I've been to Seminole State Park a few times, on the way to a far Texas destination, but I've never been there at the right time to take the tour to see Pictographs at Fate Bell Shelter.
We decided to break our twelve hour trip into two segments and stay at Seminole State Park again on the way back. Natalie said she would pack up camp while I did the tour, since she had already done it. What a friend!
So I quickly cooked breakfast and after eating, grabbed my camera and started walking to the headquarters, taking pictures as I went. I had time to charge up my spare camera battery and my Kindle Fire while enjoying the museum before the tour started.
By tour time at ten o'clock, there were about a dozen of us milling around. We were led by an archeologist who also works for the private Rock Art Foundation. After a short talk describing the tour, we started down the hill behind the headquarters. Most of the decent was on stairs and was very easy. We stopped along the way to talk about the uses of sotol and our guide made fire with a fire stick made of sotol. He also discussed the uses of lechuguilla. Both plants were used for fibers and the bases were baked for a few days and then eaten.
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Fire making demonstration |
The shelter begins almost under the headquarter building so we walked
less than a mile total but went back about 8000 years in time. The huge
overhanging rocks still provide a wonderful, protected place to look
down to the river and across to the other side of the canyon. We took
the short walk down the river, then climbed steps up to the walkways,
covered in heavy rubber mats which protect the surface and provide much
more stable footing than would the bare floor.
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Walking down the mostly dry stream |
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At the landing before the last climb into the shelter |
The artifacts have been removed from the shelter but we could still see
several sotol pits. These are circular depressions used to cook the
sotol and lechuguilla plants
We were here to see the pictographs, painted over thousands of years. The display started with pictographs that look quite similar to those in other western American sites.
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A panther? |
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We can't get the meaning from these paintings but can find central themes |
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I enjoyed the huge bloomingTexas Mountain Laurel shrub near the entrance to the shelter |
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More ancient paintings |
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Hand prints |
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A flat shiny rock - probably used as a work table |
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Closeup of the surface of the flat, shiny rock |
But the main attractions are the fantastic polychromatic
pictographs done in what is called the Pecos River Style, considered
some of the best in the world. They are believed to have been painted
around 4000 years ago and are thought to be a manifestations of the
shaman cult. There are many faceless figures that are elaborately
dressed and are often holding a variety of accessories such as atatls,
darts, and fending sticks.
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Our guide talking about how most of the figures have out-stretched arms and are holding hunting implements |
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Very detailed paintings |
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Lots of red and yellow were used |
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Deer and antlers were often featured |
This was a very interesting tour and had some paintings that were unique to a quite small area. The Pecos River Style only occurs within about fifty miles of
the intersection of the Pecos and the Rio Grand Rivers.
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