I drove across country, from California to Ohio and back over the Christmas holidays. On the return trip we stopped at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The petroglyphs are drawings and shapes upon the rock made by chipping or scratching its dark surface to reveal a lighter-colored rock underneath. They were made by the local indians mostly between 1300 and the late 1600s.

Any knowledge about the individuals who made the designs and drawings is completely lost in time. Except, of course, for the fact that we can puzzle over the results of their work, made with their own hands.

Quite literally, these forgotten people left their mark on the world.

It gives us something to judge them by.