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Anasazi left no written record behind them. According to Native American tradition, however, they drew pictures on the walls of the canyons, referred to as pictographs.

On a pictograph in Canyon de Chelly, human figures are depicted with livestock, or game, which would also have been affected by the drought-like conditions. There is a pictograph near the Canyon del Muerto, however, that depicts a celestial event that the Anasazi considered significant enough to record prior to departing from the Chaco Canyon region forever.

The fact that the Anasazi were skilled astronomers is not disputed, even though no one knows it they developed these skills on their own or imported the skills as a by-product of the trade that they conducted. The pictograph that was left behind shows two human figures, one with hands extended towards the sky, underneath three objects in the sky. The three objects are drawn next to a natural incline on the face of the rock wall, which may have been done to illustrate a point.

The celestial object at the highest point along the incline is colored yellow, like the sun, but deliberately flattened along the top, probably to emphasize the brightness of the object and to designate that it is not the sun. In keeping with this, an object appears in the center of the yellow area, the object responsible for the yellow which surrounds it. The rounded portion of the yellow is surrounded by another circle. The outer circle may have designated motion, indicating that this was a slowly, steadily moving object.

The center celestial object along the incline is a very small object with four circles around it, which may have indicated a rapidly moving object. It is this object which has been given the greatest emphasis by the artist, who deeply emphasized the lines around it, giving it a certain prominence. The lowest celestial object appears almost like the moon and has four circles around it as well.

The entire pictograph occurs alongside what is possibly an earlier version of this event, one which was somewhat "erased" from the wall, similar to erasing something from a blackboard, in order to change what is on it. The "erased" pictograph depicts two small objects with circles surrounding them on either side of an object that resembles the moon, which is simply depicted without extra circles surrounding it.

It appears that, perhaps, the petroglyphs, which the Anasazi left behind, may corroborate the tale of Gervase of Canterbury, by indicating a meteor strike on the moon, prior to the climate change which required the Anasazi to move from its home after approximately 7,000 years of habitation. Their departure is known to have occurred during this time period. Since the Anasazi left no written records, it is open to interpretation. That the Anasazi would have left the petroglyph behind them, during the period immediately following the incident of the tale of Gervase, however, is an extremely intriguing concept.

Learn more about this author, Peggy Barnett.
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