WACA 268 – Apache Pictographs

This is a small pictograph site located in a small alcove of the Kaibab Formation on the north-facing side of Walnut Canyon. There are two sets of pictographs here in two entirely different mediums – one panel is painted with red pigment, while the other is drawings in black, likely using charcoal. It is entirely possible that the two sets were drawn by two different cultural groups at different times. The first 360-degree panorama below shows the red pictographs, which are easily visible; you’ll have to look carefully in the second panorama to spot the charcoal pictographs (look on the right side of the rock face).

While there are only a few pictographs here,  the site is notable in that artifacts associated with the Apache culture were found here. Four broken bits of pottery, “sherds” to archaeologists, were identified as of the type “Apache Plain”, in the general ware category “Quemado Grayware”. Based on this, one assumption is that the pictographs located here were created by the Apache in historic times, which may be supported by one figure that looks vaguely like a horse. While horses originated in the New World, they became extinct there at the end of the Pleistocene period, about 10,000 years ago; horses were reintroduced by the first European explorers and colonizers in the 16th century.

Click this link in the upper right-hand corner of this screen to get a “closer look” at this panel.