According to the pamphlet that we picked up at the visitor center, geologists estimate the Albuquerque volcanoes last erupted 150,000 years ago. The basaltic lava seeped from a crack and as the sand eroded from underneath the basalt caprocks, boulders tumbled down forming the escarpments on which the petroglyphs are found.
Petroglyphs are made by pecking and later they used the "hammer and chisel" method which gave them the ability to carve more details. In the canyon we visited, there were around 1200 petroglyphs believed to have been pecked into the basalt boulders four to seven hundred years ago. The pamphlet describes the petroglyphs to include anthropomorphs- human-like figures, concentric circles/spirals, animal figures, and geometric designs.
As we walked the 2.5 mile loop around the canyon, we were able to think about the people who inhabited and traveled through the Rio Grande valley long ago! I wish I had had a tour guide to give me more info or could have read up on my history to know why the native people depicted these petroglyphs on this rock and what each of them meant. Either way, it was cool to find the petroglyhps as you walk along and it was crazy to think that we didn't even see them all because some aren't seen until the sun shines on them in just the right way. Below you can see some of the ones we captured!
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