History
The Blythe Intaglios are enormous geoglyphs carved into the Colorado Desert near Blythe, on terraces of the Colorado River floodplain. Created by scraping away dark surface stones to reveal lighter soil, the main group includes three human figures, two four-legged animals, and a spiral, with the largest human figure about 171 feet long. Among more than 200 known intaglios in the Colorado Desert, they are the best known and the only known desert intaglios in North America. Their makers and exact dates remain uncertain, though radiocarbon results suggest some are very old. Often interpreted as ceremonial, they are a major archaeological landmark whose visibility, survival, and cultural context continue to make them significant.
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