The Panel

Before you look, one word. The park's own sign says archeologists call the people who made these the Fremont, and that the tribes reject that name for their ancestors, who lived here for thousands of years. A Paiute narrator on the park's audio puts it plainly, we call them that because we don't know what they called themselves. The Hopi Tribe has its own word, Hisatsinom, People of Long Ago, and that word takes in more than the people of this valley, it covers their neighbors too. Now look. Find the large figures with wide shoulders, many with headgear and horns, and the bighorn sheep. What shows depends on the time of day, and the longer you look, the more you'll notice. Then look closer, for necklaces, earrings and sashes, with the binoculars if you need them. Those have real counterparts, found in archeological sites. What any of it means is another matter. With few exceptions, the park's audio says, no one can be sure what the maker had in mind. Other tribes tied to this place say markings like these may be considered libraries. The Hopi and Zuni say the markings confirm their ancestors were here. There are two accounts of what came next, and neither gets corrected here. Some archeologists think these people were absorbed into other cultures. The Hopi say their ancestors left on purpose, on migrations. Later hands marked these cliffs too. A park sign says early travelers used figures like these as targets, and Mormon pioneers carved their family names, and you have to ask what they were trying to say. A large piece of this panel fell in nineteen fifty-two, and residents collected the pieces. Back at the car, keep going the way you were heading. The people this wall speaks to are still here, and these are still their homelands.