The Chimneys petroglyphs

Summary: The Chimneys rock art site has pictographs and petroglyphs dated up to several thousand years old. They are located at the base of one of The Chimneys in Big Bend.

There is not much documented about the The Chimneys petroglyphs. Carved on one of the flat stone surfaces of the southern-most spire at The Chimneys in Big Bend National Park, they are relatively easy to access. (They are one of a number of ancient rock art within the national park; West Texas, including Big Bend, is said to have more native rock art than anywhere else in the Americas.)

Petroglyphts at The Chimneys (Big Bend National Park)

Two tribes traveled through the Big Bend area – Apache and Comanche – but most rock-art sites cannot be attributed to any one Indian group, with the drawings thought to have been done or added to by many different individuals. Both pictographs (painted images) and petroglyphs (images carved into rock) decorate the rock, the oldest of which are several thousand years old.

Petroglyphts at The Chimneys (Big Bend National Park)

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