For rock art hunters, New Mexico offers a variety of locations to explore, some with petroglyphs numbering in the thousands over a very small area. Some locations are well known, while others take a significant effort in both time and research to find. And I like many avid rock art enthusiasts tend to keep the lesser known sites close to the vest. I do it for two reasons…half the fun is the research and discovery process. Nothing that is handed to you is as rewarding as finding it yourself. And second, there is little doubt that some among us hold this ancient art in less regard than others. Which has led to widespread vandalism of some of the more well known and easily accessible sites. That being said, there are plenty of publicly known locations to start your journey. And with a little effort you’ll find many more, some perhaps not seen by others in modern times. Pictographs vs. Petroglyphs What is the difference between a pictograph and petroglyph?. The answer lies in the tools used to create the art. Pictographs are essentially paintings, using varies pigments that produce different colors. Ochre was a widely used example that produces earthy shades of orange and red. But explore enough and you’ll find other colors like white, yellow, blue and green. On the other hand, Petroglyph were created by artists that used rocks and other blunt instruments to chip a design out of their sandstone canvas. In my experience different tribes at different periods of time seemed to favor one style over the other. But it would be incorrect to say that pictographs were created by one group of Indians, and petroglyphs by another. As there example of both styles being used at the same time, and taking on the same artistic characteristics and subjects. What is the...Read more