This little site gave me a surprisingly hard time!
For starters, the first time I was in the area I missed discovering it by about 150 yards. During that visit I was hunting for a somewhat well-known pictograph site that is very close to this one, forming part of the same habitation complex. I was hunting all along a drainage for that site, and had forged about as far as I could go when finally, there it was! By the time the photography for that site was done it was high time for lunch and my companion was in no mood for more rocks so we headed back and had a great lunch at the local microbrewery, instead of exploring the area more.
The pictograph boulder is the one to the left. There are faint pictographs on the side facing the viewer, but the main panel is on the other side. Lower right is a bedrock with several mortar holes ground into it. The upper left surface of this bedrock is a large grinding slick.
Afterwards, I did some more research, and discovered that there was more to this location than just the site I had found initially. Well then! I had some more work to do.
I set off on an overcast day to find this second part of the site. Venturing past the original discovery I turned a corner and … there it was!
I stood back and peered at the rock face in the overcast gloom. The light really wasn’t that great, but these pictographs were clearly visible along the edge of the boulder, just like the source had described them.
It was a curious placement, cramming them all in on the edge of the boulder like that. I hadn’t seen that before. But, that’s where they were!
A view of the main panel without DStretch.
A DStretch photo showing the visible pictographs in more detail. There is an intricate assembly of circles and lines, including one in the middle that appears almost bird-like, like an owl, facing the viewer. The design at the top is reminiscent of a site far to the southwest in the foothills of the Tehachapi mountains.
Looking edge-on at the pictograph boulder. The edge is quite sharp.
With the naked eye, the pictographs appear to consist of a tall, narrow strip along the right edge of the boulder. Thus, I originally took this picture of them.
I took my photos and explored the vicinity. My search immediately turned up a flat bedrock with some mortars and a large grinding slick, located on the other side of the pictograph boulder – which has two companion boulders to its southeast. I inspected those as well without finding anything.
Since I had learned my lesson about not taking a good look around while I’m at a site, I sat down and stared at the other side of the pictograph boulder.
I thought I saw some faded pigment when I first glanced at the boulder’s backside, but I wasn’t sure. A good long look made it clear that there was something there.
Bonus! The site description I had read made no mention of more designs on this boulder, but here was definitely something! I took some pictures and continued staring at the rock face. Now that my eye was tuned to bits of pigment I quickly noticed two more areas on the back of the boulder and took pictures of those, too.
There is a faint patch of pigment in the lower center of this photo.
Ah! DStretch shows a nice pinwheel shape barely hanging on. There are also some markings to the right of the pinwheel, maybe a line of tally marks.
I quickly spotted this pigment on the back of the pictograph boulder,
DStretch applied. Hmmmm .. I dunno … ( actually, this looks like a “pelt figure” sans arms, of the type that sometimes features in Kawaiisu pictographs or even Yokuts pictographs. )
One more patch of pigment – below the dark grey area.
This one is just a blob.
One more patch of pigment – this one on the east-most of the three boulders.
Applying DStretch to this images shows that there is an interesting little element made of overlapping circles
Satisfied that I had discovered all there was to see, I made my way back to my truck.
Some time afterwards, I sat down to process the photos I took.
I fully expected DStretch to reveal a few more details to me – perhaps some connecting lines that had washed out to the left of the corner design, or maybe some traces of a symmetrical design.
This pictograph is in Tübatulabal territory and I had seen other sites where the designs were symmetric but only DStretch still showed that detail, so I thought that maybe this design was similar. The design did look kind of abbreviated all squished in on the edge of the rock face like that. I expected there to be a little more to it.
Still, imagine my surprise when my first DStretch run showed that there was way more to this site than what was visible! I expected a few faded lines, but instead I got an apparent wealth of near-invisible designs.
The only problem was, my original shots had been framed for the easily visible part of the panel, plus a bit to the side where I expected the symmetrical design to be. I did not have any good shots of the whole rock face!
I knew what I had to do. I had to take one for the team and go back. Yes, I had to go back … to an area that has natural beauty, rock art, and an awesome microbrewery. A tough assignment … but someone had to step up and do it! And I like to step up and do things!
The passage of time has really done a number on these designs. Turning the knobs on DStretch to 11 bleeds out the visible design but sketches out some of the nearly completely washed away remainder.
A different DStretch enhancement shows the faded and visible pictographs side by side. This is really exciting!
The faded designs are really interesting. Most striking is a large circular figure with apparent spokes inside and a smaller circle above it. There is a pictograph nearby ( “Clock Rock” ) that looks a whole lot like this piece of this pictograph. “Clock Rock” has been theorized to be a calendar representation even though it shows some inconsistencies such as tally marks that do not quite match up.
This companion image makes me wonder. Possibly, this could also be a calendar – an earlier, later, or more symbolic representation. Just as likely, maybe even more likely, the two designs had a different meaning entirely. The designs “have their backs to each other” in that one faces northerly and the other faces southerly. The space in between them does not show any obvious signs of habitation apart from the bedrock with its mortars, yet the placing of these designs and the terrain means that one of them would likely be seen no matter what path is taken to the site, since the easterly and westerly access is blocked by a steep hillside and a river respectively.
There are more elements, too: interesting in their own right yet they pale a little compared to the excitement of finding the “companion clock”! There are two crescent shapes that may well have been circles originally visible above the large circle element. If these were circles they would echo the circular shapes on the right, in the visible portion of the pictograph panel. Also faintly visible are traces of lines and circles connecting the large circle to the visible portion.
This is quite a find!
Months later I happened to come across a description of the site done sometime in the 70’s. Weirdly enough it did not describe the very easily visible part of it, instead seeming to focus on elements that as far as I knew were no longer there. Maybe the description was inaccurately labeled and meant for another site? I wasn’t sure. Nonetheless, that was enough to send me trekking back one more time.
This trek did not reveal very much. I examined the grouping of rocks again, and several other nearby ones too. I didn’t turn up anything new, really … just one maybe, located a little to the left of the two overlapping little circles I showed earlier.
There’s a touch of pigment on the boulder here.
No amount of DStretch wrangling is going to resolve this one. ( Look towards the upper left in the pale green portion of the picture. There is faint bit of pigment there that looks like a rectangle. Also look in the lower left corner – perhaps another circle? ) It *might* be a “pelt” figure, similar to the ones at Ayers Rock, with a boxy head. Or it might not be. Anyhow, it seems faded beyond recognition now. ( Of course, that is what everybody thought before DStretch came along … )
I don’t know why the designs weathered so unevenly – in particular, I don’t know why that one corner survived when everything else seemed to have faded to almost nothing! There is no apparent difference in the rock face, unless the surviving sliver is on granite that is slightly coarser in texture which could have increased the pigment’s hold on the surface. The rock face is not curved in any way that would protect the edge more than the center. In fact it is quite flat. It is possible that the tiny overhang above the surviving sliver protects it from rain washing down from the top of the rock, but that seems unlikely too. The uneven weathering is very surprising.
If you happen upon this site please make sure not to touch it. Even though the visible portion remains vivid, it is very fragile and a single touch can have far-reaching consequences if any oils or residue gets on the paint. While examining the rock face resist any urge to trace the pictographs with your fingers – or trace where you thought they might have been.