This week I want to share with you some of the more curious petroglyphs at the Shavano Valley Petroglyph site near Montrose, Colorado.
Let’s start with this “butterfly next to a plant” glyph. The “plant” is actually a tree motif. The cosmic tree, according to Ute cosmology, has three roots that penetrate the Underworld and the fork at the top penetrates the Sky World. This motif is recreated on the “butterfly” to the right and looks like its body. The “wings” of the butterfly are actually the five levels of the Ute cosmos–the sky world, upper world, center world, lower world, and under world. The levels are curved just as the horizon appears to the viewer.
