An elk petroglyph at the V-Bar-V Heritage Site in Rimrock, AZ. Photo: Jackson

V-Bar-V Heritage Site marks spring equinox

by Carl Jackson

SEDONA, AZ  - March 22, 2009 - "Do you know the difference between a pictograph and a petroglyph?" asked Sharon Olsen, a volunteer docent from the Verde Valley Archeological Society. 

"A pictograph," she said, "is painted on the rock, but a petroglyph is chiseled into the black desert patina on the rock and can last for hundreds of years; and right here is the largest grouping of petroglyphs in the Verde Valley."

The 'here' is the V-Bar-V  Heritage Site at the V-Bar-V Ranch along Wet Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Verde River, about 18 miles south of Sedona off of SR 179 on National Forest Road 618 in Rimrock, AZ.

Acquired by the U.S. Forest Service through a land trade in 1994, the V-Bar-V Ranch was an active cattle ranch from the 1930's-1960's.

The petroglyph site has been known to archeologists since 1945 but had not been studied in detail until it was acquired by the U.S. Forest Service.

Volunteer docent, Sharon Olsen, Verde Valley Archeology Society, at the V-Bar-V Heritage Site on March 22, 2009 standing in front of a large rock wall dotted with hundreds of petroglyphs carved by the Sinagua hundreds of years ago. Photo: Jackson

The petroglyphs are varied and represent snakes, birds, turtles, coyotes, dogs, deer and antelope along with human stick figures and geometric spirals and other forms.

With over one thousand individual petroglyphs identified, archeologists now believe that the four main panels of petroglyphs make up a huge solar calendar.  They believe that the Sinagua observed the sun casting its rays on the rock walls at certain times of the year, and placed petroglyphs there to mark the equinox, solstice, and other important dates, like crop planting times, throughout the year.

Said Ms. Olsen, "We now [believe] these petroglyphs were carved by the ancient Hopi, and not the Sinagua.  We [believe] this because the Hopi still come to this site to this day, and we close the site for them for religious and other sacred ceremonies."

A Hopi woman petroglyph carved into a rock wall at the V-Bar-V Heritage Site. Photo: Jackson

On March 21, 2009 we received an email from Mark Rownd of Sedona, who hosts a social networking site at www.petroglyph.org for petroglyph enthusiasts.  Mr. Rownd was at the V-Bar-V Heritage Site on March 21, 2009, and captured an exciting photo of a shaft of sunlight casting across a rock panel exactly in line with a spiral petroglyph.

Ken Zoll, author of "Sinagua Sunwatchers," and "Understanding the Rock Art of Sedona," has discovered that at around 1:42 pm on each March 21st, the rock art wall at V-Bar-V displays a shaft of light that marks the first day of spring, known as the spring equinox. At each equinox, the sun crosses the Earth's equator, making night and day of approximately equal length on most of the planet. At the equator, the sun is directly overhead at noon.

In this photo taken by Mark Rownd on March 21, 2009, a shaft of sunlight casts its ray across a petroglyph panel at the V-Bar-V Heritage Site in Rimrock, AZ.   Ken Zoll, author of "Sinagua Sunwatchers," and "Understanding the Rock Art of Sedona," has discovered that at 1:42 pm on each March 21st the rock art wall at V-Bar-V displays a shaft of light that illuminates a spiral petroglyph seen at the bottom left of the shaft of light that marks the spring equinox.