Customer Reviews

Canyon Country: Prehistoric Rock Art

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book should be required reading for anyone seriously interested in rock art. It debunks all of the fanciful conjecture that typically surrounds the subject. It may come across as negative, but it separates the fact from fiction. Read this book first, and then keep it handy as you peruse other literature on this subject.

I don't agree with the other negative reviews. I bought this book many years ago in a museum in Utah for the pictures, and have treasured it ever since. I'll have to admit, I didn't read the text very much, so I can't comment on that aspect of the book. I have hiked around the southwest quite a bit and have seen many rock art sites. This book has a lot of great (black & white) photos of petroglyphs, showing many creative designs that I have not seen before. Plus, the book is not that expensive.

I was very disappointed in this book due to the fact that the first 155 pages are devoted to a negative discourse on why amature, as well as professional rock art enthusiasts, are foolish and wrong in their attempts to make sense of, and understand what these ancients were trying to tell.

The second half of the book contains a very nice, brief description of the most well known rock art sites throughout the greater four corners area. The short descriptions are accompanied by well presented black and white photos representing type examples of petroglyphs in each area.

The book contains some useful information if one can glean it from the negative dialogue.

Barnes writes a book that is frustrating to read through and through because of its pervasive uncertainty. For Barnes, one can not know very much about Rock Art, the subject of his book. For beginners, Barnes questions the adequacy of the term "rock art." He finds it "flawed and semantically misleading." yet he uses the term anyhow.

Barnes fairs little better when making assertions. On page 58 he says that "it is possible to assign some canyon country rock art to particular prehistoric cultures." However Barnes obliges with only one sentence of details, a generalization which he then qualifies.

Barnes does not know who created the petroglyphs and pictographs of the Four Corners area. He does not know when they were created. He does not know to which culture they belong. Too much of Barnes' book is marred by his pervasive uncertainty. If I keep this book, it is only for the photographs.