Page 11 - 2020 summer
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Friends oF red rock canyon 11
Photo by Don Herman
By George Phillips
n the summers around the time of the than one cultural group. We were limited by
Eisenhower Administration, my family our patchy grasp of the complex cultures that
I and I frequently trekked to Red Rock must have passed through the Las Vegas Val-
Canyon in our old GMC pickup. We drove ley.
up Charleston Road to what I think was Red
Spring and saw rock art images pecked on During the 1950s and 1960s, rock art
the 180 million-year-old Aztec Sandstone. around Las Vegas was a cultural curiosity
My parents told me they were put there by poorly represented in local literature. We
people years before Las Vegas was born. I found most information regarding rock art
was vaguely curious. from the bimonthly “Nevada” magazine
which was mostly descriptive in nature.
Flash forward almost 60 years. My We wanted more information to satisfy our
wife, Judy, and I joined the Southern curiosity and learned that the landscape sur-
Nevada Rock Art Association and I’m rounding rock art is an important component
going to tell you why… of a site.
We became hooked on One spring day we were
rock art. We got involved listening to a Nevada Public
not in a mild, progressive, Radio program highlighting
budding interest kind of way, the Southern
or in little installments over Nevada Rock Art Associa-
a period of years, but in an tion as a resource for curious
explosive, hit-between-the- beginners like us. SNRAA
eyes type of revelation. We (pronounced “sun-ray”) is a
couldn’t get enough of it. We non-profit group of avoca-
asked each other the usual tional and professional people
rookie questions: how old around Las Vegas who have a
are these panels, what do common interest in rock art.
they mean and who made Originally formed in 1986, it
them? Based on our green- was incorporated as a non-
horn observations, they were profit in 2002 to provide free
probably created by more Petroglyph panel in northern Arizona educational programs to the
(Continued on page 12)
Summer 2020
