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Meteorological phenomena in rock art
- 1. METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA IN ROCK ART © 2011, Peter Faris
- 2. Mortendad ruin, near Los Alamos, NM.
- 3. Storm approaching across Mortendad valley, viewed from cliff top above ruin – near Los Alamos, NM.
- 4. Cloud petroglyph, on a boulder at the cliff top, Mortendad ruin, near Los Alamos, NM.
- 5. Cloud altar with rain, Galisteo, NM.
- 6. Cloud altar with rain, Galisteo, NM. Cloud being, Katherine Wells Ranch, NM.
- 7. CONCENTRIC CIRCLE SUN SIGNS Three Rivers, NM.
- 8. Concentric circle sun signs, Three Rivers, NM.
- 9. Solar halo, May 18, 2009, Aurora, CO.
- 10. Solar halo at Grand Canyon, AZ. Photo: J. and E. Faris, March 1990.
- 11. Meteorological conditions leading to a solar halo. Rain frequently follows the solar halo within a few hours.
- 12. “The Sun Paints His Cheeks” – Parhelia. Sun Dog with partial solar halo. Photograph: Peter Faris, Denver, CO., 1995.
- 13. Parhelia are also known as Sun Dogs. Photograph: Peter Faris, Littleton, CO., 1998.
- 14. Possible petroglyph of Sun showing parhelia. Three Rivers, NM. Photograph: 1988, J. and E. Faris.
- 15. Lightning strikes and rock art.
- 17. Lightning strike on “The Hogback”, Pinyon Canyon Military Reservation, Las Animas County, CO.
- 18. Another lightning strike on “The Hogback”, Pinyon Canyon Military Reservation, Las Animas County, CO.
- 19. Rock art on “The Hogback,” Pinyon Canyon Military Reservation, Las Animas County, CO.
- 20. Possible lightning strike near sun signs, Three Rivers Petroglyph site, NM.
- 21. RAINBOWS Rainbow with supernumerary arc, Yellowstone, WY, 2007.
- 22. Antelope House, Canyon del Muerto, AZ, 1997.
- 23. Rainbow arcing over sun symbol, Red Hole Wash, UT.
- 24. Rochester Creek, UT, 1993.
- 25. San Rafael Swell, UT
- 26. Rainbow/Bighorn Sheep, Mortendad Canyon, NM, 2003.
- 29. Dew Heiligenschein, Victoria, BC, 1995.
- 30. Opposition effect, Aurora, CO, 2009.
Editor's Notes
- Photographed in the morning, rain started falling within four hours.
- The Blackfoot name for the phenomenon of Parhelia is “the Sun paints his cheeks”.
- In reality you cannot see a rainbow arching over a sun symbol as they have to be opposite each other in the sky.
- p. 26, Steven R. Simms, Traces of Fremont Society and Rock Art in Ancient Utah, photography by Francois Gohier, University of Utah Press, 2010.
- In Landscapes of the Spirits: Hohokam Rock Art at South Mountain Park (2002), archaeologist Todd Bostwick wrote about the meteorological connotations of bighorn sheep in the American southwest. “Ethnographer Amadeo Rey has noted that no other animal was treated with such awe and reverence by the O’odham as the mountain sheep. Called “Cheson” by the Northern Pima, the bighorn sheep was closely associated with the wind. Some villages had shrines dedicated to the wind and Cheson. Parts of the mountain sheep are very powerful; both the hides and horns must be kept in a safe, respected location to avoid insulting the wind and bringing on violent storms.” The rainbow is, of course, seen at the end of the storm, so a rainbow on a bighorn sheep horn might represent a prayer for a safe end to storms.