Agatized Rainbows: A Story of the Petrified ForestBrodrick, Harold J.
Science
Agatized Rainbows: A Story of the Petrified Forest
Brodrick, Harold J.
National parks and reserves -- Arizona; Petrified Forest National Park (Ariz.); Trees, Fossil -- Arizona
These people practiced agriculture, cultivating corn, pumpkins, and
beans. They probably wore simple clothing made of cotton cloth or the
skins of wild animals. They also made pottery.
Tree-ring studies show that there was a great drought from 1275 to 1299
A.D. This apparently caused a great deal of shifting around among the
Pueblo people. Only a few villages in the Petrified Forest area were
occupied during the fourteenth century. It is not known whether the
people were driven out by the predatory Apaches or because of the
drought.
Where did these Indians get water? While there probably has not been any
marked change in climate or rainfall since that time, there may have
been more springs and seeps along the cliffs. It is possible that these
failed during that great drought period.
Pottery designs of these early Indians show an artistic talent, further
indicated by the many petroglyphs on the sandstone cliffs and boulders
throughout the area. A petroglyph is a picture or design carved or
pecked in the face of a rock. These pictures are of figures, geometric
patterns, and symbols in many cases similar to those found on the
pottery. Some represent hands, feet, human figures and shapes of
mammals, birds, or lizards. These appear to be simply a collection of
drawings made by various Indians over a period of time. In some cases,
they were clan symbols, each passerby adding his own much like a
visitor’s register such as we have today or a collection of initials or
names unthinking people carve on trees or scratch on rocks.
Unfortunately an occasional person nowadays, thoughtless of those that
follow, either destroys this ancient art work or defaces it by adding
his name or initials to those of an earlier man. “Newspaper Rock” is the
most spectacular group of petroglyphs found on the monument.
Homes and tribal lands of modern Indians are located in areas to the
south, east, and north of Petrified Forest National Monument—homes that
were established in some cases before the first Spanish explorer entered
the Southwest.
To the south in the White Mountains are the Apaches. Apparently both the
Apache and the Navajo entered the Southwest only a short time before the
Spaniards came. Being nomads and predatory in nature, they soon struck
terror in the hearts of the peaceful Pueblo people and caused many of
them to abandon their homes to seek more secluded and protected sites.
To the east are the Zuni, a Pueblo people that some of the early
occupants of the Petrified Forest may have joined. When the Spaniards
came, these Zuni were living in seven pueblos that became known as the
historic “Seven Cities of Cibola.”
To the north are the Navajo and Hopi peoples. Arizona’s famous Painted
Desert forms a long curving border to the Navajo Reservation—a border
extending from near the New Mexico line westward to the Colorado River
northwest of Cameron. A spectacular portion of it lies in the northern
part of Petrified Forest National Monument.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account