The Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project has the largest concentration of historic petroglyphs in New Mexico, and unlike most archaeological sites of this magnitude, it's assured that they will remain both protected and accessible to all.
Located just north of the town of Española, a team of 37 volunteers working year-round are charged with charting and preserving these inestimable treasures for future generations, while making them educational tools to anyone with a curious mind. Mesa Prieta's series of public education and outreach programs such as a monthly lecture series (Pláticas) and curriculum tailored to local 4th graders, both of which detail the history of the site's estimated 75,000 images scattered through its 12-mile landmass.
First recorded by Jay and Helen Crotty of the New Mexico Archaeological Society's Rock Art Field School from 1993 to 1994, private land then owned by Katherine Wells was donated to the Archaeological Conservancy in 2007. Tasked with documenting this irreplaceable link to the past since 1999, the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project joined forces with the Crottys to begin hand-documenting the tens of thousands of petroglyphs – before the advent of GPS and handy technological devices to keep track of progress – by slowly gathering permissions and maps. Since those times, thousands of volunteer hours have been logged, bringing the total number of documented artifacts to over 50,000.
Born of ancient lava flows dating back to sometime around 3.3 million years ago, the basalt boulders of Mesa Prieta hold other secrets that are still unfolding in addition to its astounding assortment of rock drawings. Spared the ravaging of more conveniently located sites like Petroglyphs National Monument, here early water management systems, hidden shrines, ceramics, field houses and more are still being discovered regularly.
In keeping with their nonprofit mission, tours of the Wells Petroglyph Preserve begin at the base of the mesa – which has over 40,000 images alone – and are available through a series of presentations, summer youth intern programs, and a STEM-based school curriculum that typically take place during the spring and fall. Private tours can be scheduled ahead of time, in addition to randomly scheduled public tours hosted by the Project throughout the summer months.