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Bears Ears National Monument

April 07, 2017

In March I worked for a few days in the new Bears Ears National Monument in support of the Ancient Art Archive.

We documented just a few of the some 100,000 sites in the Monument.

The Procession Panel

The Procession Panel is a well known petroglyph on Comb Ridge in San Juan County Utah. The panel is attributed to the Ancestral Puebloan culture (ad 100 to 1600). The artwork depicts a procession of over 180 small, human like figures converging on a central point. It also features two large deer pierced with arrows.

A juvenile midget faded rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus concolor) in Cottonwood Canyon. The midget faded is a venomous pit viper subspecies of rattlesnake.

The Bears Ears lend their name to the Bears Ears National Monument.

Lower Cottonwood Wash, San Juan County Utah

Butler Wash Panel on the San Juan River, Utah. This panel is composed of Basket Maker images dating from aprox 1500 bc to 500 ad.

Fish Mouth Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Basketmaker engravings on the floor of a cave in Fish Mouth Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

a Kokopelli flute player on the main Sand Island petroglyph panel near Bluff, Utah. The flute has been reetched at some point in the past.

Butler Wash Panel on the San Juan River, Utah. This panel is composed of Basket Maker images dating from aprox 1500 bc to 500 ad.

Sunrise along the San Juan River near Bluff, Utah

A mammoth petroglyph at the Upper Sand Island petroglyph panel. This is one of two mammoth petroglyphs on this wall. It is superimposed with a bison glyph.

A spiral petroglyph near the River House ruin on the San Juan River, Utah.

The Procession Panel in Comb Wash, San Juan Country Utah

The Moki Dougway is a harrowing single lane dirt road that climbs Cedar Mesa, Utah

The top of Comb Ridge in the Bears Ears National Monument, San Juan Country Utah

Negative handprints in Fish Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Rachel Alvarez reads in front of the camp fire in Comb Wash. Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Comb Wash Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Evening in Comb Wash, Bears Ears National Monument Utah

Rachel Alvarez reads in front of the camp fire in Comb Wash. Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Petroglyphs in Comb Wash. Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Fish Mouth Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

An anthropmorph and atalatals on the floor of a cave in Fish Mouth Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Four negative and one positive hand print in Fish Mouth Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

The crest of Comb Ridge, San Juan Country Utah

Comb Wash Petroglyphs, National Monument, Utah

The Bears Ears from the top of Cedar Mesa near Fry Canyon.

Comb Wash Petroglyphs, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Four negative and one positive hand print in Fish Mouth Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Grinding marks in Fish Mouth Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Comb Wash Petroglyphs, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Details of the Procession Panel in Comb Wash, San Juan Country Utah

The Procession Panel in Comb Wash, San Juan Country Utah

Rachel Alvarez reads in front of the camp fire in Comb Wash. Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

The Procession Panel in Comb Wash, San Juan Country Utah

Checking social media with a very weak signal at the top of Comb RIdge, San Juan Country Utah

The summit of Comb Ridge, San Juan Country Utah

I gilrs watches the sun set from the top of a large pile of boulders in Comb Sawh , Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Comb Wash Petroglyphs, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

Alvarez Photography Print and Stock