In Part One of this series on the “Black Hole Sun” pictograph panel I talk about how I discovered this pictograph panel in Kawaiisu territory in the eastern Sierra foothills and also showed an overview of the panel itself. Now, I would like to take a look at the left hand side of that panel and the elements that can be seen there.
Let’s start off with an overview of the whole panel to remind us what it looks like. You can see some pretty extensive soot deposits in the center of the panel that is currently obscuring some of the red elements.
Also, here is a DStretch version of the previous picture. We will be looking at the elements in the center and lower left of this panel. From this overview you can already make out some interesting detail. Do you see the large anthropomorph?
Here is a better look at this part of the panel. Note that there’s a darker element in the lower left, in the darkened part of the panel. Above that you can see some parallel lines, and then the rest of the panel is rather hard to discern with the naked eye.
DStretch is a marvel, though. Now we can see our darker element is a burst element. This is interesting because it’s a smaller burst nested within a second set of rays. That is not a very common motif! Above that we see our parallel lines, and then there are some more lines, leading to a large circular element that looks a little like a woven basket. Below that is a digitate anthropomorph that is quite faded, and a small burst element above that.
We take a really good look at that burst element next. It is painted on a blackened part of the rock, but it does not contain any black pigment.
With some DStretch we can clearly see the inner and outer burst elements. There are also a few smudges of pigment above the element, likely deposited there as the element was made. The thickness and distribution of the pigment suggests that this element was painted with a finger, not a brush.
Here are the parallel lines.
There might be a very faint upper connecting bar present for some of the lines.
We also need to look at that “net” or “basket” design more closely.
It appears Representational, as if it is diagram of a real-life object. Parts are obscured by the soot deposit, which shows up green in this DStretch enhancement.
That is it for the left hand side of this panel! We saw a very interesting burst element, an anthropomorph, and a basket-type element, along with some smaller elements. All the pigment was in red.
In the final installment, Black Hole Sun Pictographs Part III, we’ll look at the final elements in the panel and discuss the panel as a whole a little bit.
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Based on my faded memory, it looks like your last 5 postings are different panels that are scattered around the same habitation site. Is that correct? It has been a few years since I have been there. There is lot of history associated with that particular site.
You are absolutely right! I figured I’d break the various panels of this habitation site down bit by bit, otherwise I’d write a 100 yard-long post and I don’t think anyone would want to write or read that in one sitting! Toward the end I will address some of the history of that site, as well. And I’m sure I haven’t even unearthed everything written about it yet, either. It is a really special site to visit.