Project History
In 1993 and 1994, a 188-acre private parcel owned by Katherine Wells was recorded by the New Mexico Archaeological Society’s Rock Art Field School led by Jay and Helen Crotty. In 2007, the property was donated by Katherine Wells to The Archaeological Conservancy and became known as The Wells Petroglyph Preserve. The Preserve represents the most concentrated area of petroglyphs on Mesa Prieta and is on the National Register of Historic Places and the State Register of Cultural Properties.
Recognizing that the petroglyphs on Mesa Prieta offer an irreplaceable link to the past, an effort to organize a project to survey and record all the petroglyphs on the mesa was initiated in 1999. The organizers of the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project realized that the preservation of that history was critical to the area’s quality of life.
Over the next three years maps were gathered, permission obtained to record on several parcels of private land, volunteers were trained by Jay and Helen Crotty and Jerry and Jean Brody, funds raised, recording forms developed, and many other related tasks were accomplished. Field work began in 2002. Since the project began in 1999, about 80,000 petroglyphs and cultural items have been documented. This includes the re-survey of the Wells Petroglyph Preserve, which initially was recorded before GPS units became affordable and digital photography was in wide use. Documenting petroglyphs on the entire mesa will take many years and require untold thousands of volunteer hours.
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Turkey tracks surround this Pueblo IV shield bearer with arms extended, possible feather headdress and full facial features. Numerous turkey tracks exist on surrounding boulders.
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