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Petroglyphs from Grapevine Canyon, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada/Arizona This page contains a discussion of the rock art found within Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. 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
 
 Grapevine Canyon

Evidence of the Prehistoric Indians who lived in the Lake Mead area can be found by following the trail from the parking area to the mouth of the canyon, an easy .25 mile walk. Rock drawings known as petroglyphs are etched on the surfaces of the large boulders at the entrance to the canyon.

Archaeological research of rock shelters in the area indicates that the Amacava people (ancestors of the modern day Mohave peoples) and, perhaps, Southern Paiute people camped here periodically. Evidence indicates that the people camped in the shelters for a few days at a time while they were using the area. The shelters were used as early as AD 1100 and use continued into historic times.

Determining the exact age of the petroglyphs is difficult. Evidence from recent research projects indicates that the age of the etchings spans a time period from as recent as 150 to 200 years ago, to more than 800 years ago.

The mouth of Grapevine Canyon is located at map coordinates 35 13.637N; 114 41.186W.

Visit this outside link for more details on the petroglyphs at Grapevine Canyon: Grapevine Canyon Petroglyphs.


There are a lot of petroglyphs on the rocks on both sides of the entrance to this canyon. They seem to be of at least three different styles, probably from different periods. And they are, in general, quite different from other images that I've seen around the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau areas.

This first images shows examples of the more angular pieces that are quite prominent on these surfaces. The main object here has a bit of a humanoid appearance because of the sphere at the top, but that may just be a bit of anthropomorphism. There are not many desert bighorn sheep among these pieces, but you can see one of the few in the lower right of the photo.

Petroglyph from Grapevine Canyon, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Arizona/Nevada.

Petroglyph from Grapevine Canyon, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Arizona/Nevada.

This distinct image faces south, and is carved into a large boulder that sits on a ledge along the north wall of the canyon. I spotted it from across the canyon as I worked my way down from high up on the south side. I had to carefully climb up the north side, over rough granite, to get a close up shot of this character.

Again, this seems to be a humanoid figure, with arms, legs, a head, and a large phallus. But one never knows for sure. The figure is the most prominent figure on this particular rock, but the rock also has one of the few examples of desert bighorn sheep that is found in this area.


Many of the rocks in the area are covered by what some might call Nevada Curvilinear style. The rock work seems to meander like a child's scribbles across the hard rock surface. There don't seem to be any real patterns, just globular shapes.

In contrast, this photo shows a panel of the boxy graphic work that seems to dominate the area, and in some areas, cover over the looser structured forms.

Again, there seems to be several humanoid figures near the bottom middle, but they may just be triangles and circles. The boxes often seem to contain maze-like structures, or simple waves.

As I said above, this area is simple covered with these images over a large area. It's almost like a classroom full of children were set loose with magic markers and little direction. They remind me a lot of doodles that one might find on the cover of a phone book.

Petroglyph from Grapevine Canyon, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Arizona/Nevada.
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This page was last updated Monday, June 15, 2009
   
 
   
 
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