Arches National Park
Rock Art:
Dark Angel Site
This page contains a discussion of the rock art found at the Dark Angel 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 Dark Angel site is lesser known than most of the other area sites. You'll have to do a bit of hiking along the Devil's Garden Trail, all the way out to Dark Angel. The panels are not easy to locate, and you'll have to do some climbing and scrambling to get down a sharp drop-off to the west of the Angel. There are several nice panels that run north and south along that cliff face.
- Archaeological Resources Protection Act Hotline: 800-227-7286.
- See Archaeological Site Etiquette.
- See American Antiquities Act of 1906.
- See Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.
- See More Rock Art Sites.
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This is an unusual site for several reasons. At the present there does not seem to be any source of water associated with the site, no obvious dwellings in this area, the site faces west, and the majority of images seem to be zoomorphs rather than anthropomorphs and objects. This zoomorph is unusual because of the size of its feet. Because there are no horns or antlers, this may be a female, but the type of animal is uncertain. |
Of the few anthropomorphs represented at this site, this is one of the more interesting, and among the largest, at about two feet tall. Like another similar figure on these panels, this horned image is associated with a canine-looking zoomorph standing at it's feet. However, it is difficult to say which came first, but I doubt they were created at the same time due to the difference in pecking styles. One would have to examine the area near the animals tail where the two figures appear to come into contact to see which superimposes the other. The main image at the top of this page shows what appears to be an "angel-like" anthropomorph (perhaps the origin of the name of the nearby spire of sandstone). This is the only observed figure of this type among these panels and is about six to ten inches in height. The head with the large round eyes is also unique among the other figures at this site.
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Another of the few anthropomorphs is this "hunting" figure associated with another "canine" zoomorph. The hunter appears to be using a bow and arrow or spear aimed at the dog-like figure. Closer examination is needed to determine if the "arrow" or "spear" mark is intentional or came later, as well as what appears to be a hand or part of the "bow." |
More Rock Art
The following images are all from the Dark Angel Site, unless otherwise noted.
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.
