BARRIER CANYON STYLE PICTOGRAPH DATES?

Great Gallery, Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands, Wayne

County, UT, Photo: Peter Faris, 28 May 1992.

A recent article from the Salt Lake City Tribune, written by Brian Maffly, reopened the question of the famous Barrier Canyon Style rock art at the Great Gallery in Utah’s Canyonlands. This article, available at http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58323218-78/canyon-rock-style-barrier.html.csp presented results from a new study by geologist Joel Pederson and anthropologist Steven Simms, of Utah State University, that has suggested that the dating of the rock art at the Great Gallery falls between 900 and 2,000 years in age. This study did not involve the imagery upon the Great Gallery wall itself. Instead, Pederson used optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments beneath the panel to attempt to determine when the paintings could have been produced. The Great Gallery is located in Horseshoe Canyon in Canyonlands National Park (known locally as Barrier Canyon).

Great Gallery, Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands, Wayne

County, UT, Photo: Peter Faris, 28 May 1992.

This analysis led to conclusions that are considered quite controversial by many rock art experts. Pederson’s results state that the paintings cannot possibly be older than about 6,000 years B.P. because that part of the wall was supposedly covered by sediment then. Additionally, he determined that the paintings must have been produced between two rock fall events. The second rock fall, which damaged part of the panel, occurred 900 years ago so the paintings predate that. The previous rock fall, which I assume provided the flat cliff face for painting upon, had occurred some 700 to 1,000 years earlier.  

Maffly then pointed out the interesting conclusion, that “these findings open the intriguing possibility that people who painted Barrier Canyon art shared the landscape with the Fremont. These ancient Indians occupied southern and eastern Utah from about A.D. 400 to 1300 and left a rich archaeological record that includes petroglyphs, images pecked into rock in a style much different then Barrier Canyon.”

Great Gallery, Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands, Wayne

County, UT, Photo: Peter Faris, 28 May 1992.

Rock art expert David Sucec of Salt Lake City disagrees with these findings and argues for dating of the figures considerably earlier, at least several millennia. Supporting his position are figurines that were found in two caves in 1975 eight miles up the canyon from the Grand Gallery. Sucec points out that these figures stylistically resemble the Barrier Canyon Style figures and were found in strata that were dated at 7,000 years BP.

Sucec has a very strong argument based upon considerable knowledge and experience, however, a more recent date might explain why so much of the Barrier Canyon Style figurative art is in good condition. But, at this time I believe that I, and RockArtBlog, will have to reserve judgment on the conclusions of this study until more information is available.

REFERENCE:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58323218-78/canyon-rock-style-barrier.html.csp