Barrier Canyon Style
Thousands of Years of Painting on Rock

Phil Geib (Author), Goodloe Suttler (By (photographer))

9781647691998

Hardback, published 30 April 2025

220 pages, 122 color illustrations
27.3 x 20.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.454 kg

“A significant contribution; the only book of its kind. The many high-quality photos greatly enhance the book. The author is very careful and well-schooled in dating techniques.”—Joel Janetski, professor emeritus, Brigham Young University
 
“A useful volume for rock art enthusiasts, those with an interest in the natural and cultural history of the northern Colorado Plateau, and a general reference for archaeologists and other historical social scientists working in the region.”—Jody Patterson, Montgomery Archaeological Consultants

Barrier Canyon Style (BCS), primarily composed of Indigenous American pictographs that have survived for thousands of years in the canyon country of eastern Utah and far western Colorado, is among the most visually stunning pictograph traditions in the world. This excellent reference, featuring over one hundred photographs, is the first to focus solely on the art and its context.

Barrier Canyon Style begins with a vicarious tour of twenty of the most important BCS sites. High-quality photographs by Goodloe Suttler accompany text by Phil R. Geib, an expert in rock imagery and archaic time-period archaeology. The volume provides explanations of motif classifications and their meanings, as well as details on the chronology of human occupation in the area, the array of techniques used by Native people to leave marks upon rock surfaces, and a consideration of styles and subject matter observable in these artworks.