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History & Treasure · Regional rock images

Petroglyphs and pictographs in southwest New Mexico

Explore public rock-image places and their human context. Pictographs are painted; petroglyphs are cut or pecked into stone. A motif's meaning needs local evidence and accountable cultural interpretation.

Begin at an interpreted public site

The Lower Scorpion pictograph panel is reached on the National Park Service's described Trail to the Past near Gila Cliff Dwellings. The series follows what can be seen, what the surrounding archaeology establishes, and where a confident reading would outrun the evidence. It shares public agency destinations rather than vulnerable, unpublicized panels.

For the wider country and its communities, see the Grant County Adventure Guide and the Apache history series.

3 complete chapters

Read the series

  1. The Lower Scorpion Pictographs: A Gila Canyon Story in Paint

    Visit the public Trail to the Past near Gila Cliff Dwellings and read its pictograph panel through place, technique, cultural context, and careful interpretation.

  2. Mimbres Valley Images: Painted Bowls, Rock Marks, and the Villages Between

    A journey through Mimbres imagery and the public Mattocks heritage site, explaining what painted pottery can reveal about nearby rock images and what remains uncertain.

  3. Three Rivers Petroglyphs: A Jornada Mogollon Ridge Full of Images

    A sourced journey to the public Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, its village, carved basalt, more than 21,000 images, and the limits of reading a motif alone.