(gentle western music) - [Narrator] Seminole Canyon State Park is a lonely dot on the map of southwest Texas, near the US-Mexico border.

It's brutally hot and dry.

Mile after mile of cactus and mesquite trees with few people.

But for adventurous travelers, it's worth exploring.

Canyons reveal their history in strata, lying one on top of the other.

The park provides some of the oldest indigenous rock paintings in the United States.

And one of the deepest glimpses into the history of human life that's found anywhere in Texas.

The nearly 2,200 acres of the park are set along the edge of the stark canyons that flow south, emptying into the Rio Grande.

It gets its name from scouts of mixed descent, African American and Seminole, who operated in the area after the Civil War.

Some 4,000 years ago, indigenous people lived in these natural rock shelters.

They left behind scores of rock paintings called pictographs.

Park goers can view the artwork on guided tours.

Shaman, animals, and other figures.

Ancient documentation of life.

Powerful artistic style.

They are believed to reflect the cultural groups that passed through the canyon.

The visitor's center houses ice age relics.

It tells the story of the Seminole scouts, and the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

But there's a huge gap, without evidence of human activity, between the age of the rock paintings and modern times.

A bronze sculpture overlooks the canyon.

Artist Bill Worrell was inspired by the rock paintings.

A whitetail deer wears a cape, signifying the shamans' spiritual leadership.

Antlers represent wisdom, maturity, and regeneration.

A golden ring symbolizes eternity.

The bird on the staff portrays the human soul.

But Worrell says his interpretations are only guesses at meaning.

The mysteries of these paintings may never be solved.

(gentle western music fades) - [Narrator 1] Funding for The Shape of Texas is provided by Texas Society of Architects, and by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Summerlee Foundation of Dallas, Texas.