Native American petroglyphs and pictographs Native American petroglyphs and pictographs Petroglyphs, or carved rock designs, and pictographs, or painted rock designs, are known by the general term rock art. In what are now the states of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado, prehistoric hunter-gatherer Indians began to decorate canyon walls, rock shelters, and boulders with rock art several thousand years ago. Navajos, Apaches, Pueblo Indians, and even Spanish soldiers and settlers continued to create rock art over the centuries.
Archaeologists believe that rock art is much more than meaningless doodles.
And contrary to popular belief, it was not created by the inhabitants of sunken, mythical continents, it does not represent maps to buried treasure or depict extraterrestrials, and it was not intended as a form of writing. Rock art does provide a means of understanding the sacred as well as the mundane in prehistoric and historic Indian culture. It is a way of recognizing cultural relationships and the patterns of communication and commerce among individuals and tribes. Changes in rock-art styles often reflect new ideologies and religious practices. However, the quality of the rock art and the level of sophistication of the culture it belongs to are not necessarily related.