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OUR MISSION
The Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project is exclusively organized for charitable and educational purposes, including the promotion of heritage stewardship and the preservation of archaeological features and the environment and cultural landscape of the Mesa Prieta region of the northern Rio Grande Valley through documentation, education and outreach.
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A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER
After two long years we are so happy to announce that tours of the Wells Petroglyph Preserve are open again. We already have one school tour booked! We are booking private tours on Friday and Saturday mornings; a full schedule of public tours will be open again soon if Covid continues to decline. Please visit our website for more information.
Katherine Wells, Founder and MPPP Board Vice-President
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A NOTE FROM OUR PRESIDENT
There's a lot happening with Mesa Prieta in the next couple of months. In addition to tours re-opening, we're conducting our docent training, Chat with the Archaeologist continues, and Mesa Talks return. Next month, the Lensic in Santa Fe will be presenting the documentary However Wide the Sky: Places of Power, in which Mesa Prieta is one of the featured locations.
Whether it's virtually or physically, come join us on the Mesa!
Alec Kercsó, MPPP Board President
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MONTHLY CHAT WITH THE ARCHAEOLOGIST
hosted by Dr. Chester Liwosz
April 8 at 2 PM
CLICK HERE
Dr. Liwosz welcomes this month's guest, Darienne Dey, Hawaiian archaeologist and educator, who will join us to talk story about Polynesian sailing, settling the Hawaiian Islands, cultural revival, and more.
This Chat is the fifth episode of Season 3.
Join us at 2 pm MDT on the 2nd Friday of each month for a live stream on our YouTube channel.
The Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project and the Chat with the Archaeologist series are supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New Mexico Humanities Council, and our many private donors. Thank you!
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MPPP Volunteer Docent Training on the Wells Petroglyph Preserve
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Train and join our team of docents who provide tours on the Wells Petroglyph Preserve. Training includes education, outreach, and an appreciation of preservation ethics.
Follow the link below for more information and to apply.
https://www.mesaprietapetroglyphs.org/docent-training.html
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Mesa Talks Return! Mark your calendars for April 27 at 6pm with featured speaker, Ron Barber.
This will be live-streamed. More information will follow.
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However Wide the Sky: Places of Power
On Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 7:00 PM, The Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, in partnership with Silver Bullet Productions, will host a special showing this documentary.
This film is near and dear to our hearts as Mesa Prieta is one of the featured locations, alongside such places as Chaco Canyon, Bears Ears, Zuni Salt Lake, Mount Taylor, Pueblo of Santa Ana, Taos Blue Lake, and Santa Fe.
Don't forget to reserve your free ticket, available through the Lensic Theater.
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A Recent Find
by Katherine Wells
This complex and astonishingly beautiful panel was recently found high on Mesa Prieta and recorded by one of our volunteer archaeologists Kathy Fiero and her recording team with Susan Gibbs and Melodie Usher. The boulder has some unique elements as well as more commonly seen motifs. Most of the items are lightly repatinated (covered with desert varnish) suggesting that they were pecked into this hard surface more recently than most of the petroglyphs on Mesa Prieta.
There are some mysteries here. We see what may be a bird playing a flute in the upper right area. If so, it is the first feathered flute player to be found among the 80,000 images that MPPP has recorded. At least 20 other animal flute players are known among the hundreds of humans playing flutes. They include quadrupeds that appear to be armadillos, otters, and others. And there are insect flute players and tailed humans, but no birds piping a tune. It makes sense, in a way since birds make music.
Another mystery is the striking form at the boulder’s apex. While tree-like objects occur in Pueblo iconography, few have been found on Mesa Prieta. Another possibility, however remote is that the motif represents a Jewish Menorah. Jews fleeing the Inquisition were among the first European settlers in northern New Mexico. A couple of other such forms have been seen near the Mesa.
Other images on this boulder are more familiar. A spiral that becomes a snake; five Pueblo four-pointed stars that represent the planet Venus; a couple of probable shields, one with an unusual design; an odd Christian cross; a small human figure and other elements.
We will never know with certainty what all of this means, but the effort, thought, creativity, and cultural feeling expended by these people from long long ago takes my breath away.
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A FEW WAYS TO SHOW THE PROJECT SOME LOVE
Follow us on Facebook and Youtube. Like and comment on our posts. We would love to hear from you!
Do you follow us on Instagram? If you have ever been inspired by the Mesa and the petroglyphs, we would love to see your work!
Find us @mppetroglyphs and tag us using #mesaprietapetroglyphs
Check out our merchandise (we have great books!)
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GRATITUDE FOR OUR GRANTORS
We give special gratitude to the granting agencies that help us meet our programming goals. We feel so fortunate to receive these funds. Our youth education programs, tours and outreach, and preservation efforts thrive due to the charitable help of these organizations:
Anonymous
Lee and Candie Borduin Recording Grant
Generation Next
Heartsprung Fund WA
J3 Fund at Taos Community Foundation
National Endowment for the Humanities
New Mexico Humanities Council
Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area
Rio Arriba County Lodgers Tax
Santa Fe Community Foundation
Santa Fe Tobacco Foundation
Sulica Fund
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