Shiprock, Bears Ears and Sacred Geography

Shiprock is a dramatic 7,177-foot-high rock mountain located in northwestern New Mexico about 20 miles southwest of the town of Shiprock. Geographically speaking, the rock reveals the exposed neck of a long vanished volcano that erupted over 30 million years ago and is easily recognized from a distance for its towering profile. To the Navajo people, Shiprock has greater significance than being known only as a geographical landmark.

The Navajo call Shiprock, “Tsé Bitʼa,” meaning Rock with Wings. From a distance, Shiprock looks like a large sitting bird with its wings folded to its sides. Legend says that a gigantic bird carried the Navajos from the icy northern lands to the Four Corners area. This story’s significance in placing the Diné (Navajo people) within their homeland is a core spiritual and cultural belief that allots Shiprock far greater meaning as a sacred landmark than one of only mere geographical interest. There are many examples of North American areas where prominent terrain and incredible geographic vistas intersect with Native American religious and historical beliefs. A Native American Omaha/Cherokee man I met last year refers to these areas as “Sacred Geography.”

His name is Taylor Keen. This past December, Taylor presented a fascinating lecture on Sacred Geography here at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Taylor is writing a book titled, Rediscovering America: Sacred Geography, the Ancient Earthen Works and the Real Story of America. Taylor’s lecture, and his book, discusses how ancient Native cultures used scientific methods to understand their world and their place within it. He gave an account of how ancient Native American people were highly sophisticated in intertwining religious belief with scientific understanding through awareness of the seasons and celestial movements. They demonstrated this understanding through their use of Sacred Geography.

According to Taylor, “Native peoples of the Americas, and their unique history, art, culture and cosmologies are the most misunderstood topic in these United States.” During his lecture, Taylor shared his experiences and scientific conclusions regarding Native people’s use of archaeoastronomy, sacred algebra, and algorithms in orienting and constructing earthen mounds used for religious, ceremonial, and burial purposes. At the conclusion of Taylor’s lecture, I began to see that the spiritual inspiration I feel through my lens when photographing our beautifully austere western landscapes is but one layer of a much deeper historical and scientific connection linking us to ancient civilizations and their Sacred Geography. I highly recommend attending one of Taylor’s lectures to those that might have a chance to do so.  Taylor is also heading an effort to preserve sacred seeds and the traditional planting ways of Native Americans.

Sadly, unbridled encroachment of our lands, including those considered ground zero for Sacred Geography, is proceeding at an unrelenting pace. In southeastern Utah, Bears Ears, a pair of buttes located in San Juan County, is sacred to multiple tribes as a century’s old gathering place for Native ceremonies. These buttes are threatened by mining, drilling, and vandalism and should be designated a National Monument to prevent further destruction. Short term economic considerations cannot continue to take a front seat over the significance of Sacred Geography. According to Richard Moe, who was president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation from 1993 to 2010, “Bears Ears represents the most important and intact array of unprotected cultural resources on federal land. And those resources are increasingly at risk — from looting, vandalism, off-road vehicles, grave robbing and the occasional carelessness of visitors.”

There is hope. A newly formed Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition comprised of Hopi, Navajo, Ute, Mountain Ute, Ouray Ute, Zuni, and Uintah Tribes has established a goal to conserve Bears Ears. The Coalition has proposed a U.S. Presidential National Monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906 that would so designate and protect this historical and sacred area. The Bears Ears Monument would encompass 1.9 million acres of starkly beautiful ancestral land on the Colorado Plateau that would permanently preserve this Sacred Geography for future generations.

In closing, I offer the thoughts of well known author, Terry Tempest Williams, who shares her perspective on the importance of Bears Ears. Tempest states, “…the Bears Ears National Monument proposal honors the deep residency of native peoples living inside the Colorado Plateau. The tribes are asking each of us to acknowledge an embodied intelligence born of the land that warrants as much respect and protection as the wilderness, itself. The Bears Ears National Monument Proposal has the potential to transform Utah’s rancorous politics of place into an ethic of place for generations to come.”

For those wanting to help preserve Sacred Geography while adding their voice to designating Bears Ears a National Monument, you can make your wishes known here.

This photo was taken in the spring of 2015 with an infrared converted Nikon 7100, then processed in photoshop with Nik filters and Flypaper Textures.