Scattered amid the prairie grasses are islands of Sioux quartzite outcroppings that span 23 miles, across Cottonwood County. The Red Rock Ridge is made of rock more than 1.6 billion years old. On some of the Sioux quartzite you’ll find carvings, or petrolyphs, created about 7000 years ago by American Indians. There are carvings of humans, deer, elk, buffalo, turtles, thunderbirds, atlatls and arrows. America Indians fell the land is spiritual as they believe rock formations emerging from the earth provide a link between the spiritual and physical woulds. This is why they chose this place to record vision, stories and events.
Images from Jeffers Petroglyphs
Jim Kersten with his daughter, viewing one of more than 2000 carvings.
A carving of a turtle.
