• Never touch the images. Natural oils on human skin break down the patina and can erase a panel that has endured for centuries.
• Do not chalk, trace, or alter the surface in any way. A camera captures everything needed.
• Stay on established trails and observe from a distance. Climbing on or near panels causes irreversible damage.
Leave every artifact and potsherd exactly where you find it. Removal is a federal crime under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.
SAN JUAN HAPPENINGS - May 2026 |
| The Stories in the Stone: A Respectful Guide to Viewing Petroglyphs in San Juan County by Utah’s Canyon Country |
Carved into sandstone panels across southeastern Utah, petroglyphs and pictographs are among the most remarkable cultural treasures in Utah’s Canyon Country. Bighorn sheep, spiraling suns, handprints, and human figures (some more than 2,000 years old) mark the territory of the Ancestral Pueblo, Navajo, Ute, Hopi, and Zuni peoples. These images are not remnants of a vanished past. They are living connections to Indigenous communities who still call this region home, and the descendants of those who carved them continue to regard these panels as sacred.
San Juan County Utah is home to several of the most significant petroglyph sites in the American Southwest. Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, located along Utah State Route 211 about 28 miles northwest of Monticello, features one of the largest known concentrations of petroglyphs in the world — hundreds of images layered across a single sandstone panel spanning centuries of continuous use. Bears Ears National Monument holds additional archaeological sites tucked into its canyons and mesas.
Before visiting any site, stop at Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Blanding. Its exhibits house the largest collection of Ancestral Pueblo pottery in the region. The petroglyphs and pictographs of San Juan County are not simply images. They are messages, prayers, and records left by the people who first understood this landscape. Visiting them is a privilege earned through quiet attention and genuine care. 
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© 2002-2026 Copyright Moab Happenings. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of information contained in this site is expressly prohibited without the written permission of the publisher.