Newspaper Rock
USA · Americas
Two thousand years of desert news pecked onto a single varnished page of sandstone
Age
~700–2,000 yrs
Period
Archaic to Ancestral Puebloan & Ute
Setting
Open-air
Art form
Petroglyphs
Discovered
1961
Status
Open (Roadside Site)
A single sandstone face in Indian Creek canyon carries over 650 petroglyphs pecked through black desert varnish — deer, bison, riders, footprints and six-toed hands — left by Archaic, Basketmaker, Fremont, Ancestral Puebloan and later Ute and Navajo peoples across two millennia. In Navajo it is Tse' Hone', 'the rock that tells a story', standing beside the road into the Needles of Canyonlands.
Notable Features
- ◦ The 650-figure panel
- ◦ Tse' Hone' — 'rock that tells a story'
- ◦ Roadside access on UT-211
Depicted Subjects
DeerBisonHorsesHuman FiguresAnimal traces
Plan a Visit
AccessThis cave can be visited.
Sources & Further Reading
Hours & prices change — always confirm on the official site before travelling.
Photographs via Wikimedia Commons — image credits. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.