Petroglyphs - Art and Science meet at Withers Canyon

On my last full day, I decided to try a new tactic to find the elusive bobcat.  I went to the canyon walls and hiked down a little ways so that I could look back up on the walls.  This gave me the advantage of searching the nooks and crannies for signs of bobcats.
I found numerous potential dens.  Somewhere in the vicinity of 25 of them.  Then on closer scrutiny I started seeing a pattern in the petroglyphs.  I saw the shape of a cats head.  The obvious triangular ears and sloped face.  I took into account that I have no education into petroglyphs and originally they appeared to me to be works of abstract art.  Much like looking at clouds and seeing the shapes you want to see.  So I approached using the scientific method.  I began looking for observational confirmation and patterns.  Besides the ears, I noticed pairs of eyes.  At first they seemed like random holes in the rock but after awhile I saw the pattern.  One must also take into effect several factors when examining ancient art that is exposed to the elements.  First, this isn't an etch and sketch pad that can be drawn on and erased. So many times carvings appeared on top of other carvings. Secondly, these drawings weren't made in a protected cave.  They are outdoors, in the rain, snow and sun.  They are subject to getting wet, freezing and thawing, causing the rock to crumble away in places.  What the original Indian artist did was to carve through the dark surface to the lighter colored stone underneath.  Alot like kids using crayons to color a piece of paper, then covering all that with a black crayon, then etching stick figures to reveal the crayon colors underneath.  Many times the top layer of the stone, through time, broke away, sometimes in parts.
Below are examples of what I found.  Use your judgement to see if you agree.  Click on the photo to enlarge.  Sometimes you can click again to further enlarge.  In many photos I circle or point arrows to direct your attention to petroglyphs I saw.
When viewing the photos pay attention to eyes and ears.  There are several places I didn't mark potential bobcat petroglyphs.
One of the best pictures. Seems to show the scruff on the 'cheeks' of the bobcat.

Petroglyph of bobcat either attacking prey or inadvertently damaged.  Found on giant boulder on the ground close to bus.

Eyes and ears.

Bobcat den

Multiple potential identifiers as a bobcat dwelling

Arrows pointing to ears

Potential Bobcat den

 Far off view of potential den and petroglyphics

 Potential den

Probably petroglyphs marked.  Lots of unmarked 'pairs of eyes' in this photo.

 Potential petroglyphs around good den location.  Note the ears and eyes again

 Two possible dens.

Upper left side of photo.  Do you see some petroglyphs not circled?

Can you see a cat face here without help?

 Eyes, Head shapes and combinations of both.  Some overlap.

Now I don't pretend to know what all these carvings meant.  My guesses range from warning to worship to mere identification of bobcat area.  But put together with all my other evidence...cat sighting, bobcat prints and droppings, known bobcat area.  Also, perhaps back in the day, mountain lions were more prevalent and dominated these hills and that is what these are drawings of.
Also different Indian nations had different ways of drawing and meanings of drawings.  A quick Google search found no similar petroglyph drawings for either bobcat or mountain lion.  Also, after this trip into the canyon I met a couple of researchers from the Federal Grasslands Management.  I told them of my bobcat sighting and my interpretation of the nearby petroglyphs.  The guy in the passenger seat, doing his best old time psychiatrist impersonation, said  "Sooo, you see cats in the drawings".  I felt like responding "Yeah, does that mean I have the virility of a Puma?"
I am seriously considering trying to get in touch with the local archaeologist and asking for a guided tour to discuss the drawings to see if my theory holds water.  And perhaps learn a little more about something I almost dismissed as too abstract and deteriorated.  Indian history just jumped up a few notches on the interesting stick.
This latest discovery did nothing to cool my passion to find out more about this smallest of the big cats.