This page contains a discussion and photos of the rock art located at the Lower Courthouse Wash Site within Arches National Park. 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.
The Lower Courthouse Wash Site is probably the most exposed and easiest to access of the Arches National Park site, and most people drive by it without even knowing that it is there. Located on the southwestern boundary of the Park, the pictograph and petroglyph panels sit high above Highway 191 just south of the bridge that crosses Courthouse Wash, and just north of the bridges that cross the Colorado River. Just before the Courthouse Wash bridge there is a new parking area with informational kiosks. Follow the asphalt path toward Moab and watch for footprints leading to the high cliff along the east side of the highway. You'll have to do a bit of climbing, but tucked up under a shallow overhang you'll find some amazing Barrier Canyon style pictographs. Unfortunately many have been damaged by local vandals. There are also petroglyph panels on the large slabs of rock that have fallen from the face. This heavily damaged site is on the National Registry of Historical Places.
Select an image to see a full sized version.
Anthropomorphs |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. The figure has thick, crescent shaped horns for a head, sitting atop a long, thin neck. The torso is triangular, with no feet. The arms come from the shoulders in fluid lines and do not have hands. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. The figure appears to be standing in front of a large white shield. The triangular shaped torso is outlined. |
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A pictograph of at least seven very colorful anthropomorphs in the Barrier Canyon style. This is a very distinctive grouping. |
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A bit closer view of the above panel. |
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This is even a closer view of several of the figures in the above two photos. You can see that there are gray figures clustered near their lower quarters. |
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A pictograph of several anthropomorphs that appear to be in the Barrier Canyon style. The images were damaged and an attempt to restore them has failed. They appear now as ghostly figures clustered together. One can only guess at what they might have looked like before they were damaged. |
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This is a slightly different view of the above group of figures. |
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An anthropomorph in what appears to be the Fremont Style, with an outlined triangular shaped torso and short buffalo-like horns coming from a broad triangular shaped head. There don't appear to be arms, but there might be legs. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. The figure has long, thin horns. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style with curved arms and outwardly curved horns. There is also a central vertical line that runs down most of the length of the torso. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. This seems to be a partial figure standing below what appears to be a large white shield with a vertical dark band down the middle. There is also a small anthropomorph along the upper left edge of this photo. |
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A pictograph of a pair of anthropomorphs in the Barrier Canyon style. The large figure has thin arms that are bent upward at the elbows with small hands. The smaller figure has thick arms that appear to be sticking straight our from the shoulders. Both figures have somewhat triangular shaped heads. |
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Three petroglyphs. The main figure appears to be an anthropomorph. It has a rectangular torso with upraised arms and horns. Its legs extend straight down from the body. A smaller figure to the right has an oval shaped torso with two short legs and has horns coming from the top, but has no obvious head. It may have one short right arm. There is a horizontal line dividing the torso. This figure could be some sort of a beetle. There is also a third figure in the upper left of this photo that appears to be some sort of graphic design. |
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This is a close up of the "beetle-like" figure seen in the photo above. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. The torso resembles a crusader's shield, with crosses. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. This carrot shaped figure is wearing a spiked headdress. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. This figure has an elongated carrot shaped torso that ends in a wavy base. There are white vertical lines that make up the mid section. The head sits atop a thin white and red neck and has an unusually shaped head with a line leading from it that could represent a snake. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. This faded figure has a carrot shaped torso and thin horns protruding from the head. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. This figure has a circular chest and a tapered lower torso. It also has two long horns coming from the sides of the head. |
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A pictograph showing several colorful anthropomorphs in the Barrier Canyon style. |
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A pair of pictographs that appear to be anthropomorphs in the Barrier Canyon style. Each has a slender tapered torso with straight extended arms. The heads have long straight horns. |
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An interesting pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style, created using red and white pigments. |
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A pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. The torso is triangular shaped, with the head sitting atop a long, thin neck. There are straight horns coming from the head, and short arms extended downward from the shoulders. |
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A faded pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. |
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Three pictographs of anthropomorphs in the Barrier Canyon style. One appears to be standing behind a white shield with a red vertical bar. Two of the figures have carrot shaped torsos and the crescent shaped heads sit atop long, thin necks. |
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A close up on one of the figures in the above photo. |
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A faded pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style. |
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A faded pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style with a bat shaped head and ears. |
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A faded white pictograph of an anthropomorph in the Barrier Canyon style with outstretched arms. |
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A petroglyph of an anthropomorph in the Fremont style. |
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This may be a roughly sketched petroglyph of an anthropomorph with outstretched arms. |
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This Fremont style petroglyph may be standing between a snake and a desert big horn sheep. |
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This petroglyph of an anthropomorph has a triangular shaped torso with several vertical lines running down the body. there are arms that drop downward from the shoulders, then bend upward at the elbow. The head is unusual in that it is a hollow ball with many lines radiating from it, like the rays of the sun. |
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This lightly sketched petroglyph of an anthropomorph appears to have no head. The arms drop downward from the shoulders and there are legs extending from the bottom of the triangular shaped torso. |
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Geometric Figures and Patterns |
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It's difficult to tell what this petroglyph represents. It almost looks like a trap used to capture beaver, although if this is from an earlier period that cannot be. |
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Panels |
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This photo shows the major part of the pictograph panel. |
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This somewhat panoramic view captures most of the entire pictograph panel. |
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This is a good view of the main portion of the panel. |
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This view shows the major portion of the panel that was damaged by vandals and the recovery effort. |
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This photo shows two desert big horn sheep scampering after one another above a wavy line that looks like water. This could be a map or a description of a journey, or it may represent the nearby Colorado River. |
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This portion of the panel shows a nice petroglyph of an anthropomorph and a long-nosed desert big horn sheep with what looks like a small, round shield or a representation of the sun or moon. There is also a graphic design that at first looks something like a saddle (especially because it is obvious that it was created at a much later date than the other two figures, due to repatination levels), but it may be a map of some sort. |
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Another view of the main part of the pictograph panel, this time taken in different light, revealing other features of the figures. |
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A large white shield with several anthropomorphs posed in front or behind. |
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A damaged portion of the panel with several faded anthropomorphic pictographs. |
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Another view, from a different angle, of the main portion of the damaged pictograph panel. |
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A closer view of several of the damaged anthropomorphs. |
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Zoomorphs |
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A petroglyph of a desert big horn sheep. |
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Several desert big horn sheep. |
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This petroglyph could represent a a pronghorn or a long-legged desert big horn sheep. At some later time, what looks like a spear or sword was created to appear to pierce the back of the zoomorph. |
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This is a broader view of the above figure, showing its relationship to a nearby anthropomorph. |
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A leaping desert big horn sheep. |
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A zoomorph that looks somewhat like a wart hog or havalina, or, perhaps, a heavy-set canine, which is following a round-bodied very long-necked sheep (the head is not visible in this view). |
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The fat bodied, long necked desert big horn sheep from the photo above. |
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A close up of the havalina or canine shown in the photo two shots above. |
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This pictograph might represent a dragon fly. |
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This pictograph looks something like a water insect or tadpole. |
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A desert big horn sheep petroglyph. |
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Probably a desert big horn sheep petroglyph, but may be a long-eared, short tailed canine. It does not appear to have cleft hooves. |
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A petroglyph of two desert big horn sheep. |
Arches National Park
