Frank Zullo has a flair for the dramatic. He’s a photographer by trade, which is pretty normal. But otherwise, he’s out there — a cross between Galileo and Indiana Jones. As you’ll see, Zullo is fascinated with prehistoric petroglyphs and spectacular star formations, the combination of which is masterfully connected in this month’s portfolio.
Venus and a crescent moon set in a sky barely touched by dawn, while a Hohokam cross — a symbol for Venus — illuminated with a flashlight, brightens a rock outcropping at South Mountain Park in Phoenix.
These pictographs, found on a cliff overhang at Penasco Blanco, Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, are thought to record the supernova of July 5, 1054.
This composite image combines Comet Hale-Bopp, as photographed on April 6, 1997, and Hohokam petroglyphs depicting the passage of a great comet.
This panel, found at Sears Point along the lower Gila River and believed to represent a meteor shower, is combined with a sky scene from the 2001 Leonid meteor shower. A prior Leonid storm might have precipitated the creation of the Sears Point petroglyphs.
Halley’s Comet appears in the predawn sky of March 21, 1986. Superimposed onto the celestial scene are petroglyphs from a Hohokam rock art panel in Southern Arizona, which includes a possible comet symbol (center).
On the winter solstice, the last rays of the setting sun stream through a notch in the Sierra Estrella Mountains, as viewed from a prehistoric Hohokam sun-watching shrine. The highlighted shrine, marked by a lone lizard petroglyph, appears on a monolith at South Mountain Park in Phoenix.
In this composite image, Hohokam rock art is illuminated against a Milky Way backdrop in Southern Arizona’s Picacho Mountains. The long swath of dots may symbolize the universe, along with other sky objects and serpents, which are thought to represent prayers being carried to the gods.