Leonards Basin and Palmer Gulch Rock Art Assessment

This work addresses the re-evaluation, documentation, interpretation, and management plan of rock art sites in Leonards Basin, (5DT64 and 5DT68) and Palmer Gulch, (sites 5DT53, and 5DT1690 to 1694). The study areas are found in two western drainages of the Gunnison River north of Delta, Colorado.

Leonards Basin has two sites with a variety of petroglyphs and scratched images. They form a homogeneous style and are of the Proto-historic and Historic Ute eras. Palmer Gulch consists of 6 sites over 3 miles up the drainage consisting of petroglyphs pecked in either shallow sandstone rock shelters or on a cliff face. The petroglyphs span a range of style and age estimations that include late Archaic, Formative, Proto-historic and Historic Ute eras. The interpretive discussion of these panels is based on regional ethnographic information of Ute culture. More specific element identifications given by Ute elder, Clifford Duncan provide a personal perspective on one site.