Sinagua Sunwatchers: An Archaeoastronomy Survey of the V-V Heritage Site

By Kenneth J. Zoll. The results of Zoll's year-long study of the remains of Sinagua petroglyphs on the property of the old V-V Ranch outside of Sedona (now a National Park Service Heritage Site). The Southern Sinagua created the rock art petroglyphs at V-Bar-V sometime during their use of the site between A.D. 900 and 1400. Seasonal calendars were a foundation of early cultures to identify the time for hunting and gathering, planting and harvesting, worshiping and celebrating.  Solar seasonal calendars have been identified at Anasazi sites in Arizona and New Mexico, at Hohokam sites in the Phoenix region, and at Northern Sinagua locations near Flagstaff, Arizona.  While there have been anecdotal reporting of rock art with solar significance within Southern Sinagua areas, none had been documented prior to Zoll's study.

Archaeological research suggests that the area surrounding the V-Bar-V site was used extensively for agricultural purposes.  This survey strongly suggests the presence of an agrarian and ceremonial calendar covering the equinoxes, the solstices, and the times for early and full corn planting, as well as times for other ceremonial events important to the culture of the time.  The use of multiple astronomical images for each calendar marking greatly reduces the probability that such markings were chance occurrences.  The intricate geometry presented by the marking events is too exact to discount.

SINAGUA SUNWATCHERS is a well-documented to the staggering array of petroglyphs found at the V-V site. Diagrams and black-and-white photos support his conclusions. A must for serious students of prehistoric southwest culture.

Softcover; 85 pages.