"Some people call the White Shaman mural the oldest illuminated manuscript of the new world," explains Bryan Bayles, whose passion is rock art. Bayles, the curator of anthropology and health at San Antonio's Witte Museum, believes the complex pictographs drawn some 4,000 years ago in Texas' Lower Pecos region "are reflective of the way of life that persisted for thousands of years, where everything that was needed was created from the landscape around them."

Rock art — whether drawn on or etched into stone by hunter-gatherers thousands of years ago or Native Americans as recently as the 1800s — records stories of the artists' daily lives, beliefs in supernatural beings and much more.

Throughout the Southwest, there are many places where you can view caches of petroglyphs — drawings carved into rock — and pictographs — pictures painted on rock faces — that reflect tribal histories. They exist in the ruins of ancient pueblos, on the weathered walls in Mesa Verde in Colorado, in Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, and on reservations.

If you want to get up close to rock art and try to discern what the artist had in mind, the White Shaman Preserve in Texas, Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico, the Parowan Gap in Utah, and the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona are good places to explore.

The Parowan Gap Petroglyphs are in Utah. (Richard Friedland)

Parowan Gap, Utah

Studying some of the petroglyphs inscribed on the north wall lining Parowan Gap, I tried to guess their meanings. Does the serpent — sometimes called an Avanyu symbol — symbolize rebirth and healing? What do those deer represent? Survival because they can be hunted for food? Does that circle surrounded by dots stand for a supernatural being? No way to know for sure, in part because archaeologists believe that several native groups carved the petroglyphs on the wall. Look for the "zipper" glyph (pictured below), believed to be a combination map and numerical calendar.

Parowan Gap is a wind-carved narrow notch where a stream ran through the landscape eons ago. The road through the gap was a passage through the Red Hills for Native Americans who lived in the Parowan Valley. Today, it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places and, once reached, you can just stroll on the side of the road to view the petroglyphs. It's about 16 miles from Cedar City, Utah. parowan.org/parowan-gap.

Puerco Pueblo is in the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. (Richard Friedland)

Petrified Forest National Park, Ariz.

One of the most popular stops in Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park is Newspaper Rock. But you can only see some of the 650 petroglyphs inscribed on a group of rocks from a viewing stand, so bring binoculars or a camera with a long lens. At the wrong time of day you may also have to fight crowds at the viewing area. For a quieter setting and a chance to walk up to and study several drawings pecked into rocks, wander through the Puerco Pueblo in the heart of the park. You'll find the rock art at the south end of the trail through the pueblo's ruins.

Plan on several hours in the park because you'll also want to view the colorful petrified logs on the Giant Log Trail and take a walk through the Blue Mesa. The Petrified Forest's south entrance is 19 miles from Holbrook, Ariz., on Highway 180 South. If you exit the park from the north end, you'll enjoy wonderful views of the Painted Desert. nps.gov/pefo/index.htm.

Petroglyph National Monument stretches 17 miles along Albuquerque in New Mexico's West Mesa. (Richard Friedland)

Petroglyph National Monument, N.M.

Paths throughout Petroglyph National Monument, in Albuquerque, lead you to rock art created by the Native Americans and the early Spanish settlers who came to this region 400 to 700 years ago. There are several trails in the park, so stop at the visitors center first to get a map and discuss which trail best suits your interest and the length of time you want to spend walking. (Be aware that none of the trails start at the visitor center. You must drive to them.)

If your time is limited and you want to stay on paved walkways, take one or more of the three short trails in Boca Negra Canyon. For a real immersion into the terrain where the Native Americans inscribed their histories, take the 2.2-mile round-trip, unpaved Riconada trail, which starts on a sandy path that takes you into a canyon. Along the way, there are more than 200 petroglyphs, though many are faded and hard to see. Some are within easy eyesight as you walk along, a few are on rocks just off the path, but only walk where allowed. Keep an eye out for the mountain lion, the panel of sheep, and the striking kachina figures on the canyon walls. Wear sturdy shoes and a hat, put on sunscreen and bring water. nps.gov/petr/index.htm.

White Shaman Preserve is shown in Val Verde County. (Witte Museum)

White Shaman Preserve, Texas

Visitors standing in a rock shelter where hunter-gatherers made their home are stunned by the complex narrative on the 26-foot-long, 13-foot-high White Shaman mural. The panel is named after a central pictograph: an elongated anthropomorphic humanlike figure with traces of its original white paint, believed to be kaolin, a claylike wash. The preserve got its name from the figure, said to resemble the shamans who were reputed to go into altered states of consciousness. The imagery around it is evidence of the altered state journey, according to Bayles.

All visits, which last about 1 1/2 hours, are guided tours. To reach the rock shelter, visitors take a 1 1/2-mile hike. You walk down a rocky trail that descends about 250 feet into a canyon, then ascends to the shelter. There, a guide talks about the pictographs on the panel and gives visitors a chance to say what they believe the figures mean.

"There's a lot we don't know about the meanings of the site, but we encourage people to say what jumps out at them," Bayles says.

Visits to the site are managed by The Rock Art Foundation White Shaman Preserve of the Witte Museum. Free tours are offered on Saturdays from September to May, but donations are appreciated. You can sign up for a tour on the Witte Museum website. The museum also offers occasional tours of other rock art sites on private land in the Lower Pecos region.

The White Shaman Preserve visit is short, so you could add on another rock art tour at nearby Seminole Canyon State Park & Historic Site. Rangers lead tours to see the pictographs at the Fate Bell Shelter, but be aware the 2-mile round-trip hike includes lots of stairs and steep grades.

If you can't get to the White Shaman Preserve, the Witte Museum recently opened a gallery designed to show what life was like thousands of years ago in Southwest Texas. Exhibits include artifacts as they would have been used then, in lifelike settings such as a campsite where figures are cooking and making flint tools.

White Shaman Preserve is shown in Val Verde County. (Witte Museum)

Rock art sites can be found throughout the Southwest in areas where hunter-gatherers, ancient Puebloans and other Native Americans lived. While you can hike along trails to view rock art in some places, in others you must take guided tours.

You can hike on the Petroglyph Trail at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The park also offers occasional ranger-guided tours to sites not open to the general public. (They are listed in advance on the park's website and fill up quickly.) You can view rock art sites in Canyon de Chelly National Monument in New Mexico, when you go on a tour with a Navajo guide. Horseshoe Canyon in Utah's Canyonlands National Park boasts armless life-size figures in the Great Gallery panel.

No matter where you go, be respectful of the petroglyphs and pictographs. They are fragile, many have been worn down by rain, wind and snow, and some, unfortunately, ruined by humans. Do not touch the rock art, and be careful of the rocks surrounding them.

The histories written on the rocks tell tales that we may never fully decipher.

"You really get a visceral sense of this remarkable narrative, and we are still trying to tease out the meanings," Bayles says.

Lois Friedland is a Colorado freelance writer.