The Painted Rocks site in Paint Rock, Texas, is one of the largest and most significant rock art locations in the United States. Stretching along the Concho River, the bluff displays hundreds of pictographs created over many centuries. These paintings—spanning handprints, animals, geometric patterns, and ceremonial imagery—capture the presence of different native cultures who used the area for settlement, agriculture, hunting, and spiritual traditions.
Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest images may date back thousands of years. Over time, different peoples—including the Jumano, Apache, and Comanche—left their marks here. Each tribe used the land differently: some hunted and gathered along the fertile riverbanks, others farmed the floodplain, and later, mounted tribes used the site as a gathering place during their seasonal movements. Spanish explorers documented the area in the 1600s, and by the 1700s and 1800s, Comanche pictographs included horses and scenes reflecting their dominance on the Southern Plains.
Nearly half a mile of exposed limestone provided broad surfaces that have preserved the artwork for generations. The patina on the limestone bluff made it an ideal canvas. Many panels (at least 40) even align with solar events, such as solstices, and equinoxes, and cross-quarter days, suggesting the site also served as a ceremonial calendar and place of ritual.
Together, the Painted Rocks offer a vivid timeline of human presence in Texas. From early hunter-gatherers to the horse-centered cultures of the historic era, the site remains a rare window into the ways people lived, adapted, and expressed their beliefs on the land. Today, the site stands not only as an archaeological treasure but also as a cultural and historical bridge, preserving stories that connect the past with the present.
The Sims-Campbell family, together with the dedication of volunteers, researchers, archaeologists, tribal leaders, non-profit members, and generous supporters, have carefully preserved this site so that its unique history remains accessible to visitors from around the world for generations to come.
Artifacts found on the site date back over 8,000 years ago and possibly much older. For hunter-gatherers, the bluff provided shade, and shelter, and a way to hunt deer and bison while the river offered fish, deer, birds, fish, and fresh-water clams along its banks. Pecan and bois d’arc trees, not originally native to the Concho Valley, grew along the banks. Later, when agriculture became part of life in the region, the fertile alluvial plain bottomlands nearby along the bluff easily supported the agricultural staples of corn, beans, and squash. With the arrival of the horse in the 1600s, mounted tribes found the open plains around Paint Rock ideal for travel, hunting, pasturing horses, and strategic advantage. The cliff faces stood as constant landmarks through all these eras—inviting new generations to add their stories in paint.
Artifacts at the site date back thousands of years, and some pictographs may have been painted in these early phases. The artwork at Paint Rock reflects centuries of cultural presence. Archaeological evidence suggests the site was used extensively for painting during the Toyah phase (1200–1650 A.D.) by groups related to the Jumano people, who served as traders and cultural brokers across the Southwest. During this period, people planted corn and possibly other crops on the alluvial plain below the bluff. This period also coincided with a rise in bison hunting. Many of the solar markers were likely painted during the Toyah Phase, including pictographs depicting the hero twins and changing women, some of which bear striking resemblances to Hopi pictographs.
By the late 1600s, Lipan Apache communities occupied the region, farming along the river valleys and leaving behind signs of both settlement and conflict. A Lipan presence at Paint Rock is undeniable but not as prolific as Jumano or Comanche, and evidence of farming at the Paint Rock site during this period has not been documented. It is possible that the Jumanos and the Comanche may have continued to occupy the area to the east, with Paint Rock serving as a frontier between tribes. Some researchers believe the Jumanos and Comanches weren’t related or the same tribe, but many or most of the Jumanos were assimilated into the Comanche tribe during this period. [J. Emmor Harston]. Some Jumanos joinedThe Lipans maintained a presence in the area in the 19th and even the 20th centuries.
In the 1700s and 1800s, the Comanche, arriving on horseback from the north, dominated the area. For them, Paint Rock was both a strategic landmark along travel routes and a place of ceremony and story. Pictographs from this period include images of horses and scenes of conflict, reflecting the dramatic changes horses brought to Native life.
Other groups, such as the Tonkawa and even the Kickapoo, also passed through, drawn by the same resources and the same natural gathering place that had attracted earlier peoples.
Across nearly half a mile of cliff face, the pictographs at Paint Rock capture the passage of time: handprints and animal figures from early hunter-gatherers, geometric and ceremonial symbols from farming peoples, and later images of horses, riders, and encounters with settlers. Approximately 40Some of the paintings even align with solstice and equinox sunlight, suggesting the cliffs were used as calendars as well as canvases. Many pictographs at the site depict the hero twins, including their birth from “changing woman” and their quests to rid the world of monsters. Hero twin mythology stretches south to the Maya and reaches west to the Hopi, north to the Sioux, and east to the Iroquois.
In essence, the geology of Paint Rock made it a living stage for human history. Its bluff provided the space, its river sustained life, and its position on the landscape ensured it would remain a gathering point for centuries. Today, The Painted Rocks preserve not only the artistry of the tribes who lived here but also their deep connection to the land itself. Pictographs, pottery, and other artifacts show signs of connection in all directions. For instance, obsidian found at the site originated in southern Mexico. Paint Rock was a site of religious and economic significance for centuries.
Ownership & Legacy of the Painted Rocks
A Family’s Stewardship Through Time
The Painted Rocks Historical Site has remained in the same family since the late 19th century—a rare legacy of continuity and care. In the 1870s, Dunlap Edward “D. E.” Sims, a history-minded agriculturalist from Missouri, purchased land along the Concho River specifically to protect the pictographs from vandalism. By 1886, he had amassed roughly 14,000 acres that included the limestone bluff now known as the Painted Rocks. [Insert photo of DE Sims]
In 1954, D. E. Sims’s granddaughter, Cora Ellen “Kay” Sims Campbell, took an early interest in the site and inherited the property in 1954, which included the Painted Rocks site. Kay vowed to continue the Sims family legacy of protecting the site and began opening it to the public for guided tours. [Insert photo of young Kay Campbell]
Kay married her school sweetheart,and her husband, Fred Campbell. The couple carried on the family’s stewardship for decades and expanded the site's educational offerings to include students of all ages—from elementary field trips to graduate-level research projects. [Insert photo of Kay and Fred]
Kay and Fred had two children, Bill and Scott. Bill is an attorney who was and served as the county attorney for Concho County Attorney from 1988 until 2018 Scott owned an agricultural publishing business for over 30 years, and served as a Texas state representative from 2003-2007 before passing away in 2013. [Insert photos of Bill and Scott]
Between the late 1980s and In the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, Kay and Fred made a groundbreaking discovery—solar markers strategically placed among the pictographs that align with solstices and equinoxes—deepening public interest in the site’s ceremonial significance.
After Fred’s passing in 2017, Kay continued to welcome visitors—students, researchers, and curious travelers alike—while preserving the property with unwavering commitment. [Insert photo of Kay giving tour]
Kay and Fred were proud grandparents to Bill’s two children, Auggie and John, and Scott’s two children, Jill and Steven. Today, the four grandchildren, along with Bill, continue Kay and Fred’s legacy of bringing awareness, preservation, and opportunities for research to this special site. [Insert photos of Bill and grandchildren if everyone agrees]
Circa 10,000 - 6,000 BCE — Paleoindians leave first deposits and evidence of habitation (primarily projectile points and stone tools) at the Paint Rock site. See Campbell Ranch collection; Lintz et al, O.H. Ivie Reservoir Technical Report No. 346-I (1993).
Circa 6,000 BCE - 2,600 BCE — During the early Archaic period, sites in Concho County show a shift towards more plant grinding and fire hearths, indicating more focus on plants and less of a focus on hunting. Lintz et al. During the later Oakalla phase, projectile points and stone grinding tools become more uniform across the region, suggesting greater regional contact or higher residential mobility and more sophisticated plant use.
Circa 2,600 BCE - 500 BCE — During this late Archaic period, habitation in the area increases significantly. Seashells from the Gulf coast and pottery from the west appear in the area, suggesting complex trade networks. American bison (buffalo) come to the region, but most inhabitants from this period primarily gather and hunt deer.
Circa 500 BCE - 1200 AD — Coinciding with changes in weather patterns, pre-Jumano inhabitants at the Paint Rock site leave evidence of large-scale hunting, starting with deer (Austin phase) and transitioning to buffalo (Toya phase). Pictographs and some nearby sites show evidence of corn cultivation. Many solar markers are likely painted during this period.
Circa 1530 — Cabeza de Vaca, a Spaniard shipwrecked near Galveston, ventures West, seeking to return to Spanish colonies in Mexico. De Vaca encounters various tribes, likely including Jumanos and may have journeyed near the Paint Rock site. After this time, Spanish explorers note the presence of Jumanos north of the Rio Grande and as far west as the Pueblos in New Mexico, connecting buffalo hunting tribes with the Spaniards in New Mexico.
Before 1599 — The first Spanish (or Portuguese) graffiti appears on the bluff, potentially linked to Gaspar Castaño de Sosa, a Portuguese-born Spanish official, who launched an unauthorized expedition into Texas in 1590. Kim Cox, The Paint Rock Project (2024).
Circa 1600 — Lipan Apaches leave evidence of occupation (and paintings) at the Paint Rock site and continue to visit and occupy the site until the mid-1700s and possibly later.
Circa 1681 — Juan Sabeata, a Jumano cacique (chief), appears in El Paso, offering to be baptized and seeking an alliance with the Spaniards to help aid the Jumanos against Apache aggression. Sabeata also conducts diplomacy with the French at Fort St. Luis on the Texas Gulf Coast and then promptly reappears in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
1706 — The Spaniards first document Comanche (and Ute) raids near Taos, New Mexico and along the Rio Grande.
1757 — The Spanish build Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba near present-day Menard on the San Saba River to support and preach to the Lipan Apache after signing the Treaty of Mission Valero de Bexar in 1749 in present-day San Antonio.
1758 — The Comanche and allied tribes destroy Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba. The Comanches are the primary occupants at the Paint Rock site for approximately the next hundred years.
Circa 1820 — The Kickapoo, an Algonquin speaking tribe from the Great Lakes region, seeking to avoid European contact, venture to the Paint Rock area, and continue to visit the site for the next few decades.
1846 — Approximately 40 Texas Rangers, led by Captain Jack Hayes, ambushed a Comanche war party near the Paint Rock site. This battle marked a negative turning point in relations between Comanches and the Texas Republic.
1852 — The U.S. Army establishes Fort Chadbourne near present-day Bronte, Texas, northeast of the Paint Rock site, and Fort McKavett near present-day Menard, Texas.
1867 — The U.S. Army establishes Fort Concho in present-day San Angelo, Texas. The Army abandons Fort Chadbourne that same year and Fort McKavett the following year, but re-occupies Fort McKavett when conflict with tribes intensifies.
Circa 1877 — After traveling from Missouri, D.E. Sims begins acquiring land along the Concho River to safeguard the pictographs.
1886 — Sims owns about 14,000 acres, including the Painted Rocks site.
1927 — Cora Ellen “Kay” Sims is born on August 12.
1930s — The Sims family (under Kay’s guidance) begins offering tours to the public.
1954 — Kay inherits the Painted Rocks site along with other land. Members of the Paint Rock community, such as Bill Warren, assist with tours.
1987 — Kay and Fred, along with sons, Scott and Bill, establish Paint Rock Excursions, Inc., to operate the site. Paint Rock Community member Dan Webb assists with tours.
Late 1980s and Early 1990s — Kay and Fred Campbell identify solar alignments in the pictographs (First the Equinox “Sunshine Path” and then the Winter Solstice “Flower Shield”). During this timeframe, Kay and Fred invited researchers such as Robbin Robbins, Sulveig Turpin, and Linda Pelon to conduct research at the site.
1993 — Kay and Fred host leaders from the Comanche Nation, including Wallace Coffee, Phillis Narcomey, and at the site in December, close to the Winter Solstice.
2017 — Fred Campbell passes away; Kay continues as lead steward. Over the next few years, Kay and Bill begin working with Kim Cox, Jeremy Elliot, PhD, and Eric Schroeder, PhD, on site research. Paint Rock community member Terry Waller assists with tours.
2024 — Kay Campbell passes away. Son, Bill Campbell, and his sons, Auggie Campbell and John Campbell, along with grandchildren, Jill Campbell Reed and Steven Campbell, carry on the family legacy of caring for and preserving the site. Bill Campbell continues tours, operated through Paint Rock Excursions.
2025 — The Painted Rocks Historical Site, Inc. – a 501c3 organization – is created to carry on the family legacy and preserve, protect, and conduct research on the historic pictographs.
