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KIVAS.COM's
logo represents a desert bighorn sheep standing with Four Peaks in the
back ground. The logo is rendered in the style of a petroglyph.
Petroglyphs are rock images produced by removing (usually chipping) a rock's
surface coating to expose the bare rock surface underneath. In the
Desert Southwest, a dark brown or reddish coating forms on exposed rocks
known as "desert varnish". This desert varnish is commonly composed
of iron and manganese oxides that slowly form over thousands of years.
When the dark "desert varnish" is chipped away the natural lighter stone
is exposed and a petroglyph is formed.
The ancient inhabitants of the Desert Southwest left many rock images throughout their landscape. Their diverse rock images included abstract, geometric, symbolic, and realistic subjects. Animals were frequent subjects. While the desert bighorn sheep is currently absent from much of its' former range, in the not too distant past it was common in the mountains surrounding what is now Phoenix (including the Four Peaks area). Ancient residents captured the essence of these majestic animals in rock images. The wild desert bighorn sheep is perfectly adapted to its desert landscape. Like the ancients, KIVAS.COM admires the desert bighorn's ability to harmoniously exist with its desert environment and have adopted the desert bighorn as our petroglyph. Our bighorn was inspired by the ancient residents' Petroglyphs, but is not an exact copy of any single image. Out of respect for the ancients we have created an entirely new image, taking inspiration from many ancient petroglyphs. Separate elements were combined to create our own unique bighorn petroglyph, pixel by pixel. The four peaks showing behind the bighorn represent the Four Peaks at the southern end of the Mazatzal mountain range. These peaks, to the east of the Phoenix, are clearly visible to most of the valley (the highest, Brown's Peak, the one on the left, is 7657 feet in elevation). To the best of our knowledge, no ancient rock images exist of Four Peaks and the Four Peaks petroglyph is entirely our own design. At left are thumbnails of ancient rock images showing big horn sheep. All of these images were downloaded from the web. If you would like more information about the sites e-mail me. |
