Culture ID

[big_load]

I took these photos in the Supes and I'm not sure what to think about their origin. The pictographs don't correspond to any styles I know, so I wonder if they might be Apache. Several of the figures seem to be associated with likely drip points. I know even less about structural identification, but I wonder whether this one might be comparatively recent.

http://www.hikearizona.com/dex2/igaller ... php?id=347

[azbackpackr]

Although I've made something of a hobby of rock art, I am also at a loss. Very interesting site. I'm sure someone somewhere knows something about them, though.

[SuperstitionGuy]

In response to big_load:
I believe that I have been to the site of the ruin you photographed but I don't recall seeing the white dots. A now deceased prospector, Chuck Crawford (1980 - 1990) worked that area and dynamited off a large face of the mountain. When you approach LaBarge Canyon from the Whiskey Springs Trail you can see the non patined (sp?) rock face on the mountain on the north side of the canyon. He did not win any friends within the Forest Service when he did that. He claimed that there was gold in cooled quartz buttons in the fissures of the rock face that he dynamited off the cliff.

I did not stay at the site of the ruin very long as I was headed for a campsite on the west end of Trap Canyon but I did find a human tooth in the dirt and dust next to the wall of the ruin. There was also some rocks laying there that I think someone had collected elsewhere that were composed of a clay type material but had small particles of what appeared to be fools gold mixed in with them. This was some type of rock as opposed to pottery shards.

Further north on the east side of LaBarge Canyon there is supposed to be a large cave with its small entrance shielded with a large leaning rock. Many years ago a Boy Scout Troop found it when they off trail scared up a javalina that ran for cover behind the rock and never came out. Curious they hiked to it and found the cave entrance and inside there were two rocks covering hollowed out storage holes in the bedrock that contained some type of grain in one and a large number of indian sandals in the other. This was told to me by a friend in Mesa who was one of the boys with the Troop when they found the cave. He ever since as an adult Scoutmaster has tried to relocate this cave but has never been successful in doing so.

Keep hiking the sup's and reporting your finds. Just be careful out there as it is easy to get injured and find yourself in need of help.

[big_load]

Thanks, SuperstitionGuy. The white dots were on a low overhang a little further down the wall from the ruins. I've heard that there are many sites in the vicinity, but I haven't seen them yet. I think I need to get further into Trap Canyon, but getting past the catclaw is tough. I had to cut myself loose a couple times.

[PaleoRob]

Very interesting! I'd lean towards Apache for the rock art, but the structure is very unusual.