Dinosaur Picture In The Grand Canyon. Part 2.
John F. Winston
June 17, 2000.
In part 1 it mentioned that the type of dinosaur depicted in the
painting was a Diplodocus. Here is what an encyclopedia has to say
about this dinosaur:
DIPLODOCUS, extinct reptile, one of the largest
of the dinosaurs, of the suborder Sauropoda. It
lived during the Jurassic period, inhabiting the
western part of what is now the U.S. Fossil speci-
ens indicate that the reptile attained lengths of
up to 26.5 m (87 ft). It was relatively slender,
however, and some what less bulky than the re-
lated brontosaur. The diplodocus was a quadru-
ped with a long neck, a low body, and a long tail.
A vegetation, it had a small head with slender
teeth and probably grazed in marshes and shal-
low water where buoyancy would support part
of the weight of its great body.
End of quote.
........
........
Now on to part 2.
They are on a large wall of the lower red sandstone of the Carbon-
iferous, and up some twenty feet or more from a bench on which
some mesquite trees are growing. Some narrow ledges, about one foot
wide, give access to these pictures, but in order to photograph
them we found it necessary to pack some long timbers and some lumber
from our camp six miles away.
We constructed a platform or parallel and with the assistance of this
implement we were able to focus our cameras and secure good
photographs.
Note that the pictographs are very old and that Michelangelo and
Rembrandt were obviously not involved...
Most of these pictographs are exposed to the weather without the
suggestion of a cave or an overhanging ledge. As they are all made in
much the same way one description will do for all of them.
How The Pictographs Are Made
The red sandstone contains a trace of iron. This iron, through the
alchemy of unknown ages of time, forms a thin black scale on the
surface of the stone, locally called the "Desert Varnish". By taking any
sharp point, such as a piece of flint, and cutting through this black
surface, the red stone is revealed underneath, thus making a picture,
without the use of pigment, which is practically imperishable. The
only way one of these pictographs can disappear is to weather off. They
show every sign of a great antiquity, and in the thirty years they
have been known to the writer there is not the slightest change
noticeable.
That dinosaurs were in the vicinity, is proved by the tracks we dis-
covered, which were identified by Mr. Gilmore as belonging to one
of the carnivorous dinosaurs. These tracks were in the "Painted Desert"
not over 100 miles from the picture.
The dimensions of the figure are as follows: Total height 11.2 inches;
greatest width, 7 inches; length of leg, 3.8 inches; length of body,
3.9 inches; width of body, 3 inches; length of neck to top of curve, 3.5
inches; length of tail (approximately) 9.1 inches; length of neck
(approximately) 5.' inches.
The under cut which outlined this figure was so deep that an excellent
cast was made of it by J. F. Roop and Fred V. Shaw. The dimensions
given above were made from this cast.
On the same wall were a number of other figures of goat-like
creatures, serpents, and unknown forms. The most remarkable of these
was a row of symbols, deeply incised, which resembled the Greek sign of
Mars showing shield and spear, thus 4. The "desert varnish" had
commenced to form in the cut, indicating an unbelievable antiquity.
About a year ago a photograph of the "dinosaur" was shown to a
scientist of national repute, who was then specializing in dinosaurs. He
said, "It is not a dinosaur, it is impossible, because we know that
dinosaurs were extinct 12 million years before man appeared on earth."
Kipling says in his poem "The Benefactors":
"Ah what avails the
classic bent,
And what the cultured word,
Against the undoctored incident,
That actually occurred."
If the reader agrees that this is a "dinosaur" then we are face to face
with one of two conclusions. Either man goes back in Geologic time
to the Triassic period, which is millions of years beyond anything yet
admitted, or else there were "left over" dinosaurs which came
down into the age of mammals. Yet even this last conclusion indicates a
vast antiquity.
The next question is, what kind of a man? Was he a low-browed, big-
jawed ape-like creature of small intelligence, the man who drew
this picture a million or more years ago, or was he a being more after
our own image?
Is it not true that this mute picture on the wall of this lonely canyon
in far off Arizona is "like a voice calling in the wilderness," that is
eloquent of many things.
It says "the man who drew me made and used tools. He had the patience
to chip an outline in hard stone with a crude flint and he had
the perseverance to finish the job. He had an eye for form and a sense
of proportion. He had the good judgment to select a medium
which has preserved his work through unguessed ages, almost untouched by
the obliterating hand of Time. He posted a warning to his
fellows, 'beware of this creature, it is dangerous to man"'. He felt
that same urge to create something, which links us to the G-ds. We
submit, in the face of this evidence, that the "ape-man", (if there ever
has been such a creature), is buried still deeper in the overwhelming
ages of time.
The Dinosaur Tracks
Out on the edge of the "Painted Desert" we found dinosaur tracks. We
went by automobile from the El Tovar hotel, eastward through
the Coconino forest. Descending a long ridge we finally came to the
Little Colorado river which we crossed on a fine suspension bridge.
About eight miles this side of Tuba City we came to the tracks in the
floor of the desert. They were immediately identified by Mr.
Gilmore as dinosaur footprints. More than that he pronounced them to be
the tracks of a carnivorous dinosaur because the claw marks
were plainly visible.
The pink cliffs of the "Jura", with all their magnificent coloration,
were close by, so it was easy to determine the formation as belonging
to the Triassic period. The tracks were impressed in the sandy shore of
what had once been an ancient lake or sea, but the sand had long
since turned into stone. Three different species seemed to be
represented, for there were tracks of three individuals of different
sizes.
A cloud-burst had washed away the sand, exposing these tracks to view.
There was quite a large adjacent area still covered by a foot or
more of sand which doubtless contains more tracks.
The largest tracks were 16 inches long by 14 inches wide and 52 inches
from heel to heel. Between two of the tracks were two hollow
depressions which were thought to be where the end of the tail had
touched, in balancing the animal.
We made plaster casts of the large tracks, made a moving picture of the
casting process and took still pictures as well. It is significant
that the dinosaur tracks were not over 100 miles from the dinosaur
picture.
The Elephant Pictures
On the same wall with the dinosaur pictograph, and about 15 feet from
it, we found a pictograph representing an animal which was
evidently intended for an elephant, attacking a large man. The elephant
is striking the man on the top of his head with its trunk. The
wavy line represents water into which the man has retreated up to his
knees. Both arms are upraised and the fingers are visible on one
hand. The other hand holds something, the form of which is too vague to
be determined. Because there are no tusks indicated our
surmise is that it is a cow elephant.
The remains of elephants are very common all over North America, and
they are found from Alaska to Mexico. Three species are represented:
the mammoth, the mastodon and the imperial elephant (elephas imperator)
of California. A complete skeleton of this latter animal was exhumed
from the La Brea deposit in the city of Hollywood, and is now on
exhibition in the Los Angeles museum. (JW I've been to both of these
places mentioned.) The remains of 28 individuals were found in one
tar pit. The restored skeleton stands 14 feet high.
We think it probable that the pictograph is intended to represent the
California variety. It is apparent that if the man and the elephant are
drawn to the same scale, the man is taller than the elephant. In other
words the man is more than 14 feet high. (JW Many times when they
make pictures of people and animal the relative scale is changed so
that they look equal, especially if the people are considered to be
heroes.)
This prehistoric tragedy is significant of several things. Did the men
of that day have a taste for elephant meat and prey on the elephant
calves? The attack of an infuriated cow elephant whose baby has been
slain, can be easily understood.
Dr. Frederick A. Lucas, Director of the American Museum of Natural
History [fragment lost in photostating], he believes man and the
elephant were coeval in America, yet there is no record so far produced
that proves this beyond a reasonable doubt.
Here, on this canyon wall, some prehistoric man has not only drawn an
elephant, but he has drawn an elephant attacking a man. We submit
this drawing as confirming Dr. Lucas' belief and proving the case.
There is no means by which we can tell whether the elephant was drawn
before or after the dinosaur.
The dinosaur figure is cut into the sandstone much more deeply than
the elephant. It was possible to make a good plaster cast of the
dinosaur, but not possible to cast the elephant. Our surmise is that the
two figures were made by different people and at different times
and in a slightly different way. As stated before, the symbols near the
dinosaur figure in which the desert varnish' has formed in the cut,
have a character all their own, and probably in point of time, precede
all the others.
The elephant figure measures approximately 7.5 inches high, and 10.3
inches long, not including the trunk. The man's figure from the knees
to the top of the head is about 7 inches high.
THE IBEX
In three different places in this canyon we found ihex pictured on the
walls. One group, showing a male and two females, was right under the
elephant picture, but close to the ground. These showed the effects of
weathering and were quite indistinct. The next in importance was a
beautiful panel about a mile up Lee Canyon from its junction with the
main Supai Canyon. This was a smooth face of red sandstone on the side
of a huge boulder.
There was no black surface on this stone so the figures were beauti-
fully carved, about a quarter of an inch deep. This whole panel
showed a very high type of workmanship and was quite different from the
cruder work just described. In order that there might be no
mistake about it, mountain sheep were shown on the same panel with the
ibex.
Part 2.
John Winston. john...@mlode.com
Doug Weller
john...@mlode.com says...
[SNIP]
> If the reader agrees that this is a "dinosaur"
But there is no reason why we should. Who else has looked at these
and what have they said about them? We are only being offered one old story
about them, and stuff from Vine DeLoria who sadly has become a Young Earther of
some type.
>
[SNIP]
>
Have you compared the picture with, for instance, any local large lizards?
--
Doug Weller member of moderation panel sci.archaeology.moderated
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