Inscription Rock El Morro National Monument

by Debby Pueschel

Title

Inscription Rock El Morro National Monument

Artist

Debby Pueschel

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

In this photo, you see 'grafitti' etched into a sandstone outcropping by soldiers and conquistidors who stopped by an oasis - a pool of water which collects inside a natural collection of water from rain and snow. Trips through this aird desert in New Mexico, can be extremely hot. The cool waters and shade trees, provided a resting place for travellers passing through. Wagon trains travelling from the east, stopped here. A great piece of history if you are near Ramah, New Mexico.

Rising 200 feet above the valley floor, this massive sandstone bluff was a welcome landmark for weary travelers. A reliable waterhole hidden at its base made El Morro (or Inscription Rock) a popular campsite. Beginning in the late 1500s Spaniards, and later Americans, passed by El Morro. While they rested in its shade and drank from the pool, many carved their signatures, dates, and messages.

Before the Spanish, petroglyphs were inscribed by Ancestral Puebloans living on top of the bluff over 700 years ago. The softness of the sandstone made it easy to carve pictures, names, dates and messages. Ironically, that is also the reason that the famous inscriptions are slowly disappearing. Today, El Morro National Monument protects over 2,000 inscriptions and petroglyphs, as well as Ancestral Puebloan ruins.

Featured in these groups:

*INSPIRED QUOTATION 9-4-22
*SPIRIT OF THE WEST 9-2-22
*NEW MEXICO LAND OF ENCHANTMENT. 8-25-22
*Text Art 7-26-20

Uploaded

July 23rd, 2020

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