Hueco Tanks

[Okeefenokee]

I was headed out to red sands, when I saw a sign for Hueco Tanks, and not knowing what it was, I turned to check it out. It turned into a pretty cool day.

Huecos are these water hole things, and this place is littered with them, making it an oasis of sorts. Big significance archaeologically and whatnot. Cave paintings thousands of years old, yada yada yada. I spent most of the time climbing from one peak to the next, trying to get to the highest one, and not hunting for pictographs, but I'll go back soon and get some pictures of the paintings in the caves.

And there was a bunch of people, "bouldering." So if Apeman's ever in town with nothing to do, there ya go.







The rock formations were pretty cool. They're completely different than the other mountains anywhere around.



The whole place looks like giants stacked up a ton of enormous boulders in the middle of the desert.



After I'd had enough climbing for the day, I proceeded to red sands.



Oh yeah, I did see a few paintings, but they were weather worn or covered in graffiti. Can we make that an executable crime?

Then


Now

[de officiis]

How old are the paintings thought to be?

[Okeefenokee]

The earliest clue that humans were
present at Hueco Tanks is a characteristic
chipped stone spearpoint
called a Folsom point, after a site
in New Mexico where it was first
identified. Such projectile points
are relatively common throughout
the Southwest where they are
frequently associated with mammoth
and giant bison bones dated
to between 8,000 and 9,000 B.C.
(or 10,000 to 11,000 years ago).

We can identify at least two kinds
of artistic styles among the Archaic
nomads, both of which can be seen
at Hueco Tanks. The Early Archaic
Style (6000 B.C. – 3000 B.C.) consists
of curvilinear and rectilinear
abstract designs, such as “comb”
designs and parallel wavy lines.
It is hard to guess the meanings
of these drawings. There are no
animal or human depictions in
this earlier style.

So, something like 8000 years and newer.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdp ... _0095e.pdf

[Johnny-Five]

Okee which one of these are you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq_HcaYPRw8

[Okeefenokee]

On an overcast, cold, rainy Thursday, three days before Christmas, Hueco Tanks was at capacity. I was the last car that got in.

I found a hueco today big enough to fit a house inside. I'm gonna need some rope to get down inside it and get the right picture. I took the family out for their first visit. They had a good time.

[Ex-California]

Damn, I'd like to go there.

And yes, defacing of any natural or historical artifact/feature/landscape should be punishable my Munster Anabaptist treatment

[Speaker to Animals]

Damn, I'd like to go there.

And yes, defacing of any natural or historical artifact/feature/landscape should be punishable my Munster Anabaptist treatment

I saw some damage done to the petroglyphs in the Petrified Forest National Park. Definite Munster treatment was required, though I think they will only put people in jail for a year or so if they catch them.

[Okeefenokee]

I hate to keep talking about it without pictures. I didn't charge my phone. I'll plan ahead next time.

There was this one spot I couldn't find last time, but I found today. There's this rock the size of a house, and the whole underneath is open. It's just a few little leg-like spots on the rock that are touching the rock underneath, and the rest is open enough that you can lie down and get under it. I guess I'm not claustrophobic, because I was under it before any else knew I was gone. When my wife knelt down and saw me underneath, she was a bit concerned. I was looking for it because a volunteer there told me there were rock paintings under there. They were weathered, but they were there.

Besides us, everyone else there was bouldering. I might get into it. Seems like good PT.

[TheReal_ND]

Is it cool under the rock?

[Okeefenokee]

Is that a euphemism?