CAPTION ONLY: WHOO-WHOO KNOWS MY MEANING?

A horned owl with eyes, perched alongside a large human figure and other creatures pecked long ago into a rock wall high above Kane Creek, is unique among petroglyphs in the Moab area, federal Bureau of Land Management archaeologist Julie Howard says. The owl is among numerous life-size petroglyphs found on some of the most dramatic panels in the West. Howard said the Kane Springs area contains rock art panels from the Basketmaker-Anasazi period, dating from 100 B.C.-500 A.D. Some prehistoric Indian ruins near the site are extremely eroded, but the panel and petroglyphs on several boulders in the area are still in pristine condition, probably because the site is not well-known and requires a moderately strenuous hike, Howard said. Researchers can only speculate on the meaning of the symbols, which could have served a religious function as well as communicating like newspapers do today.