Long before the first white man set foot in Australia, the Rainbow Serpent Petroglyph was created.
The image of the Serpent united people from all continents in 1992 at the World Uranium
Hearing in Salzburg, Austria. The rock stands on the ancestral lands of the Njamal people near
the upper Yule River. According to Aboriginal mythology, the Rainbow Serpent, asleep in the
earth, guards over those elemental forces beyond humankind's control. Any attempt to seize
these underworld elements will disturb the serpent from sleep, provoking its vengeance. The
Aborigines tell us, "leave the uranium in the earth."
The 1999 Nuclear-Free Future Award Ceremony held at Los Alamos, New Mexico,
connected the Rainbow Serpent with Avanyu, the Water Serpent of the Tewa Pueblo. Gilbert
Sanchez, a Tewa spiritual leader, tells us that there are four such serpents scattered around the
earth to protect the sacred integrity of life and creation. The Avanyu Petroglyph is located in the
midst of the ancient Anasazi ruins of Tshroge, just below »Area G«, a hollowed out mesa filled
with nuclear waste – the toxic legacy of more than half a century of nuclear weapons research
and development at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In 1999 we wrote: Tribal leaders from the area issued the warning that »if we neglect to take care of Avanyu, it will be transmuted into the Fire Serpent«.
May 11, 2000: Avanyu crawled the radioactive arroyos leading to Los Alamos and set the
birthplace of the atomic bomb in flames.
"Tsirege (also Tshirege) is a classic Anasazi Pueblo archaeological site located north of Pajarito Road (now closed to the public) about one mile west of White Rock, New Mexico on property owned by Los Alamos National Laboratory. Tsirege consists of approximately 800 rooms, was occupied from circa 1325 to circa 1600, and is regarded by the people of San Ildefonso Pueblo as ancestral. The name means "bird place" in the Tewa language. The site includes a long defensive wall, 10 kivas, a reservoir, and many significant petroglyph panels. Tours of the site are rarely offered (twice per decade on average)."
