I got to spend the day out looking for petroglyphs. We'll be having a rock art recording weekend and I think that we have some interesting areas to look for unknown glyphs. But one of my friends doubted that I stop for hot tea on cold mornings. So here is a shot of the kettle boiling at the top of a cliff above the Rio Puerco.

Been on vacation for a week so no pictures from the Painted Desert. But here is one off the deck on Christmas morning.

I am filling out the last few minutes of the day at work with another picture for Rob.

I came across an old homestead in the back country this afternoon while out looking for petroglyphs:

I thought it was an eerie window into the future of a friend of mine, who I can see living in a similar station at any moment.

While this isn't a typical landscape picture, it is interesting. I got a little inspiration in the mail today from Sam to get back to work on my dissertation. So I framed and hung it on the wall above my desk.

The man in the painting is Frank Hibben. Dr. Hibben is well known in southwest archaeology, mostly for his research into some of the earliest cultures in the New World, notably Sandia, which has been documented at only two sites in North America, both of which Hibben had a hand in. Almost immediately after the initial discovery at Sandia Cave there have been questions about the authenticity of the sites. As part of my dissertation I have been researching the Lucy Site- the second Sandia site. I think that I am pretty close to making an educated guess about the Sandia component at Lucy and will be able to tell you all soon if it is actually a real thing, or if it was faked to support the initial discovery.

Here is a shot of the original point discovery in association with some proboscidean bone:

And the Albuquerque Tribune article about the discovery:

 A petroglyph shot from the back country.

And of course with fall is the annual tarantula migration season.

I found this guy climbing up the back wall of the office.