Highlights:
Several thousand Hopi petroglyphs, on red boulders of the Moenave Formation, near Willow Springs; most are clan symbols, inscribed between 1200 and 1950
Nearby town:
Tuba City, 19 miles
Management:
Navajo Nation
Location:
Seasons:
All year
Rating (1-5):
★★★★★
Weather:
Tutuveni, meaning Newspaper Rock, is a petroglyph site at the foot of low red cliffs just south of Willow Springs in northern Arizona, one mile from US 89, on land of the Navajo Reservation though formally part of Hopi territory, and it was the Hopi who made the inscriptions, nearly 5,000 of them, approximately between 1200 and 1950.
Most petroglyphs are clan symbols; there are 34 Hopi clans today and a similar number of extinct clans, each with their own unique identifying mark, so a great variety of designs can be seen. They were created by young Hopi men on their pilgrimage to the Grand Canyon, and often occur in rows of the same design, where somebody from one clan would leave his symbol next to that of an earlier member of the same clan.
The pilgrimage route followed a well-defined trail that continued further west across the plains, eventually descending to the Little Colorado River via the Hopi Salt Trail, and terminating at the Sipapu, the travertine cone of an ancient hot spring, which is sacred to the tribe, considered the 'Place of Emergence', where life began.
The majority of the designs at Tutuveni occur on just eight boulders, all close together, so they can be inspected in just an hour or so. The site is unregulated, can be visited without any permit, and is reached by a short drive on an unpaved road.
Most petroglyphs are clan symbols; there are 34 Hopi clans today and a similar number of extinct clans, each with their own unique identifying mark, so a great variety of designs can be seen. They were created by young Hopi men on their pilgrimage to the Grand Canyon, and often occur in rows of the same design, where somebody from one clan would leave his symbol next to that of an earlier member of the same clan.
The pilgrimage route followed a well-defined trail that continued further west across the plains, eventually descending to the Little Colorado River via the Hopi Salt Trail, and terminating at the Sipapu, the travertine cone of an ancient hot spring, which is sacred to the tribe, considered the 'Place of Emergence', where life began.
The majority of the designs at Tutuveni occur on just eight boulders, all close together, so they can be inspected in just an hour or so. The site is unregulated, can be visited without any permit, and is reached by a short drive on an unpaved road.
Video
A short walk along the west face of Boulder 8.
Access
The unsigned access track, Moenave Road, forks east off US 89, 6.3 miles north of the US 160 intersection, crosses Willow Creek, which is usually dry or nearly so, then turns south, crossing a desolate sandy flat, and soon reaches the rock art site, which is enclosed by a chain link fence, installed in 2010 together with surveillance cameras, to deter vandalism. Although some of the recent vandalism has been from casual visitors, it seems that much was left by the Navajo, in connection with a historic dispute with the Hopi centered on ownership of this land, a dispute which was officially settled in 2006, with most of the disputed area being granted to the Navajo. It seems that resentment still remains.
Geology
All the boulders at Tutuveni are formed of the Moenave Formation, richly-colored red sandstone, and they lie at the base of crumbling cliffs of the Springdale Member of the Kayenta Formation, with the main strata of the Kayenta Formation above, on the plateau to the east. The site is around 700 feet across, comprising just one tiny section of a lengthy escarpment, and in total it contains 154 recognised, catalogued boulders with at least one inscription. On the boulders are 235 individual panels and a total of 5,103 symbols. 820 of these are more recent graffiti or are unidentifiable; the remainder are unambiguously from the Hopi. The whole site has been extensively studied and photographed in recent years, every individual petroglyph has been recorded, and where possible, interpreted. The top ten clan symbols, in order of increasing frequency, are bow, snake, cloud, fire, sun, lizard, coyote, corn, bird and bear/badger - this last pair cannot be unambiguously distinguished.
Boulders
The most prominent boulder, number 48, informally known as Picture Rock, is 20 feet in length and has around 60% of all the Hopi glyphs, approximately 2500. Just to its northeast is boulder 55, with far fewer glyphs, on a more faded rockface. A short distance north is boulder 35, a longer, narrower rock with nice crisp designs on its upper face, then 50 feet north is boulder 14, and 50 feet further north, boulder eight, one of the largest, with designs all around its sides. The other three of the eight most inscribed boulders, numbers 17, 18 and 30, are on the near edge of the site, north of boulder 48; the first two are almost as large, with many designs, the last one somewhat smaller, bearing symbols from the corn and cloud clans.
Tutuveni - Nearby Places
- Coal Mine Canyon (35 miles) - multicolored ravine on Navajo land
- Little Colorado River (32 miles) - one of the largest tributaries of the Grand Canyon
Tutuveni - Similar Places
- Atlatl Rock, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada - red rock butte adorned with many petroglyphs
- Whitney Pocket Petroglyphs, Gold Butte National Monument, Nevada - rock art panels on cliffs and boulders