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Rock art from the Mellen Hill Caves Site in Colorado. This page contains a discussion of the rock art found within the Canyon Pintado National Historic District, at the Mellen Hill Caves Site. All photographs are from our our personal collection. If you'd like to see more rock art from this location, or if you'd like to see higher resolution or larger images, send us an e-mail message and we'll see what we can do.
 Rock Art
 
 Mellen Hill Caves Site

The Canyon Pintado National Historic District is made up of several individual petroglyph and pictograph sites scattered over several miles, both in Canyon Pintado proper, among the canyons along the Dragonfly Road to the west, and east and west of Rangely just off of Highway 64. See our Personal Notes for more details on the Mellen Hill Caves Site.

See the following pages for more rock art from the Canyon Pintado National Historic District:

For more information on how to preserve and protect these priceless historic treasures:


Unfortunately many of the images at this site have been chalked by someone prior to our visit. This does make the images easier to see and photograph, but it also forces us to see the images as the chalker interpreted them. They may or may not be accurate. In addition, the chalk ruins the images and will make it difficult for researchers to determine the age of these images based on repatination and chemical samples taken from within the pecked or scratched areas.

This location has both pictographs and petroglyphs, and presents some striking examples of each. As shown in the main image at the top of this page, the pictographs are unusual because of the yellow coloration of some of the images. Many of the pictographs are faded, making them less exciting as those in some other locations, yet they are fascinating none the less.

There are several unusual petroglyphs at this site, including the anthropomorph in the photo above. The large hand and unusual position of the left arm, as well as the wide spread of the legs and the position of the body allow for some intriguing possibilities. At first I thought this might be a male figure because of what looks like a penis protruding between the legs. But then when I noticed the slender waist it made me wonder if perhaps this is a female giving birth. There is another petroglyph at this site (listed below as a Pregnant Female Anthropomorph) that seems to be pregnant and is of a similar stature, at least with regards to the position of the arm.


This image is quite striking and shows a lot of action. It appears to be a bull elk being assaulted by an anthropomorph. The left arm of the human figure seems to be holding a stick-like weapon, and the stance looks as if the figure is ready to strike the elk.

This is another unusual petroglyph from this site, and resembles a Barrier Canyon Style anthropomorph; with ghost-like body and a single raised arm and spread-fingered hand; almost as if in greeting.

There is a natural fault in the stone surface that seems to add a feather-like feature to the head, but this may be coincidental. However, in some locations, natural rock features have been incorporated into the design.

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All of these photos have been resized and manipulated in Photoshop to give the best representation of the image. Some color distortion is inevitable. If you would like to see higher quality versions of these shots, or if you would like to use these images for any purpose, please contact us and we would be glad to help if we can.

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This page was last updated Friday, June 12, 2009
   
 
   
 
A Canyon Country cairn.