The rock art of the Lower Pecos region falls into several distinct traditions spanning thousands of years. The oldest and most spectacular is the Pecos River Style, characterized by large, elongated human figures often interpreted as shamans engaged in ritual transformation. These figures frequently hold objects like atlatls or bags, and many display antlers, wings, or other features suggesting a blending of human and animal forms. The painters used mineral pigments -- red and yellow ochre, black manganese, and white limestone -- ground and mixed with animal fat or plant oils to create paints that have survived for millennia in the dry shelter of the canyon overhangs.

Two sites dominate the park's interpretive offerings. Panther Cave, accessible only by boat from Amistad National Recreation Area or viewed from a hiking trail across the canyon, takes its name from a striking image of a leaping panther -- a large cat figure that may represent a jaguar, which once ranged into this region. The cave's art dates to approximately 7,000 BCE, and large cat imagery appears throughout, including human figures wearing cat-ear headdresses that suggest ritual identification with feline power. Fate Bell Shelter, named for former landowner Fayette Bell, contains artifacts and art believed to be among the oldest in North America. First excavated in 1932, this shelter has yielded evidence of continuous human occupation spanning thousands of years.

Gaspar Castano de Sosa is believed to have been the first European to pass through this region during his 1591 unauthorized expedition up the Rio Grande and along the Pecos River. Castano de Sosa was attempting to establish Spanish colonization of New Mexico without permission from the colonial government, an illegal venture that would eventually lead to his arrest. The expedition passed through lands that had been home to indigenous peoples for ten millennia, though neither Castano de Sosa nor any European for centuries afterward would understand the significance of the painted rock shelters they passed.

The canyon takes its name from the Black Seminole Scouts, a unit of the United States Army stationed in the region during the 19th century. These soldiers were descendants of escaped slaves who had found refuge among the Seminole people in Florida before being forcibly relocated to Indian Territory. Many later crossed into Mexico, where they formed communities along the border. During the Indian Wars, some Black Seminoles served as scouts for the US Army, and their presence in this remote corner of the Texas borderlands gave the canyon its modern name. The Southern Pacific Railroad built through the area in 1882, bringing new settlers and eventually tourists to see the ancient rock art.

Texas Parks and Wildlife acquired the site in two phases during the 1970s, and the park opened in 1980. The 2,172-acre park now protects both the rock art and the delicate desert ecosystem that has evolved since the wetter climate of the Archaic period gave way to the Chihuahuan Desert conditions of today. Outside the visitor center stands 'The Maker of Peace,' a 17-foot bronze statue created by Texas artist Bill Worrell in 1994, depicting a figure inspired by the ancient shamanic imagery found in the canyon. Guided tours to Fate Bell Shelter run Wednesday through Sunday, offering visitors a chance to stand where humans have stood for eight thousand years, looking up at the same painted images that meant something profound to people whose names we will never know.