Big Daryl at His Going Away Party
Sand Island Campground, Utah
2021
There is so much going on on some rock art panels it’s hard to imagine a coherent story line for a set of images. In fact, there generally isn’t anything coherent going on since many of the inscriptions are made years, or even centuries apart sometimes. But, not to be confused with all the academically based deep and serious thoughts about their meanings, and certainly with apologies to anyone who considers them sacred symbols, it’s sometimes fun to make up a non-serious explanation for what’s going on. In this image, that’s obviously Big Daryl in the middle. You can tell he’s at a party because of all the people dancing on the left side of him. I figured its a going away party because, according to what I’ve read, spirals in Anasazi petroglyphs supposedly represent migration. (How anyone came to that conclusion about these centuries old spirals is unknown to me. But I presume that conclusion is more grounded in science than the story of Big Daryl and the dancers.)
Will Daryl start in the center of the spiral and work his way out to the edge, or will he start out on the edge and work his way to the center?
This is going to be on my mind all day, even for days.
I think the direction of travel is another one of those great unknown quandaries about these petroglyphs. I’m thinking the center of the spiral represents Daryl’s current location and that he will spiral outward in his travels until he finds just the right place to set down roots again. But either way, I’m glad you have something of such great import to occupy your mind. 🙂
Couldn’t get a better commentary on that one.
Thanks Mike!