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| Home | How The Panel Was Discovered |
How The Panel Was Discovered
The panel was discovered in 1986 by Gordon Smith, a Grand Canyon mule wrangler and guide, in Tuckup Canyon, a side canyon north of the main gorge.
Gordon photographed the panel and sent pictures to Dick Marks, the then acting Park Service superintendent. A few weeks later Gordon received a return letter questioning the provenance of the photographs and suggesting they were taken from an aboriginal site in Australia.
Gordon then met with archeologist Jan Balsom and an assistant, showed them up to 100 different sites on top of the rim, and hiked them into the Panel. Four months later, he took Polly Schasma, a rock art specialist, and other park service personnel to the site at the behest of the Park Service. Using mules to pack in supplies, they stayed a week. The pictures to the right were taken during this trip.
Read an article about this trip from the first issue of Men's Journal magazine.
April 1989 Arizona Highways magazine stated that this may be the most remarkable Rock Art panel discovered on the North American continent, and in fact the oldest prehistoric evidence of man in the Grand Canyon. They also stated that the paintings were made before the Giza pyramids were built.
Now, this site is published in National Geographic Magazine's Grand Canyon Country, page 146, and is being shown in IMAX theaters and other rock art publications.
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