We live in Tlingit Aaní on Kaachxaan.akw’w where our petroglyphs are a symbol of home. These rocks are estimated to be between 8,000 and 10,000 years old, a reminder of Tlingit habitation. This old art form was practiced by my children and grandchildren’s ancestors. Koot’éx’, petroglyphs, marked important fishing sites, river and streams or settlements, perhaps marked shamanic passages and ceremonies.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
In the year 2000, Petroglyph Beach became a State Historic Site. This beach has the highest concentration of rock art in Southeast Alaska. There’re 40 glyphs or more in this location.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Located about a mile from town, Wrangell’s Petroglyph Beach is a familiar place for locals to walk and be present with etched faces, trickster Raven, and the rhythm of tide. It’s a contemplative place. If you need answers, or are troubled, you can visit Petroglyph Beach. The mystery of this place makes you feel not so alone in the universe.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Concentric circles, a salmon, shaman faces, the sun, old man heron are carved by Tlagu Kwáanx’i—ancient ones.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Artists used the natural shape of the rock to inspire their carvings on boulders and bedrock outcroppings. I touch the spiral. My finger follows the spiral indentation around and around. The rock presses deep with the weight of tidal memory. Starfish and limpets cling to its sides. Water, waves and light create a moving image. Was the artist a woman or a man? Maybe he carved the spiral shape of the humpback’s bubble-net or the river’s whirlpools, a shaman’s eyes, the Milky Way, or time.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t I stand up from my contemplation and walk along picking up seaglass. Beyond the last ridge of petroglyphs is the old garbage dump. Colonizers bookended the glyphs with their fuel storage facility and the dump. Remnants from the dump — glass, pottery, odd objects, and wood—still wash up and down the shoreline toward the Wintering Place, Zimovia Strait.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Vivian Faith Prescott \/ For the Capital City Weekly \n Tree debris and dirt cover the petroglyphs at Petroglyph Beach State Historic Site.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Time whorls through tide and blue mussels and across the spiral carved into the rock.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t 2016:<\/strong> My friend Kersten and I walk down the boardwalk to the beach below. We stroll along the first stretch of sand locating the glyphs, but as we head toward the rock ridge, we pause in disbelief. A large pile of tree branches, dirt, and roots covers my favorite spiral and face petroglyphs in front of the ridge. It appears the house next door has cut down spruce trees and the debris pile, a dump truck or two’s worth, piles high atop the glyphs. We spend the next hour dragging and heaving tree trunks and branches down closer to the tideline. We have no way to remove the dirt so we must rely on a higher tide to sweep it away.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Making a rubbing from a replica at Petroglyph Beach State Historic Site. Making a rubbing from original glyphs is illegal. (Vivian Faith Prescott \/ For the Capital City Weekly)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Humans have often disrespected the petroglyphs. As a kid, I was taught to make rubbings. On my wall is a framed petroglyph colored green. Long ago, a relative made the glyph by using ferns and butcher paper to make a rubbing, a common local practice before people realized it was harming the glyphs and before the area became an official historical site. Now there are replicas atop the observation platform for visitors to use for their rubbings.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t I find plastic juice bottles, beer cans, potato chip bags, and candy wrappers atop the petroglyphs. We’ve cleaned dog poop up by glyphs near the upper tide line. People use clam shells, sticks, and rocks to scratch around the glyphs so they can see them better. The rock art has also been tagged with spray paint.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
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