Mesa Point Trail

Petroglyphs on Mesa Point Trail in Boca Negra Canyon preserve a valuable record of cultural expression and human occupation in the Rio Grande valley. They hold deep spiritual significance for modern Pueblo groups and for other Indigenous people such as the Diné (Navajo) and the Apache, and similar images continue to have value in contemporary ceremonial life for many Southwestern tribes. Some associated meanings are still known by a few Southwestern tribal groups, while the direct meanings of other images have been lost over the centuries. One boulder bears various images made by the Ancestral Pueblo people 400 to 700 years ago, created with sandstone hammerstones and chisels that removed the thin exterior layer of desert varnish to expose the lighter basalt beneath. Some images remain recognizable today, but their original meanings were known only to the carver and to those who traveled and lived in that period.

Albuquerque, New Mexico · United States