Early one morning I was out hunting specifically for this site. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be too hard to actually see if I could just find myself in the general vicinity of it, since the photographs I’d seen made it appear large enough to be visible from some distance away.
This petroglyph site can be found on a marble outcropping on the northeast shoreline of what was once Lake Owens. The type of stone alone makes this site unusual, since petroglyphs are usually found on volcanic rock or perhaps sandstone, both of which are much easier to work than a hard material such as marble.
The area these pictographs are found in is peppered with pictograph sites – some elaborate, others just a few dabs of pigment in a secret spot.
The Serrano have lived in this area for so long that their creation myth ties them to the nearby oasis of Maara’ ( in present-day Twentynine Palms, close to the Joshua Tree National Park headquarters ) as opposed to other creation myths that are often more general, or intertwined with a migration story.
Joshua Tree National Park is well-known for its rock formations and the climbing opportunities they offer. Some of the same fantastic formations that attract modern rock climbers also held meaning for Native Americans, and this conflict is clearly seen in places where rock climbers have damaged or destroyed pictographs.
Alister’s Cave is one area where climbing interests and cultural artifacts collide. Even though it is signposted by the National Park service, warning that it is closed to climbing due to the Federally protected pictographs, there is still evidence on the internet of climbers who disregard these signs, and the formation bears the talc patches from climber visits.
These pictographs are a collection of fairly simple elements, found within maybe a half-mile or so of each other. There are larger, better defined habitation sites in the vicinity, some of which I have written about.
I collected these together in this entry since they share the common trait of being painted in the eroded hollows of large boulders.
These pictographs survive serendipitously on a now protected sliver of land in Tübatulabal territory, tucked onto the toes of a hill not all that far out of reach of the high water line of the reservoir that occupies the valley they are found in – and not too far away either from a roadway that plowed straight through at least one occupation site in the nearby vicinity. They could easily have fallen prey to encroaching build-up as well.
This site is enormous – not in terms of surface area as much as in the sheer number of panels and petroglyphs it contains. Around 500 elements are spread across about 25 separate panels on this volcanic outcropping.
As is common with known sites, this one has suffered vandalism. Some designs are defaced, often by gunshots, and some panels have crude designs scratched on them. Fortunately, the majority of the site is still intact.
In the following overview, the path taken around the formation starts at the center of an east-facing alcove and proceeds widdershins (anti-clockwise). The photos follow in that same order.
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This petroglyph site is a rarity for the area it is found in, which predominantly contain pictographs. The pictographs in the area were made by the Tübatulabal, who first came into the area about 12 centuries ago. This petroglyph site is likely older than the first Tübatulabal migrations into the area.
These pictographs are found in a low cave at the foot of a volcanic ridge. This low cave is about 5 feet high, requiring one to stoop to enter. It is fairly wide, though – probably three or so times as wide as it is high.
Way back, when I first became interested in pictographs and petroglyphs, I picked up some information about a little site tucked away close to my corner of the world. I had a single reference to it, which gave me a single clue about how to find it: it was actually visible from a nearby road, if you knew to look for it. Continue reading