Possible Elk Pictographs

[AZhuntingfamily]

I came across this piece of land forsale near overgard and it showed some pics of what looks to be Elk Pictographs on the property.....you be the judge

[.270]

I think it's a nontypical "eastern" whitetail cave deer. Lark

[ready2hunt]

That's awesome. I love history and seeing stuff like that.

 

If its not an elk then this shatters G&F's theory that there are better trophy class mule deer now than in the past haha

[billrquimby]

AZhuntingfamily:

 

I'm not certain the early artist was trying to depict an elk. He simply could have gotten carried away in wanting to show a mule deer with exceptional antlers. I say this because even though the animal's main beams go to the rear, as do elk antlers, nearly all of the tines are forked.

 

I'm guessing it probably isn't an elk because "elk" pictographs are extremely rare here. I know of just two others that "experts" say show elk in Arizona. One is on a large rock found near Grasshopper and is clearly a mule deer. The other, like the one you've posted, could go either way.

 

Bil Quimby

 

 

[wildwoody]

Very cool, do you think its real? And if it is they would be the Merriam's elk, went extinct in erealy 1900's they were native to az and had some big racks, theres an 8x8 at the R Bar : boy scout camp on one of the cabins. Looks real to me from pics

[jonscaife]

Hybrid.

[couesmagnet]

Super cool. Can you imagine sitting over a spring nearby with a sharpened 6 foot stick back then.

[billrquimby]

Here's the rock many claim shows an elk in Arizona. The other photo is of modern jewelry based on a petroglyph of elk in Colorado, I think.

 

[billrquimby]

Oops. Looks like the jewelry art didn't come across. Here it is (I hope). There's no doubt it was based on prehistoric art the artist meant to show an elk. I'm convinced the rock I posted has a mule deer on it, not an elk.

 

Although I won't say there never were Merriam elk in Arizona, I will say there should be a heck of a lot more archaeological evidence proving they were more than just a rare visitor here, if at all.

 

I'm not a scientist, but my limited search for "evidence" shows fewer than a dozen sets of Merriam elk antlers are claimed to have come from here. More importantly, only a very few elk-bone tools have been found in Arizona digs (and these could have been carried here by traders) and there are even fewer pictographs and petroglyphs clearly depicting elk.

 

Bill Quimby

[elkaholic]

unless proven different - I go with elk ! nice find

[billrquimby]

"unless proven different - I go with elk ! nice find"

 

 

Show me an elk with forks on every tine and I'll agree with you.

 

 

Bill Quimby

 

[Tucson John]

Bill, show us the jewelry!

[.270]

From what I've seen, these guys ain't the best artists and they also seemed to embellish their stuff a bunch. If folks did it today we'd call it graffiti. Case in point, I've seen dozens of stick figgers people whittled into rocks with weiners on em. Most of em past their knees. I think they were adding a little. Might be the same with this. Only 2 things I ever saw that really looked what they were meant to be was a quail and a mountain lion. They were quite good and both are painted, not scratched, on the roof of a small cave. Lark

[Titanium700]

Aww they're just pre-camera hero pics.

 

Pretty cool.

I'd love to find something like that too.

[6ANut]

Sweet find there thanks for sharing