Valley. Spanning three thousand years of human habitation from the Archaic Period to historic times, this rock art arranged in a number of alcoves was executed in a variety of colors, including white (kaolin), red (hematite), black (charcoal) and occasionally yellow (limonite). The subjects include sun shields, a star chart showing the Milky Way, and a few tall, ghostly figures similar to those found in Utah’s Barrier Canyon.


A.D. 1054 supernova and crescent moon
with red "daggers" and crude modern graffiti.













 





Star Chart. On the upper right, red spirits tread the Milky Way.





Phallic, ghost-like figure above sun shield.

 

Vertical figure in the Barrier Canyon style.
(DNA strand with 24 pairs of chromosomes?)




See a QuickTime video of Barrier Canyon style pictographs at Cedar Mesa  near Moab, Utah.



All photos on this page
Copyrighted © 2000-2001 by Gary A. David. All rights reserved.

Any use of text or photographs without the author's permission is prohibited.



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