In the Spring of 2013 I came across a petroglyph while hiking in one of our city parks. It consisted of 2 horizontal lines with a semi circle above and lines extending from this semi circle. It looked old, old enough that lichen had grown in some of the grooves.
I have seen many Native American Petroglyphs but nothing like this before. I don't even know if it's Native American. It doesn't leave much to the imagination that one is looking at a drawing of the Sun on the horizon. I took a series of pictures and downloaded them at home and studied them for weeks.
Since the glyph is on a boulder facing south it couldn't line up with a Sunrise or Sunset. I realized that when I was taking the pictures, my back was against the high point of the rock outcropping. This outcropping rose 10 or 15 feet above the level of the petroglyph.
Was it possible that the Sun would cast a shadow from the high point of the rock onto the glyph? It wasn't until late Fall of 2013 that I had this thought, so I decided to go back to the site during the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21 +/- a day). Unfortunately weather and other commitments kept me from returning. 15 days later on January 4, 2014, I set the camera on a tripod and took a series of pictures over a period of 1 1/2 hours bracketing 12 noon.
Once again I downloaded the pictures, using Photoshop I was able to make a time lapse of the shadow being cast on the petroglyph.
I transferred the 'path' to one of the first photos and came up with this result. The shadow of the Pointer Rock from the cliff is shown in the lower left of the 'path'.
Is this conclusive that this is a Solstice marker? No, but it is compelling. I revisited the site in 2016 again and found graffiti sprayed just below this petroglyph.
I have seen many Native American Petroglyphs but nothing like this before. I don't even know if it's Native American. It doesn't leave much to the imagination that one is looking at a drawing of the Sun on the horizon. I took a series of pictures and downloaded them at home and studied them for weeks.
Since the glyph is on a boulder facing south it couldn't line up with a Sunrise or Sunset. I realized that when I was taking the pictures, my back was against the high point of the rock outcropping. This outcropping rose 10 or 15 feet above the level of the petroglyph.
Was it possible that the Sun would cast a shadow from the high point of the rock onto the glyph? It wasn't until late Fall of 2013 that I had this thought, so I decided to go back to the site during the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21 +/- a day). Unfortunately weather and other commitments kept me from returning. 15 days later on January 4, 2014, I set the camera on a tripod and took a series of pictures over a period of 1 1/2 hours bracketing 12 noon.
Once again I downloaded the pictures, using Photoshop I was able to make a time lapse of the shadow being cast on the petroglyph.
I transferred the 'path' to one of the first photos and came up with this result. The shadow of the Pointer Rock from the cliff is shown in the lower left of the 'path'.
Is this conclusive that this is a Solstice marker? No, but it is compelling. I revisited the site in 2016 again and found graffiti sprayed just below this petroglyph.
Interesting:)
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