{"id":8002,"date":"2015-08-26T08:42:16","date_gmt":"2015-08-26T14:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=8002"},"modified":"2015-08-26T08:42:16","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T14:42:16","slug":"medicine-rocks-hold-eerie-beauty-countless-inscriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/08\/medicine-rocks-hold-eerie-beauty-countless-inscriptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicine Rocks hold eerie beauty, countless inscriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-8002\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"8002-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-3-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-3-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Morning light casts a golden glow on sandstone formations at Medicine Rocks State Park near Ekalaka. Click on the arrow at top right for more photos.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-holeinrock-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-holeinrock-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Wind and water have sculpted the sandstone hoodoos into all kinds of strange shapes.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Horse-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Horse-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A horse, of course.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Ashtyn-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Ashtyn-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Tim Urbaniak said hearts are the most common motif at the park. This one was carved for (or possibly by) someone named Ashtyn.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-elk-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-elk-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Among the handful of pre-contact Native American petroglyphs on the site is this depiction of an elk.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide6\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-1-1-of-1-771x459.jpg*771*459\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-1-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Another view of the Medicine Rocks at dawn.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-horizon-1-of-1-771x539.jpg*771*539\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-horizon-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Similar outcroppings of sandstone are visible in the distance, well outside the park boundaries.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide8\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Jesus-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Jesus-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A rather wordy religious appeal.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide9\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-NateKirsten-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-NateKirsten-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Nathan Carroll explores a tunnel in the rocks. Below is Kirsten Johnson.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide10\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-peace-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-peace-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>More than a few people carved peace signs into the rock.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide11\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Medicine-Hettinger-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Medicine-Hettinger-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>What else do you need to know?<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide12\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Medicine-brands-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Medicine-brands-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Brands are a common sight at Medicine Rocks State Park.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide13\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-2-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-2-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The beauty of the Medicine Rocks can take your breath away.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide14\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-pockmark-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-pockmark-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The relatively soft sandstone is constantly being sculpted by the elements.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide15\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Doug-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Doug-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Doug must have gone to quite a bit of trouble to carve his name so deeply into the rock.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide16\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Grace-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Grace-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Another religious inscription.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide17\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-ranCH-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-ranCH-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A distant ranch is visible behind a notch in the Medicine Rocks.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide18\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-treeembed-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-treeembed-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>It's easy to see where a tree was once embedded in the sandstone.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide19\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-wacker-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-wacker-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>In some places the rock faces are thick with names.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide20\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Yucca-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Yucca-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Yucca in the foreground, more Medicine Rocks in the background.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide21\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Wazup-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Wazup-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>We have a feeling that this inscription is not ancient.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide22\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Medicine-mother-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Medicine-mother-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Amid a welter of names, an elaborate \"Mother.\"<\/p><\/div><div id=\"8002-slide23\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Medicine-names-hole-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Medicine-names-hole-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>More names, and one hole in the wall.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 8002, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/08\/medicine-rocks-hold-eerie-beauty-countless-inscriptions\/', 23 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>MEDICINE ROCKS STATE PARK \u2014 There is a double allure at this remote 330-acre park in the southeast corner of Montana.<\/p>\n<p>One\u2014the obvious one that would seem to comport with the traditional notion of a state park\u2014has to do with the rocks themselves. They are beautiful and majestic, in some cases haunting, wind-sculpted spires of sandstone or great hulking blocks full of arches, tunnels, caves and deep pockmarks.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>You can understand why Native Americans considered it a vision quest site, a place of \u201cbig medicine,\u201d and you can understand why another visitor, Theodore Roosevelt, said it was \u201cas fantastically beautiful a place as I have ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The other allure is somewhat more problematic. It raises questions similar to the one being debated in Billings and other cities: Is it art or is it graffiti?<\/p>\n<p>At Medicine Rocks, the sandstone formations are covered with an estimated 15,000 inscriptions, from Native American petroglyphs that predate European contact to last week\u2019s declaration of eternal love on the part of local teenagers.<\/p>\n<p>Technically, carving anything on the rocks is prohibited, but Tom Shoush, a park ranger at Makoshika State Park in Glendive who puts in about 100 hours a year at Medicine Rocks, said he\u2019d be happy if modern visitors would just be careful not to damage any earlier inscriptions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou simply can\u2019t stop it, nor could you 100 years ago,\u201d Shoush said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8027\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-8027 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-ship-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"Ship\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henry Jensen&#8217;s ship is Tim Urbaniak&#8217;s favorite historical inscription in the park.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Shoush and Tim Urbaniak both drew analogies with Pompeys Pillar, which became a National Monument because William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, carved his name there in 1806.<\/p>\n<p>Urbaniak, a drafting and design instructor at MSU Billings\u2019 City College, has done extensive research on historic inscriptions, including a complete survey at Medicine Rocks over the course of two summers.<\/p>\n<p>He mentioned <a href=\"http:\/\/billingsgazette.com\/news\/local\/pompeys-pillar-monument-vandalism-covered-up-sort-of\/article_4d3498d5-d76e-5b9d-afa2-d0de607cfbab.html\">the Minnesotan who carved his and his wife\u2019s name <\/a>on the sandstone monument a few feet from Clark\u2019s signature in 2013. The man was later identified and paid a $1,000 fine for misdemeanor vandalism and $3,400 in restitution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefine irony,\u201d Urbaniak said. \u201cGetting fined for carving your name on a place famous for being a place where someone carved his name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is also worth noting, Urbaniak said, that Clark himself chose to carve his name over a Native American red ochre pictograph. For that matter, Urbaniak said, Indians themselves often created rock art on top of existing art.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould you call that vandalism?\u201d he asked. \u201cWould you call that territorial control? Would you call that cultural change?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>Urbaniak said the thousands of inscriptions at Medicine Rocks are a \u201ccontinuous chronology\u201d of visitors to the site and a record of the times in which people carved them. They help tell the story of pre-contact Indians, white explorers, early homesteaders, pioneers moving west and cattle ranchers.<\/p>\n<p>Among the inscriptions are detailed depictions of people, animals and ships, cattle brands, Masonic symbols, peace signs, inspirational sayings, religious exhortations and no end of hearts, which Urbaniak called \u201cthe No. 1 symbol out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I went to the park last week with Nathan Carroll, the dinosaur researcher <a href=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/2015\/08\/dinosaur-researcher-hunts-for-ancient-amber-near-ekalaka\/\">featured Tuesday<\/a> on Last Best News, and Kirsten Johnson, an MSU film graduate who was doing marketing work for the Carter County Museum in Ekalaka this summer. The park is 10 miles north of Ekalaka and 25 miles south of Baker on the west side of Highway 7.<\/p>\n<p>It is classed as a primitive park, with 12 camping sites, picnic tables, fire rings and vault toilets. For water, there is a hand pump just inside the entrance.<\/p>\n<p>We got there after dark on a warm, clear night and awoke the next morning to the yipping of coyotes. The sun was still quite low on the horizon, bathing the sandstone hoodoos, as freestanding rock formations are called, in a beautiful golden light, mixed with shades of red and orange.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8028\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-8028 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Viet-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"Viet\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Viet-1-of-1.jpg 771w, https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-Viet-1-of-1-336x224.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the most elaborate carvings in the park is this Vietnam-era tribute, apparently, to a fallen soldier.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In three or four hours of traipsing around the park, we saw only one other person, in addition to a border collie posted outside a pickup, evidently waiting for the return of his human.<\/p>\n<p>A park brochure explained how the formations were formed about 61 millions ago, when the area around Ekalaka would have been part of a swampy, forested region that sat on the margins of a great inland sea. Slow-moving rivers full of silt flowed through these marshlands, and some of the sediment was deposited as sand bars.<\/p>\n<p>Over eons, the sediment was compacted under great pressure, eventually turning to sandstone. Then, over millions of years, erosion carried off the less-resistant materials, leaving the relatively solid sandstone standing on the prairie, where some of them now tower 80 feet above the ground.<\/p>\n<p>The caves, pockmarks and arches were carved by wind, water and temperature fluctuations. Carroll also pointed out that some of the cavities in the rock were formed by ancient trees that were buried in the sand, remained embedded in the hardened sandstone and later rotted away when the sandstone was exposed to the elements.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8029\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-8029 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-pillar-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"Spire\" width=\"336\" height=\"504\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The morning sun catches the top of a sandstone spire.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The sandstone formations, with their endless variations and phantasmagorical shapes, are a wonder to behold. I only wish I could have been, oh, say, 50 years younger, in which case I could have spent several days climbing all over those rocks. Beware though: signs plead with visitors not to let their clambering, or even the oils on their hands, degrade the inscriptions.<\/p>\n<p>Since I was not 50 years younger, I spent the majority of my time gawking at the thousands of inscriptions. Urbaniak said his favorite was a big sailing ship, and his directions were so good that we found it within minutes of parking our vehicle at the northwesternmost corner of the road that loops through the park. The ship was, according to an accompanying inscription, carved by a Henry Jensen in 1929.<\/p>\n<p>Probably the most famous carving at Medicine Rocks is a portrait of a lady, seen in profile, being presented with a flower by a bird. It apparently was carved an Irish sheepherder in honor of his lost love. Carroll, a native of Ekalaka, said the same gentleman supposedly carved several additional likenesses of the woman in other parts of Carter County.<\/p>\n<p>The carving is impressive, and it was much bigger than I had assumed after seeing photos of it in the past. I thought it was maybe fist-sized, but it is closer to two feet high and nearly that wide.<\/p>\n<p>Another notable inscription is a finely detailed, elaborate tribute, apparently to a soldier killed in Vietnam, complete with a decorative arch. Urbaniak said he was intrigued by that one, too, but he knows nothing more about it.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the sailing ship, Urbaniak said there is a carving of a Louisiana shrimp boat, but that one, alas, we did not see. And among all those thousands of inscriptions, he said, there are probably 20 to 30 petroglyphs carved by pre-contact Native Americans.<\/p>\n<p>I saw two of them, both so faint that if Carroll hadn\u2019t known where they were I\u2019m sure I would have missed them. One was a depiction of an elk and the other was a stick figure of a human with a V-neck, just barely visible at the top of the carving.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8030\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-8030 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Med-Rocks-woman-portrait-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"Lady\" width=\"336\" height=\"302\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Irish sheepherder&#8217;s portrait of his lost love is probably the most famous rock art in the park.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In his years of studying inscriptions, Urbaniak said, he has come to see patterns in what human beings do. The first impulse is simply a statement of existence: \u201cI exist. I was here. I was here at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then there is the urge to supply some background, such as a hometown, or perhaps a home country. And then inscriptions broaden out to include associations, which is why there are many military references, cattle brands, Boy Scout symbols and the like.<\/p>\n<p>Urbaniak, whose project to record every inscription at Medicine Rocks was part of his work toward a doctorate from the University of Montana, said all of the images recorded at the site will be put into a database at Montana State Parks. People will be able to sit at their computers and view every inscription from multiple angles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have assembled the database. We just haven\u2019t posted it yet,\u201d Urbaniak said, and he wasn\u2019t sure when it will be available to the public.<\/p>\n<p>It will be fascinating to view the inscriptions online, no doubt, but everyone in Montana, and everyone with an interest in Montana, really ought to visit Medicine Rocks State Park at least once.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MEDICINE ROCKS STATE PARK \u2014 There is a double allure at this remote 330-acre park in the southeast corner of Montana. One\u2014the obvious one that would seem to comport with the traditional notion of a state park\u2014has to do with the rocks themselves. They are beautiful and majestic, in some cases haunting, wind-sculpted spires of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[2345,2985,2996,2748,2980,2417,2997],"class_list":["post-8002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversions","category-montana","tag-ekalaka","tag-kirsten-johnson","tag-medicine-rocks-state-park","tag-msu-billings","tag-nathan-carroll","tag-tim-urbaniak","tag-tom-shoush","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}