Native peoples took advantage of the wealth of natural rock
"canvasses" available throughout much of the region's mountains
and boulder-strewn basins. Artists chose prominent landmarks as
well as more hidden locales for their work, and we can guess
that there was, in many cases, spiritual or ritual significance
in the selection of these locations. According to some
ethnographic accounts, shamans chose places such as crevices and
caves in the rock as "portals" to the supernatural world. Major
rock art sites have been documented in all the eastern Trans-
Pecos mountain ranges, from the Chisos to the Delaware mountains
in the north. Farther west, the Sierra Diablos, Franklins and
Huecos and smaller outlying hills hold an abundance of rock art
treasures. Researchers have noted the confluence of rock art
styles within this broad region-the Pecos River style extending
northwestward from the Lower Pecos area, even perhaps traveling
up the river, as well as the Jornada Mogollon styles of the west
and northwest extendi