I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS THE BIG CAVE SITE, BUT I AM BY NO MEANS SURE!

Big Cave Site Gallery
CDM – 155


I visited the Big Cave Site in Canyon del Muerto on the early afternoon of Saturday, March 7, 2026, as part of my Spring 2026 Rock Art Trip.  Our visit to this site was a dissapointment and, being completely honest about it, I am not sure we knew what we were looking at, or whether we were actually able to see or photograph any part of the main Big Cave panel.  On page 262 Campbell Grant describes the site as follows:  “A very large site in a deep and high cave (1,000 feet long).  Slab-lined cists, traces of Developmental Pueblo masonry over pole-and-mud Basketmaker houses, and evidence of turkey pens with abundant turkey dung mark this important site.”  Grant goes on to describe Basketmaker pictograph elements done in white, red, black, green, yellow and gray, including large anthropomorphs.  We saw nothing that even remotely resembles his description of the site, so my best guess is the main panel(s) were hidden in an area not visible to us from down below.  About the only thing we saw of note was a large white cat pictograph and some of the ruins.  Here are my photos of this inegmatic site. 

ONE OF A NUMBER OF STRUCTURES THAT WERE VISIBLE AT BIG CAVE FROM OUR VANTAGE POINT.
SLAB-LINED CISTS AT BIG CAVE.
MORE RUINS AT BIG CAVE.
THIS LARGE CAT AT BIG CAVE WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE ELEMENT THAT WE SAW AND WERE ABLE TO PHOTOGRAPH.
A LITTLE CONTEXT FOR THE CAT ELEMENT AT BIG CAVE. NOTE THE REMAINS OF POLE-AND-MUD STRUCTURES.
INTRIGUING ROCK ART REMAINS AT BIG CAVE.
CONTEXT FOR THE ELEMENTS IN THE PHOTO ABOVE -- NEAR THE CAT.
MISCELLANEOUS ELEMENTS AT BIG CAVE.
SMALL ROUND-BODIED HUMAN FIGURE ON THE RIGHT, AS DESCRIBED BY CAMPELL GRANT?
DESECRATION?
ONE FINAL LOOK AT THE BIG CAVE CAT.