Sugar Grove Petroglyph Site (36GR5) | |
Location | Off Pennsylvania Route 88, 0.7 miles (1.1 km) south of its bridge over Whiteley Creek in Monongahela Township [1] : 115 |
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Nearest city | Masontown, Pennsylvania |
Coordinates | 39°49′36″N79°57′40″W / 39.82667°N 79.96111°W |
Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
NRHP reference No. | 86000476 [2] |
Added to NRHP | March 20, 1986 |
The Sugar Grove Petroglyphs are a group of petroglyphs in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located on an outcrop of sandstone in Monongahela Township near the eastern edge of Greene County, the petroglyphs have been known since at least the 1930s. Due to their value as an archaeological site, the petroglyphs have been named a historic site.
It is certain that the Sugar Grove Petroglyphs are the work of a Native American people, although the cultural affiliation of their creators is unknown. Among the cultures that archaeologists have seen as possible creators are the Monongahela or Fort Ancient, both of which are known to have inhabited the upper portions of the Ohio River valley. [3] : 4 In his 1974 monograph Rock Art of the Upper Ohio Valley, petroglyph specialist James L. Swauger argued for a Monongahela-related and proto-Shawnee identity of the creators; this conclusion he drew from the presence of carvings that he interpreted as representations of Ojibwe religious subjects. Although the Ojibwe never inhabited southwestern Pennsylvania, Swauger believed that the ancestors of the Shawnee shared these subjects as part of a common cultural heritage. [1] : 112
The petroglyphs were carved into the flat portion of a large outcrop of Dunkard-series sandstone; [1] : 67 it rises somewhat more than 4 feet (1.2 m) above the ground on its western side, but its other edges are level with the floor of the surrounding woodland. The petroglyphs are confined to a roughly square area of the stone that measures approximately 23 feet (7.0 m) on each side, [1] : 68 although most appear on the eastern side and center of this area. [1] : 68
Forty-eight different carvings are present on the sandstone; although most are Native American artwork, a few have been added by vandals since European settlement of southwestern Pennsylvania. [1] : 68 Swauger grouped the designs into six categories, [3] : 2 as follows: [1] : 68–69
Category | Number of carvings |
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Abstract designs | 23 |
Birds and footprints | 10 |
Complete and partial human figures | 8 |
Animals and footprints | 4 |
Arrows | 2 |
Nut-cracking holes | 1 |
Identification of the various designs has been complicated by erosion; some designs, especially those that are clustered closely together, have deteriorated and are thus difficult to classify conclusively. Among the most difficult are the carvings that were identified as bird tracks; they may have originally been abstract designs or arrowheads. [1] : 69 Likewise, many abstract designs may have been created as identifiable designs, with their present conditions being the result of vandalism, later Native American carvings, or erosion. The most distinctive image on the rock is a large, almost circular animal that appears to be swallowing its tail; due to its unique shape and great size [its diameter is approximately 5 feet (1.5 m)], it has been seen as the most important single petroglyph at the site. [1] : 70 It has been claimed that the site was damaged by quarrying circa 1950, but the only damage visible in a 1960 survey was small bits of stone that had been chipped away, possibly by vandals attempting to remove individual carvings. [1] : 68 A 1982 survey discovered that the site had not changed since the 1960 survey. [3] : 2
Locals have long known the petroglyphs as the "Picture Rocks;" [3] : 2 its original scholarly recognition was under this name, producing confusion in archaeological records after the site was separately recorded under the name of "Sugar Grove Petroglyphs." [1] : 68 The first appearance of the Sugar Grove Petroglyphs in scholarly literature was no later than 1931, when they were given a short appearance in an archaeological survey of adjacent Fayette County. More detailed surveys in 1934 and 1950 led respectively to the publication of detailed drawings of the designs and to formal recognition as an archaeological site. [3] : 2
Finding preservation of the designs to be a priority, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History arranged for the production of plaster casts of the designs during the twentieth century. [3] : 2 Sugar Grove has been seen as one of western Pennsylvania's most important petroglyph sites: although it is smaller than many others, its location has spared it from the fate of many waterside petroglyphs that have been submerged by the construction of major dams, and it has suffered less vandalism than many other sites that occupy dry ground. [3] : 4
In recognition of their archaeological value, the Sugar Grove Petroglyphs were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. They are one of four petroglyph sites in Pennsylvania to have received this designation, along with the Indian God Rock in Venango County, the Francis Farm Petroglyphs in Fayette County, and the Big and Little Indian Rock Petroglyphs in Lancaster County. [2]
Jefferson Township is a township in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,007 at the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 2,008 tabulated in 2010. It is named for former president Thomas Jefferson, and many of the township's streets are named after other U.S. presidents. Frazier School District serves the area.
Monongahela Township is a township in Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,483 at the 2020 census, down from 1,572 at the 2010 census.
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images. Petroglyphs, estimated to be 20,000 years old are classified as protected monuments and have been added to the tentative list of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Petroglyphs are found worldwide, and are often associated with prehistoric peoples. The word comes from the Greek prefix petro-, from πέτρα petra meaning "stone", and γλύφω glýphō meaning "carve", and was originally coined in French as pétroglyphe.
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Redstone Old Fort — or Redstone Fort or Fort Burd — on the Nemacolin Trail, was the name of the French and Indian War-era wooden fort built in 1759 by Pennsylvania militia colonel James Burd to guard the ancient Indian trail's river ford on a mound overlooking the eastern shore of the Monongahela River in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania, near, or on the banks of Dunlap's Creek at the confluence. The site is unlikely to be the same as an earlier fort the French document as Hangard dated to 1754 and which was confusedly, likely located on the nearby stream called Redstone Creek. Red sandstones predominate the deposited rock column of the entire region.
The Monongahela culture were an Iroquoian Native American cultural manifestation of Late Woodland peoples from AD 1050 to 1635 in present-day Western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia. The culture was named by Mary Butler in 1939 for the Monongahela River, whose valley contains the majority of this culture's sites.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Michigan. The park, also known as ezhibiigadek asin consists of 240 acres (97 ha) in Greenleaf Township, Sanilac County, in Michigan's Thumb. It contains the largest collection of Native American petroglyphs in Michigan. The carvings were created in the pre-Columbian era and represent aspects of Native American spirituality. An interpretive hiking trail within the park passes along the nearby Cass River.
Fountain Bluff is a large, isolated range of hills located in the floodplain of the Mississippi River, on the river's east bank in Fountain Bluff Township, Illinois. Its unusual geographic location was a result of glaciation during the previous Ice Age. It is known for its high steep sandstone cliffs along the river, its biodiversity and abundant Native American rock art.
The Prehistory of West Virginia spans ancient times until the arrival of Europeans in the early 17th century. Hunters ventured into West Virginia's mountain valleys and made temporary camp villages since the Archaic period in the Americas. Many ancient human-made earthen mounds from various mound builder cultures survive, especially in the areas of Moundsville, South Charleston, and Romney. The artifacts uncovered in these areas give evidence of a village society with a tribal trade system culture that included limited cold worked copper. As of 2009, over 12,500 archaeological sites have been documented in West Virginia.
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Indian God Rock is a large boulder in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near the unincorporated community of Brandon, it lies along the Allegheny River in Venango County's Rockland Township. It is significant for the large petroglyph on one of its sides. Because of the petroglyph, the rock has been an explorers' landmark, a tourist attraction, and an object of scholarly investigation.
The Francis Farm Petroglyphs are a group of petroglyphs in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located on a boulder in Jefferson Township in the northwestern portion of Fayette County, it has been known to archaeologists since at least the middle of the nineteenth century. Despite damage in the 1930s, it remains an important archaeological site, and accordingly, it has been designated a historic site.
James L. Swauger was an American archaeologist known for his work on the petroglyphs of the Ohio River valley of the United States. A native of West Newton in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, he moved to the Pittsburgh suburb of Edgewood in his youth; there he lived for most of the rest of his life.
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