This website presents photographs of the rock art of the Anasazi of the Four Corners Region of the United States: Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.

The Anasazi are perhaps the most romanticized of the prehistoric Southwestern pueblo cultures. They lived thousands of years ago in arid, yet beautiful canyon country. They 'disappeared' or migrated to the larger southwestern Hopi, Zuni and other pueblos in about 1300 AD and left behind thousands of rock art paintings [pictographs] and carvings [petroglyphs] along with the stone dwellings and graineries [storage bins].

Anasazi, which means 'ancient stranger or enemy' in the Navajo language, was used by the Navajo people to name the early pueblo dwellers who once lived in the Colorado Plateau or Four Corners Area. The Hopi who are the likely descendents of the Anasazi called these predecessors the "Hisatsinom." The NPS and archaeologists are currently calling these people the Pueblo Dwellers.

The site is merely a look at places that I have visited over a period of years. It contains images that I found compelling and covers the Needles, Maze and Horseshoe Canyon components of Canyonlands National Park, the Grand Gulch & Other Cedar Mesa canyons, Natural Bridges National Monument, Shay Canyon, Newspaper Rock and some of the art near Moab, Utah.

As such, the website is neither fully representative of the variety of rock art one finds in the Southwest, nor is it comprehensive. This site also does not contain interpretative information about the meaning of the images [some say that we can only guess about the meaning] or about the rich body of archeological information available elsewhere on the Internet.

It is my hope that those who visit and enjoy the beauty of our canyonlands parks through photography will recognize the intrinsic value of these parks and will take steps to help to conserve them. Please consider joining or making a donation to one of the fine organizations whose members are dedicated in protecting natural areas for future generations. Click on the 'conservation' link if you care to be part of the solution.

If you visit rock art and ruin sites, please be careful not to enter or even touch them. While it's tempting to run ones fingers over 1000 year artwork or to enter these oldest of North American buildings, doing so causes hastens their deterioration and may even cause walls to collapse.

Please don't ask for the precise locations of the rock art shown on these pages. I've named the parks where they exist--it's up to you to enjoy finding them.

There are many other more comprehensive rock art web sites on the Internet. Use search terms like "rock art, anasazi, pueblo, petroglyph, pictograph."

Quality photographic prints and high resolution JPGs of all images are available. The proceeds are donated to conservation organizations. Schools and not-for-profit organizations may use any of my images without charge. All images are subject to the copyright conditions outlined on the copyright page.

~ Ray Rasmussen