McConkie Ranch, Vernal, UT

Beware the savage headhunters of Utah! Poppycock you say, there are no headhunters in Utah! Well technically you are right, there ARE no headhunters in Utah, but there WERE headhunters in the past and they left their telltale evidence in petroglyphs and pictographs at a place called McConkie Ranch. On a tour of a plethora of Fremont era petroglyph sites in northeast Utah we came upon this private ranch which has a bizarre and unbelievable story to tell on the tall sandstone rock faces that border the verdant meadows of the ranch.

Dating between 1-1200 A.D., these petroglyphs are not the kokopellis, deer hunts and mystical patterns you see carved into cliff faces of Colorado. No, they are “Classic Vernal Style” blocky, life-sized well-adorned tribal men and women happily showcasing the products of their hunting, but in this case, they hold in their hands bloody severed heads of their apparent enemies. How do I know they are bloody? Well, these are a combination of petroglyphs and pictographs, with red in particular being used quite obviously to depict blood still draining from their victim’s necks! What appears to be a flat altar for perhaps beheading victims is nearby the most gruesome of the images.

The images show long lines of tribe members each with a head in his/her hand, sometimes a head in each hand! Was this meant to be a warning to passers-by that they were not to hunt and stay in the valley below? Or were they more of a celebration of a bloody victory against their sworn enemies?

Odd images are interspersed amongst the headhunters, mythical chimeras, creepy alien-looking creatures (some in their own crafts), and disjoint feet and hands.

This area was researched by National Geographic in the 1980’s and carved in the stone or painted are cataloguing numbers right next to many of the images (odd for scientists back then to consider this a good practice that didn’t disturb and degrade the artwork).

As you progress along the ridge, images evolve into shields, suns, some deer hunt images, perhaps a map of the area and more mythical beasts. In one place, high on a rock is a man apparently stabbing a bear during a hunt. There are Ute petroglyphs interspersed along the way. Hopi influences also show in the big feet of many of the petroglyphs.

The most glorious image however on the ranch is a bit of a walk along the meadow paralleling the cliff face. Rock spires and a dark, deep cave on the side of the cliff conjures up images of a mysterious portal to another world.

Just about when you think you have run out of trail, there it is, the Three Kings Panel. Perched midway up on the side of a flat cliff face is an amazing combination pictograph/petroglyph which appears to display at least three “kings” (perhaps tribal leaders), one of whom is especially adorned and has a massive colorful shield at his side. Next to him, etched in a black part of the rock is what looks like a human skeleton. Could this be a funeral pyre location for great leaders of the tribe? The black stone almost looks charred black, like a large fire was burning there once. On the other side of the shield are two mythical half man/half animal creatures. Could these creatures be welcoming the spirit of the deceased leader to the afterlife?

I am perplexed that such an odd and unbelievable petroglyph record exists in the United States. The Fremont culture is not well understood or researched. Is it multiple tribes over hundreds of years? What is the relationship between these tribes and their cultures? The National Park Service has these tidbits of information:

The Fremont differed in several ways from their more famous contemporaries in the 11th to 14th centuries, the Ancestral Puebloan peoples who built Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. Four distinct artifacts set them apart: very unique “one rod and bundle” basketry construction, moccasins constructed from the hock of a deer or sheep leg, trapezoidal shaped figures found as clay figurines and in rock art, and the unique materials used to make their gray, coiled pottery.

Unlike native tribes before and after them, the Fremont were primarily sedentary. They built villages of pit houses with adobe structures to store food. They collected wild foods and hunted game, but also cultivated corn, beans, and squash using irrigation techniques. The presence of obsidian, turquoise, and shells show that the Fremont traded with distant villages.

Right, and what about the part about the head hunting? Hmm. The Navajo and Ute discovered the artifacts of the Fremont, but what do these images really mean? Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one, Occam’s razor, they were headhunters proudly displaying their bloody trophies.

Visiting the ranch is free, but a parking donation of $5 is requested. There are two different trails to take to see the petroglyphs, so if you go make sure you take both trails, it is worth it!