Cave Pterodactyl

More than just a name, Black Dragon Canyon is a spectacular place. There are prehistoric cave paintings in the area that date back to between the years 1 and 1100 and were produced by the Fremont culture. It has been discussed for some time as to what the pictures on the wall, which were drawn in a type of red ink, might be. Are they real people? Animals? Or perhaps a pterodactyl—one of the most widely held theories?

As odd a question as it may seem, one of the drawings showed a gigantic bird-like monster with enormous wings and a long neck that unmistakably resembled a Jurassic Park inhabitant. The obvious issue that followed was how someone in Utah a few thousand years ago would have recognized what a pterodactyl looked like.

After the 1928 discovery of the artwork, there was much conjecture regarding the nature of the picture for many years. In 2015, it was discovered that the image was actually 5 different images that were overlapping with the use of some x-ray fluorescence and a cutting-edge piece of software that can help distinguish pigments. It turned out to be many animals and a human-like person, proving that the Fremont people had not actually traveled to the Land of the Lost.