Canyon de Chelly, AZ - Standing Cow Ruin

DAY 9
FRI 5 OCT 2012

Petroglyphs at Standing Cow Ruin, Canyon del Muerto

On a high ledge (see photo inset, left) in the shelter of Standing Cow Ruin, Ben points out a remarkable series of pictographs on the sandstone wall. It is a series of images from long ago - a cavalcade of riders wearing flat-brimmed hats, carrying lances and muskets, their capes clearly emblazoned with the catholic cross.

"The Spaniards," Ben says.

I have not been able to determine whether these pictographs represent the first Spanish Conquistors (under Francisco Vázquez de Coronado) and Franciscan monks (1540 - 1542) who explored the southwest and established settlements throughout, or whether these pictographs came later, inked by the survivors of the Antonio de Narbona massacre (1805).

And then Ben tells us a story passed down through Diné oral history, that these haunting images are a reminder of a painful event of long ago: in January 1805, when a force of nearly 500 Spanish soldiers under the command of Antonio Narbona, raided the canyon, killing over 115 Navajo and taking 33 women and children as slaves. These were, presumably; the same men who were responsible for the killings of Navajo women, children and old men further deep into the canyon at a place called Massacre Cave (hence the naming of this particular branch of Canyon de Chelly as Canyon del Muerto).