Arches National Park: Rock Art: Dark Angel Site

A cairn found in Cohab Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park.

Frank and Anne's Canyon Country Hiking and Camping Notebook.

Arches National Park

Campsite

Rock Art:
Courthouse Wash

Rock Art:
Wolfe Ranch

Related Sites

Click for Ancient Ruins and Rock Art info.

This page contains a discussion of the rock art found 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.

Rock Art

Dark Angel Site

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 scrabling 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.

See Archaeological Site Etiquette.
See American Antiquities Act of 1906.
See Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.
Archaeological Resources Protection Act Hotline: 800-227-7286.

Other rock art sites within and near Arches National Park:
Birthing Rock Dark Angel Site (Arches National Park) Golf Course Panel Jughandle Arch Kane Creek Road	Lower Courthouse Wash (Arches National Park) Mill Creek Panels Moonflower Canyon Petroglyph Site Potash Road Wolfe Ranch Site (Arches National Park)

Dark Angel Rock Art site.

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.

Dark Angel Rock Art Site.

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."

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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.

Anthropomorphs
"Carrot Man" Figure "Carrot Man" w/Dots Through Head "Dark Angel" and Other Figures Figure w/Arched Arms Figure w/Canine Figure w/Down Turned Horns Figure w/Raised Arms Figure w/Snake Figure w/Spalling Figure w/Top-like Head Figure w/Triangular Head w/Three Feathers Figure w/Waving Arms and No Legs Figure w/Wavy Arms Figure w/Widespread Arms Figure w/Widespread Arms Plus "Foot" Image Five Attached Figures	"Foot" w/Long Toes Horned Figure Horned Figure w/Desert Big Horn Above Horned Figure w/Long Curved Arms Hunter & Canine Hunter w/Canine Partial Figure w/Round Head and Bug Eyes Pecked Figure w/No Apparent Arms Slender Inverted Foot Tall Horned Figure w/Canine Three Figure Family Unit w/Canine Two Figures: One Carrot, One Stick Two Figures: One w/Rabbit Ears, One w/Horns Two Dotted Figures (One w/Large Eyes) Two Tall Thin Figures (One w/Horns)
Graphic Objects
Five Armed Figure w/Balls at Ends Four Horizontal Bars w/Dots Above Inverted Basket Row of Deep Holes Row of Vertical Triangles, etc. Seed Pod (?) Series of Dots w/"Carrot Man" and Canine Series of Vertical Dots Series of Vertical Marks Six Pointed Star (Starfish)	Unidentifiable Object 1 Unidentifiable Object 2 Unidentifiable Object 3 Unidentifiable Object 4 Unidentifiable Object 5 Unidentifiable Object 6 Unidentifiable Object 7 Unidentifiable Objects 1 Unidentifiable Objects 2
Panels
Panel 1 Panel 2 Panel 3 Panel 4 Panel 5	Panel 6 Panel 7 Panel 8 Panel 9 Panel 10
Zoomorphs
Canine Figure w/Long Tail Canine-like Figure with Long Ears or Horns Canine w/Long Nose Canine w/Long Tail Desert Big Horn 1 Desert Big Horn (Possibly Giving Birth) Desert Big Horn above Wavy Line Desert Big Horn w/Canine Desert Big Horn w/Snake Desert Big Horn w/Spear in Back & Canine Desert Big Horn w/Open Mouth Dotted Dog-like Figure Fat Desert Big Horn Heavy Desert Big Horn Sheep w/Long Tail Large Bodied Zoomorph w/Large Feet One Large & One Small Zoomorph Pecked Canine Single Desert Big Horn	Single Elk Single Large Elk 1 Single Large Elk 2 Single Snake 1 Single Snake 2 Sheep-like Figure w/Large Feet Shore Bird Three Horned Desert Big Horn w/Snake Three Horned Sheep-like Figure Tool Sharpening Marks Two Desert Big Horn Sheep Two Large Elk Two Snakes Unidentifiable Zoomorph 1 Unidentifiable Zoomorph 2 Unidentifiable Zoomorph 3 Zoomorph & Anthropomorph above Row of Triangles

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This page was last updated Friday, April 1, 2011

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