Society Activities

Rock Art Task Force

Rock Art Task Force Travels to the Panhandle

The Rock Art Task Force spent the March spring break of 2006 in the Panhandle of Texas.  The task force worked on three different sites.  We had a total of sixteen people helping.  Of these sixteen, seven were first time recorders.  We traveled 92 miles round trip in three vehicles on Sunday through Tuesday and 104 miles round trip on Wednesday through Thursday.  Work was suspended on Friday because most volunteers had to leave for the long drive home.  We had a family from Houston, one volunteer from College Station, and one from Lufkin.

Sunday through Tuesday was spent on a ranch north of Amarillo at Chimney Rock.  Chimney Rock had never been recorded, so it was an important site to work.  There were two separate areas that were recorded.  The foreman of the ranch took the group to another site with historic rock art on Tuesday afternoon when work was finished at Chimney Rock.  The rock art at Chimney Rock was a combination of Plains, Historic, and possibly Mogollon or Puebloan.  There was possibly some earlier prehistoric rock art present, but it was faded and under the rock art that was more visible.  This was a petroglyph site.  There was an interesting birthing scene on the ceiling of a small alcove.

On Monday, two volunteers went to Alibates National Monument to record the rock art located on the boulders by the village site.  The park ranger and Rolla Shaller, from the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum (PPHM) in Canyon, were kind enough to take us to the site and spend the day with us.  An interesting aspect of this site is the cupules found on each of the boulders along with the rock art.  They appear be astronomical in nature, and we have an individual who wants to view the graphs and pictures to verify this.  The rock art here was also petroglyphs.

On Wednesday and Thursday we visited another ranch.  The foreman there took us to the site of the rock art below the main house.  Most of this art is what we call Cowboy Art.  It consisted of brands, names, and dates.  On Thursday we went further into the ranch and worked at a small shelter with Plains rock art.  Both of these sites are new, and with the help of Rolla Shaller, a site record was filled out and filed with the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory and site numbers were procured.  The landowner joined us on Thursday for a short period.  On Friday, he and the foreman saddled up the horses and went in search of more sites on the ranch.  Both said they had seen other sites, and the Task Force is looking for a particular site mentioned in Kirkland and Newcomb's Rock Art of Texas Indians which we believe to be located on this ranch.  The foreman will continue to search for sites on his own time with the landowner's blessing.

The sheriff was prepared to take us out to his property on Friday, but we were unable to keep the appointment due to lack of help.  We plan to go back to the area in July for a summer recording session.  The task force would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our volunteers, to the landowners and their foremen and to the sheriff, but most of all to Rolla Shaller, who gave of his time each day we went out.  The project would have been impossible without him.  Rolla was instrumental in setting up the sessions with the landowners.  He was with us each day and spent his day working on other aspects of the sites.  Lisa Jackson, Curatorial Assistant in the Archeological Department at PPHM, went out with us a couple of times.  Other Panhandle residents (Alvin Lynn, Wayne Benson, Scott Brosowske, and Danny Witt) volunteered two days when we were at Chimney Rock.  This kind of help and contact is what makes our recording sessions possible.

If our plans hold firm and the landowners allow us, we look forward to continuing our work on these ranches the second week of July on our next rock art recording excursion.  We hope that our landowners will visit with their neighbors, and that we will be invited to visit and record other sites in the area, too.