The area underneath the boulder is not particularly large, so I lay down flat towards the back and took this picture. Many of the element I’ll discuss in detail later appear in this picture, including the best preserved and most detailed images above the entrance.

With some DStretch more details emerge. Apart from the main group of elements ( the ribbon, the capital I, and the two elements above them ) you can also see a large, pinkish hourglass-shaped element, with what looks like a cross to its right, and then three or four circles. There are some smaller elements down below these, in red and white.

Not visible in that first picture was the lower right ( facing towards the entrance ) of the shelter. Here you can see some pigment – looks like hash marks? And also some indentations in the rock – is that natural, or are there cupules ground into this rock?

A shot of DStretch shows some very interesting detail! Definitely some long hashmarks there, and also a diamond pattern above that. Look way down in the bottom left corner – maybe some squiggle lines there.  There are also squiggles at the very top of the picture.

Let’s duck down low, over on the left hand side of the opening you can see in the previous picture, and look at those little lines ( here visible in center right ) and the elements to the left of them.

They are actually nice little zig-zag lines ( far right ), with a row of tally marks above. The rest of the panel is too smudged to make out.

Scooting back over to the right, we get a close-up of the hashmarks. With DStretch targeted at red and white pigment, we see long, wavy hashmarks, and some white that might be natural rock or might be pigment.

The smudged-looking area to the left of these hashmarks is revealed to also be tally marks. Some definitely got smudged, but the leftmost one is still crisp, and the one next to it is only partially smudged.

Next, let’s look at the rock face just above this panel of hashmarks. You can see the hashmarks in the lower center of this panel, and also more of the suspected cupules in the right half. In the center of the picture some orangish pigment caught my attention, so let’s look with DStretch.

First we’ll target both red and white pigment. We see our hashmarks again, along with a set of short hashmarks running perpendicular to the first set, in the lower left of the picture. In the upper portion we see our squiggle line and diamond chain, and also some spindly red lines above it, along with an inverted U in white.

With DStretch focused on the red pigment we get a clearer look at our squiggle elements and chain element. This complex is tied to fertility elements – such as “Womb Rock” – but also suspected to be an solstice / equinox observation site. If the first connection is true, these diamond chain elements might suggest female fertility rites, though this site is up in Chemehuevi territory and the ethnographic record doesn’t support these symbols for this culture.

A close look at the little hashmarks, before we move on to the rest of the panel.

There they are! The tally lines and zig-zag lines below them are also visible in this frame.

This panel, above the entrance, is definitely the centerpiece of the site. In addition to the very detailed red and white element with its stippled lines, there is an outlined capital I ( an element that occurs often in the Mojave tribe’s rock art ) and a white and red circular element. Also notice the rake below the I element, and beneath it several elements in white, including some additional rake-like elements, a burst element close by the entrance, another burst element towards the right and slightly above that, and a very faded, hourglass-shaped red and white element.

From this vantage parts of the main panel are more visible, as well as both burst elements.

And of course DStretch can show all of this more clearly!

In between the capital I and the ribbon is a rather delicate set of zig-zag lines.

We can take a look at the curious ribbon element and those zig-zag lines in one go. The ribbon element is made of white and red lines. To the left, three parallel stipple lines join up to become two parallel white lines that form a loop and then descends, waving as it goes. Overlaid on top of these white lines there are some complementary red lines, following the contours of the solid side of the elements, and also a red rake element.

DStretch helps to clarify matters. Now you can see clearly that the red element overlays the white – both in the region of the rake, and where the white stipple starts to turn into solid lines. You can also see the set of dense red zig-zags clearly. They, too, appear to just touch and overlay the white portions of the ribbon.

The capital I has a red and white rake symbol underneath it.

A strong dose of DStretch. The I is made up of alternating red and white lines, starting with a white line on the outside.

The indistinct symbol above the capital I is made up of red and pink, the pink likely formed by blending the white and red pigments.

The abstract element at the top of the panel. It, too, is outlined in white.

My best shot at the white burst element I mentioned earlier. Parts of the picture are out of focus but you can see the white burst, with red center, and what also appears to be a dumbbell-shaped element ( two circles, filled with red, with a white connecting line ) to the left of it.

This is the lower “bulb” of the hourglass. The burst element we just looked at peeks out in the bottom right, and we can see one of the white circles with red center. Looks like there’s a white rake element above that, but the hourglass bulb obscures some of it.

The upper half of the hourglass. If you cast back to the first overview picture, we speculated that there might be a small cross symbol to the right of this element. Now, with DStretch, we can see that this element ( at right in this picture ) is not a cross but instead a line with two crossbars. Like the other half of the hourglass, this portion contains red and white pigment. Looks like there might be a white outline with red center.

The cross-shaped element,, between the hourglass and the red circles.

That string of circles looks a little like the circles descending from the hands of the Red Lady and Brunette Lady in Joshua Tree National Park, doesn’t it? Those sites are said to illustrate the legend of the Lone Woman of the Cave. Here, we see no anthropomorphs in the panel.

With most of the panel examined, we have some time to return to this little red and white line that was visible towards the ceiling in the overview shot. The suspected cupules are again to the right.

One white line with two red ones next to it. The very top of a panel we already looked at is also visible – the white inverted U shape in the lowest center.

I almost forgot to show you – around the back of this shelter is a little alcove, free of lichen, with a set of double tally marks inside.

There they are. This motif of double but separate tally marks is found at some sites within Joshua Tree National Park ( Queen Mountain Boulder and Sunny Side Up Boulder ) as well.

As we get set to crawl back out into sunlight, I have one last observation to make. On the lip of the shelter, just inside and just outside, are some additional elements.

The one on the outside looks like a multi-pronged trident. There’s also one that looks like a W, and some parallel meander lines.

This was a really neat site to visit but the outside world beckons.