After our stop at Thermopolis - we headed to Medicine Lodge - to the Petroglyphs.
Just a little aside - I married into a family that has ranched in this area for a Looooonnnnng time ( like 1895)
We ( LB and I) headed out and oh man... the ranches and the scenery - it is just gorgeous.
We learned from our previous day that the red layers in this area indicate the Chugwater Formation - so we were pretty excited to recognize that!!
This was our ticket taker... haha!!
He was staring at us, like maybe a car hadn't gone by in a while ;-)
Conner - A rock art specialist happened to be there - and saw the artifacts. He tagged some of them and sent them to the University of Wyoming - suggesting that this might be a site worth working on.
We got to the Medicine Lodge Archaeological site and started to explore.
In 1967 Bunnell, a local rancher ( who owned this place) and Veterinarian decided that he would use these amazing rock outcroppings and build some corrals to have a feeding ground for his cattle. When he fired up the bulldozer to move some of the dirt - some artifacts popped up.
Dr George Frison ( name on the tag below) brought 50 students out and between 1969 and 1975 they excavated this site - finding proof of life for at least 10,000 years
They found many drawings - indicting sheep, bison, warriors, horses and faces with tears.
It is believed that many of them are visionary experiences that were central to their religion. The vision were brought about by fasting and isolations.
Some of them I could see what they meant quickly - others... Ah... the jury is still out on what they represent. The experts know....
This area is just perfect for life to exist - there is shelter, water, access to berries and animals. It makes sense why cultures would continue to exist here.
I see another road trip in the future...
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9 comments:
Love the photos and the history lesson. Thank you for sharing!
Wow! So interesting to have ties to land that goes back that far - been a bit absent nursing a broken ankle but back for the fun of quilting in the fall!
Fascinating area and your photographs (as always) are sublime!
How interesting! And what amazing scenery.
...gorgeous neck of the woods.
Loved this Alycia -- we really enjoy exploring backcountry! Those pictographs are wonderful -- are there really experts who know what they mean? Everything I've ever read about pictos and petros says that most of them nobody really knows the exact meaning -- everthing is an educated guess since there was no other written language! In any case, love looking at where ancient people lived ... so much to think about.
What an amazing, beautiful place. Lucky you travelling through that area and the church is so cute.
Beautiful scenery and I love to see the 'art' on the stone walls--what would it be like to live in caves? I think I would need a lot of quilts!
What a fascinating, cool place! Thanks for sharing your visit!
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