FORKS, WASHINGTON—Last year, Erik Wasankari and his son Reid were on a fishing trip when they discovered a petroglyph on a 1,000-pound rock in the Calawah River. The carvings are thought to date to the early eighteenth century, and may depict figures from Quileute mythology. K’wati, a figure of good, transformed the Quileutes from wolves into people and killed the Red Lizard, who “was a very bad monster,” according to Quileute Tribal Councilman Justin “Rio” Jaime. Lee Stilson, a retired state archaeologist, and Eugene Jackson, a Quileute tribal member, think the rock could have served as a trail marker that moved downstream. “On the 1893 General Land Office map, they show a trail here,” Stilson told The Seattle Times. Stilson helped to authenticate the carving, which had been made with stone tools.
Quileute Petroglyph Discovered in Washington
News December 11, 2014
Recommended Articles
Off the Grid March/April 2021
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Texas
Off the Grid March/April 2016
Côa Valley, Portugal
Off the Grid January/February 2025
Tzintzuntzan, Mexico
-
Features November/December 2014
The Neolithic Toolkit
How experimental archaeology is showing that Europe's first farmers were also its first carpenters
(Courtesy Rengert Elburg, Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen) -
Features November/December 2014
The Ongoing Saga of Sutton Hoo
A region long known as a burial place for Anglo-Saxon kings is now yielding a new look at the world they lived in
(© The Trustees of the British Museum/Art Resource) -
Letter From Montana November/December 2014
The Buffalo Chasers
Vast expanses of grassland near the Rocky Mountains bear evidence of an extraordinary ancient buffalo hunting culture
(Maria Nieves Zedeño) -
Artifacts November/December 2014
Ancient Egyptian Ostracon
(Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL, UC15946)