This view shows the northern end of the alcove. There are some grinding slicks visible just right of center in the photo. Beyond those, in the center of the rightmost third of the photo, are some petroglyphs pecked into the foot of the cliff at the end of the shelter.

A closer look at the petroglyphs. They are fairly shallowly pecked and somewhat revarnished, which suggests that they may be quite old. The grid-like patterns are typical of the entoptic visions experienced by a shaman on a vision quest, aided by the ingestion of hallucinogenic substances.

Looking into the alcove. This is the rightmost part that contains pictographs. The shelter peters out towards the right, tapering into a shallow, cramped space. In this portion, many pictographs are painted on the back wall and the ceiling. Black and red designs dominate but some white designs are also present. You may want to right-click this and the following images and select the open in new page option to follow along. The small versions presented here do not show all the details the captions refer to.

The remainder of the alcove. Again, the back wall bears many designs, as does the ceiling. The floor of the alcove is rough, sandy bedrock.

This overview of the back wall shows the context for many elements that will be examined in detail later.

The ceiling in the rightmost part of the alcove is painted with multi-colored pictographs.

Adding DStretch into the mix enhances the elements. This light touch pops out both red and black elements, and makes the white element lower left much more vivid as well. The red elements include some small circles and a bisected circle. The bisected circle features heavily at some other sites in the vicinity.

Red, white and black pictographs share the overhang with soot damage. Along with the grinding slicks these black deposits strongly suggest that the shelter was also used for habitation and was not a strictly ceremonial site.

These red lines were likely drawn by dipping the fingertips of the index and middle fingers into red pigment and drawing on the rock face.

This grouping of elements is found towards the outer lip of the alcove. The element in black, towards the right of the picture, looks like an elaborate digimorph with huge hands and feet and a narrow body and head. It was superimposed on the more abstract red element.

Stripping the black pigment from the photo with DStretch shows clearly that the black element ( appearing light teal in this photo ) was painted over the red. The red elements are abstract and difficult to discern but there may have been some circular elements and an anthropomorph in the center of the picture.

Overdoing it with DStretch, this time favoring black pigment in order to show the black elements, particularly the elaborate digimorph in the center right of the picture. You know what else looks like an elaborate digimorph? Yes, the Joshua Tree.

This multi-colored panel can be seen after ducking a little deeper into the alcove from where the previous panel was seen. A black zoomorph, top center, is painted over a red element and flanked by white pigment. There is also a crisply-drawn set of white tally parks painted over some red pigment in the lower center of the photograph.

Biasing DStretch to favor black pigment shows several digitate zoomorphs in this panel. The zoomorph in the top left center of the picture is the smallest, but also the most intricate. It is angled diagonally with its head at the top left. This pictograph is faintest in a natural color photo and quite eroded from the rock surface. DStretch still pops it out vividly. There is a less elaborate digitate zoomorph towards the lower left center, above the white tally marks which show dark blue in this photo. In this version of the photo it is obvious that the panel was first done in red pigment, and the black elements and white tally marks were painted over them.

A small black burst-like element, tucked away in a little alcove towards the right of the overhang.

This panel, at the rear right of the alcove, has black, white and orange-red pigment and shows clear overpainting. The lower right elements are just a little more open to weathering and are significantly more worn compared with the symbols tucked into a protected pocket of the rock.

DStretch unlocks some additional details in this panel. First, it appears clear that the red pigment used here is of two different hues and therefore likely applied at different times. There is a darker, more muted red ( also visibly different with the naked eye, made much more so with DStretch ) used towards the right and lower left, and a brighter orange-red on the rest of the panel. It appears as if the lower panel contained several zoomorphs. The symbol in the middle of this picture is interesting. While overpainting occurred it seems apparent that red pigment overlaps black ( right side of pictograph ) , and black overlaps red ( upper left of pictograph ). This suggests that the two colors may have been applied simultaneously, perhaps by two individuals who created the pictograph together and overpainted each other’s work at different times. One would expect greater evidence of smudging or pigment mixing in such a scenario, but it is possible that the binding agents used were different enough that the two paints repelled each other, or that the paint was very quick-drying, like modern acrylic paint. Regardless of how it came about, this interwoven color makes this element very interesting.

An overview of the panel just discussed. The intertwined colors of the center motif is even more apparent from this angle. ( Click on the photo for a larger version if you can’t see it clearly. You can do this for any photo on this blog. ) Note that the same overpainting of colors, in this case red over black, also occurs below it.

This area on the ceiling has a jumble of worn pictographs. Again, red elements are overpainted with black ones.

With a DStretch enhancement some of the black elements are clearer. The large element on the left consists of two joined circles ( a motif repeated elsewhere in the area ) and a feathered line. There are also some tally marks and various smaller motifs.

This is the rightmost portion of the back wall. Red and black pigment is thinly applied to the coarse walls. Some white elements, for example lower left, are visible. The entire panel has a “dusty” appearance, as if the pigment is overlaid with dirt.

Again, DStretch shows many black and red elements. The black pigment overlays the red in multiple sections of this panel.

The adjacent piece of the rear wall. Note that these photos examines the panel right to left.

A strong black pigment enhancement shows many angular lines, painted over red.

Skewing the DStretch enhancement towards the red pigment shows many red elements, some faded or smudged. A zig-zag line towards the top is discernable, if overpainted in black, and some of the figures to the right may have been anthropomorphs.

The elements shown in the previous two photos in context with the next set of elements to be examined.

This set of black elements painted on the ceiling includes one that looks like a hand stretching towards the back of the alcove.

DStretch shows that the “hand” figure could just as easily be an anthropomorph with arms extended to the sides. The six lines ( not five as a hand would have ) at the bottom of the picture, along with the deliberate hemline, suggests a shaman’s fringed dress. Among the abstract elements the carefully spaced grouping of dots, lower center, stands out.

The next portion of the rear wall.

A different angle shows that here, too, the pictograph elements extends out on to the ceiling of the alcove. The shield-like design in the left center bears a resemblance to a design painted hundreds of miles away at the “Ghost Dance” pictograph site.

Tilting back even further, the lip of the alcove also has designs. Red pigment is as dominant as black pigment here.

A closer look at some of the red ceiling elements.

Enhancing the previous photo with DStretch to pop out those red designs. The bisected circles and the motif of a larger bisected circle joined to a smaller whole circle is worth paying attention to. That motif recurs spectacularly at another site in the general vicinity.

A context shot for the previous photos, showing the black elements on the ceiling and part of the red elements towards the lower center.

Finally, the leftmost part of the alcove also contains black and red pictographs. Here too is one of the black digitate figures.

To the far left, well outside the main alcove, this overhang hosts a detailed black pictograph with many distinct dots, mirroring the less extensive one found in the alcove itself.

The outer part of the alcove also has some dabs of red pigment.

One more DStretch assist on those spots of red pigment proves worthwhile. A well-rendered circle and some elongated tally marks ( reminiscent of the rake symbol often seen during hallucinations under the influence of substances such as datura or Native American tobacco ) share the rock face with some rudimentary pigment lines and a thick smear of red pigment.

A wide-angle shot of the entire alcove shows all the previous elements in relation to each other.