Aiken Arch is located along a wash with numerous petroglyphs. After getting baked in the sun for a few miles it is a delight to duck into the sudden shade offered by the arch, which is all that’s left standing from a partly collapsed lava tube.
As soon as you hit the shade you’ll notice a panel of vivid pictographs against one wall. But don’t get distracted by this panel and focus only on it … there are other, fainter panels as well, and they are just as interesting when brought back to life with DStretch.
In fact, it looks like this site was used more than once over the years because one set of quite vivid pictographs was in places apparently superimposed over less vivid ones.
Now, let’s have a look.
After a long slog up a wash ( made more interesting by the numerous petroglyphs found along it ) the tunnel left by a partially collapsed lava tube is a welcome sight.
This is the view from the wash through the arch. The pictograph panels are mostly under the arch to the left, and on a boulder sitting underneath the arch.
The dominant pictograph panel at the site.
First, let’s use a pretty gentle application of DStretch to look at the upper panel. This helps examine the less weathered elements, which tend to bleed out in the stronger applications. Over on the right we see some chevron-like elements with a central line, and also two elements consisting of small circles connected by lines. Some fainter elements are barely visible, so we’ll turn some knobs on DStretch next to look at those in more detail.
Okay, now we have a clearer view of those faint elements. The more vivid elements are now just red blobs, but we can see a squiggle line and some anthropomorphs more clearly now. There is even a small “pelt”-style figure, to the right of the circular element close to center, that is reminiscent of the pictographs the Yokuts painted many miles northwest of here.
Our little “pelt” figure up close.
On the other side of the circle we see a bisected circle, with an anthropomorph above it, and a strange, vaguely fish-like element next to that. There is also a very small anthropomorph in the lower right corner.
A nice natural-color look at the most prominent elements in this panel.
The leftmost element was scratched over, removing some of the pigment, but the others are still in good condition. Here you can see how much fainter the squiggle line and the element below the two sets of connected circles are. It seems like the more prominent elements were superimposed on the fainter ones.
There are additional elements to the left of this panel, including some on a lower rock shelf.
This element is well-preserved and doesn’t need enhancement.
There are several fainter but very interesting elements, shown here with DStretch.
This element is very faded.
This grid-like element is very intricate, almost like a little maze.
It is still discernible with the naked eye, if you look really closely, but you really need DStretch for the details.
Speaking of discerning things … look at what you can see with a DStretch algorithm targeted at black pigment! There’s a whole set of two rows of black fingertip dots below the element..
A patch of pigment on a nearby corner of the rock attracted my attention. I took this picture to enchance later.
That looks almost like stylized handprint!
Closer to the mouth of the arch is another faded patch of pigment I took a picture of.
It turns out to be a possible zoomorph, in the style of the anthropomorphs on the main panel, along with some chained circles.
One more DStretch look at the whole panel. You can see a couple of additional elements on a separate segment of the rock, towards the center right of the picture.
Time to look beyond the main panel. On the floor of the shelter is a fairly large boulder with a few big streaks of guano on it. More interestingly, I think I see some red pigment in the lower right section.
Oh yes! What a neat element, like a palm frond, and also a whole series of carefully spaced dots or tally marks.
There is more to see around the side of this boulder that faces the wash, too. Look closely … do you see any pigment?
How about when we look really closely? In the upper right, maybe? Or lower left? ( I promise, the next picture is a DStretch one! )
Fascinating! The elements on the main part of the rock face are not particularly intricate, but the element in the lower left definitely is. I had to manipulate the heck out of the picture to get the faint elements on the right to show up. We’ll look at something a little less garish next.
There’s the lower left part of the boulder, just to reset your eyes. Nice smear of guano, huh?
The guano covers part of the pictograph.
One more look. This is a very stylish element.
A short distance from this boulder is another, but it has only a few elements on it. DStretch to follow.
There we go. These were all but impossible to see with the naked eye. The bisected circle with the tally lines below it is similar in design but less elaborate than the other element we just looked at.
From this vantage point the main panel is clearly visible. Now you can see the two elements on the lower shelf more easily. One of them also mirrors some of the fainter elements we just looked at – a vertical line with branches. Furthermore, if you look back through this entry you’ll see that the very faint element that the more visible elements on the main panel overlays was also in this style. I’ve seen that style in Yokuts and Western Mono pictographs, too. Interesting that it appears way out here in the Mojave as well.
Time to say farewell to this site. Here’s a look back down into the wash from just behind the arch.
This is a grand site to visit, and it is well-preserved. No vandalism. If you visit, keep it this way. And be careful, some of the boulders you might lean up against under the arch actually have very faint pictographs on them.