Fremont Indian State Park in Utah has thousands of petroglyphs left by the ancient culture that once inhabited the area. Among them, several have been understood to have astronomical purposes. In this episode, I chat with John Lundwall who made this discovery about the petroglyphs, and Elizabeth Nagengast-Stevens, curator and archaeologist at the park.
CHECK OUT THESE LINKS:
John Lundwall: https://www.johnklundwall.com
Fremont Indian State Park: https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/fremont-indian/
SUN WHEEL PETROGLYPH: This is the first major panel we discovered interacting with the sun in the canyon. Here is a photo after the triangle of light has moved up through the wheel motif on the right, ending at a drilled hole above.
Sun Wheel Petroglyph Bluff at night.
Sun Wheel Bluff Petroglyphs. To the upper right of the main panel is a large rock face covered in rock art. Some of it is nearly invisible from weathering and indicates a long history of rock imagery at the canyon. This rock face actually is covered in rock art, but most of it cannot be seen in the shot.
SHEEP SPIRAL PETROGLYPH: The second calendric panel we discovered where the sun/shadow line was used as a template to carve the major motifs of this panel. That line will interact with the large 12-ringed spiral and surrounding images throughout the year.
Fremont Pit House, Night Shot, Fremont Indian State Park
Walking Man Rock with Milky Way, Night Shot, Fremont Indian State Park. This rock is covered with rock art, and some of it is parallel to the Sun Wheel panel, that is, several of the same motifs are on this rock as on the Sun Wheel panel. We have yet to do a full study on this site, however.
Milky Way atop Five Finger Ridge, Fremont Indian State Park, Night Shot.
John Lundwall
Elizabeth Nagengast-Stevens
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