Dinosaur Painting In The Grand Canyon. Part 3 of 3.
John F. Winston
June 18, 2000.
This last part explains a fortress.
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The scene represented seems to show several hunters driving seven ibex
and two deer into a trap or up a pass. Roy Chapman Andrews, who has
hunted ibex in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, pronounced these to be ibex
for the reason that the characteristic knobs on the front of the horns
are faithfully represented in the carving.
The interesting thing about this is, that no ibex, not even fossil
ones, have ever been found in America. These drawings would seem to
indicate that they must have been a common animal in the Grand Canyon
region, in the prehistoric past.
In a cave near Alpera, in Spain, there are drawings representing people
like American Indians, hunting ibex with bow and arrow. From Spain to
Arizona is "a far cry"- (see Illustrated London News of Dec. #
20th, 1919).
The "COUDA-PAH"
In the Supai language the word "Couda-pahvich", freely translated
means "big Indian long time dead". The abbreviated word "Couda-pah"
means any prehistoric picture, track or relic belonging to the Past.
The longer ago it was the longer they accent the word "Couda".
About a half mile down the main Supai Canyon from the wall pictures
just described, there is a mysterious stone figure embedded into
the walls of the canyon. The Indians claim this was once a living woman
whose body was turned into stone by the action of the lime in
the water. Beside her lies her baby, wrapped in skins, also solid stone.
This body is about 60 feet straight up from the present floor of the
canyon, and can only be closely examined by making a long detour
through a side canyon. This gives access to a table of rock above the
body. From this point a descent, involving considerable risk, must
be made to the figure by means of a rope ladder. From the body down to
the stream bed, the wall is perpendicular, so that a mishap here
would be serious.
The figure lies face downward, with arms extended, therefore no
features are visible. The object is in a sort of a flat crevice with an
over- hanging roof. This has protected it somewhat from the weather and
from falling rocks. It has weathered to a shiny black color. As
it is pure lime- stone, bedded into red sandstone without a sign of a
joint, this precludes any suggestion of a carving.
Owing to the danger involved, and to the overhanging crevice which
leaves the figure in the shade, it is not possible to make a
satisfactory photograph, so none is offered here.
Mr. Gilmore made a hasty examination of the figure and believed it
to be an aggregation of limestone in the form of a human being. He
admitted however, that there were some points in favor of the belief of
the Indians.
The head is somewhat flattened, but the back, thighs, buttocks and a
fragment of the fore arm are very much like a human being. The
body measures five and one half feet from the top of the head to the end
of the spine, involving a total height of between eleven and
twelve feet.
While it is quite true that Nature makes many freaks, resembling all
sorts of things, yet we feel there is enough doubt in this whole matter
to warrant a more complete examination by a party prepared to spend the
necessary time.
The Ancient Fortress
Out on that part of the plateau known as "The Thumb", a huge slab of
limestone has slipped away from the main wall and stands like an
isolated "island of stone", on the very brink of the Grand Canyon.
There is a steep sided gully between it and the main wall, and by
worming up a crevice an active man may reach the top. It is a good
bow- shot from the shore of this island to the main land, but on the
other side there is a sickening drop of some 3000 feet straight down
to the inner gorge of the Colorado.
On the side toward the gully, a low wall of cyclopean blocks of stone
has been constructed. How those immense blocks of stone were hoisted
up there is a mystery. The whole refuge is not over 200 feet long by
50 or 60 feet wide. It was evidently a place of last resort from which
there was no escape.
Whatever heroic deeds have been done here will never be known, for the
present Indians have never used it, and know practically nothing about
it. Mr. Gilmore picked up an arrow-point and some shards of pottery on
the top of this fortress. These were identified in Washington as
belonging to a pre-Pueblo culture and were evidently very ancient.
Conclusion
In conclusion we would like to point out that there are miles upon
miles of this Grand Canyon region which no wh-te man has ever seen.
We have found enough to convince us that it is a veritable mine of arch-
aeological treasures. There is enough in sight now to keep a party
going for several seasons.
Not far from this "Fortress", in the main Grand Canyon we found some
'tracks" which even Mr. Gilmore himself was at a loss to explain. They
were either in the red sandstone of the Carboniferous, where such
tracks are not supposed to be, or they were impressed in the mud of a
river channel at a later date. The Colorado river was at this level
when the tracks were made. Since then it has kept on about its
business and cut its gorge some 2500 feet deeper.
The lapse of time as shown in this canyon is so tremendous that it is
simply overwhelming. It makes our little year of 365 days seem
trifling. Has not the time arrived when we must devise a new "unit of
measure to block off these great "Periods of the Past?" Must we
not readjust many of our ideas regarding the antiquity of man, and his
contact with the prehistoric animals, which have gone, to return
no more?
Perhaps if we can find out where we came from and what we came from,
it may help us to get a little glimpse ahead along the "Trail of
Life" we are now so painfully following. It may help us to solve the
great riddle of the Universe: "Where do we go from here?"
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Part 3 of 3.
John Winston. john...@mlode.com