thumb|right|Newspaper Rock in 1972

Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument is a Utah state monument featuring a rock panel carved with one of the largest known collections of petroglyphs. It is located in San Juan County, along Utah State Route 211, northwest of Monticello and south of Moab.

It is along the relatively well-traveled access road into the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, from US 191 and from the park boundary. The rock is a part of the vertical Wingate sandstone cliffs that enclose the upper end of Indian Creek Canyon, and is covered by hundreds of petroglyphs—one of the largest, best preserved and easily accessed groups in the Southwest. The petroglyphs feature a mixture of human, animal, material and abstract forms.

Newspaper Rock was designated a State Historical Monument in 1961,

Petroglyphs

thumb|Closer view of the petroglyphs.

People of the Archaic, Basketmaker, Fremont, and Ancestral Puebloan cultures carved petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock from around the beginning of the current era until about 1300. Ute, Navaho, and Anglo people have also left carvings on the rock in historic times.

The pictures at Newspaper Rock were inscribed into the dark coating on the rock, called desert varnish. Desert varnish is mainly made up (~70%) by clay materials, but gets its blackish color from iron and manganese oxide deposits that gradually form on exposed sandstone cliff faces owing to the action of rainfall and bacteria. The ancient artists produced the many types of figures and patterns by carefully chipping the coated rock surfaces with sharpened tools to remove the desert varnish and expose the lighter rock beneath. The older figures are themselves becoming darker in color as new varnish slowly develops.

Depiction of polydactyly

thumb|Petroglyph on Newspaper Rock showcasing polydactyly in feet

Many of the petroglyphs appear to be depicting polydactyly, the condition of having an extra toe or finger. In other Puebloan sites, burial remains with bifid metatarsals have been found near petroglyphs depicting polydactyly, suggesting that the pictures factually represent a real physical abnormality. There was evidence towards those with six toes being buried with items associated with higher social status, like an ornate bracelet, and turquoise. This means that it may be possible to use polydactyl to reconstruct ancient Puebloan lineages.

See also

  • Painted Rock Petroglyph Site
  • Tutuveni

References

  • US Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management page on Newspaper Rock
  • Newspaper Rock Petroglyph Panel 8.5 x 11, 600 dpi, black-on-white rendition of entire panel.