Almost 4,000 years ago, in southwest Texas (USA) and Coahuila (Mexico), hunter-gatherer artists painted some of the most complex murals in the world. They wove together layers of black, red, yellow, and white paint to create visual narratives. In Indigenous realities, images such as these are not passive decorations. They are reservoirs of power actively engaged in creation-past, present, and future. This exhibit explores how form, color, materiality of the paint, and the image-making process infused the murals with meaning and activated the characters in the stories they relate.

Archaeologists have reported more than 300 prehistoric murals in the region. New rock art sites are discovered every year. The murals range considerably in size and complexity. Some are small, less than a meter in length and height, and have only a few figures. Others hold thousands of figures and are as much as 150 meters long and 15 meters high. While some may see these as a random collection of images painted over long periods of time, trained artists have shown that many of the murals are planned compositions.

Painted Shelter is located in an unnamed tributary canyon of the Rio Grande on private property. Access to this site is only possible with permission from the landowner. A spring-fed stream runs in front of the rock art panel and creates several long pools through the site. Major flash flood events have washed out most of the archaeological deposits, but there is a remnant burned rock midden and lithic scatter on the bedrock benches in front of the shelter. Painted Shelter is home to the best-preserved examples of the Red Monochrome style rock art, as well as remnant Pecos River Style murals.

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→ America Rock Art Index
→ The Rock Art of Baja California
→ Baja On Film
→ California Rock Art Foundation
→ Baja In Search of Painted Caves
→ Baja Great Murals Gallery
→ Sierra de San Francisco
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→ Coso Sheep Cult of East California
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→ The Rock Art of the Oregon Territory
→ RAN - USA Colloquium 2018
→ Removal & Camouflage of Graffiti
→ Graffiti Dates & Names
→ Vandalised Petroglyphs in Texas
→ Preserving Our Ancient Art Galleries

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