Early Autumn can be pretty toasty in California’s desert regions, and last September saw us head out to a petroglyph site while wishing the weather was maybe 15 to 20 degrees cooler. On top of that, we weren’t sure if what we would find would be worth it! We’d read some site descriptions from other visitors, and while those descriptions stressed the sheer quantity of petroglyphs, they also mentioned disquieting phrases like “poorly pecked” and “indistinct”. Still, we wouldn’t know what was there until we went to look, would we?
After passing through a confusing maze of dirt roads — accompanied by animated “this way or that way” discussions had after going through the indistinct intersection in question — we finally found the spot we thought was the one. As is normal in situations like this, the road was stubbornly narrow and offered nothing but high, sandy shoulders ( no good for pulling over ) near the site, so we drove distressingly far past the site until we found a little bulge in the road and parked. Finally we collected the various things such a visit needs ( site descriptions and notes, sun hats, various models of camera ), all followed by leaning our butts against the wheel wells to change into walking boots.
Then we trudged back to the site as the sun drew a bead on us and started to gently broil our heads, sun hats or no.
Our quarry was a rather mediocre, unassuming little volcanic rock outcropping. There really was nothing to commend it one way or the other: medium-sized boulders were scattered along a low hill, its top maybe thirty feet above the surrounding desert. It was immediately obvious that this spot was a favorite local hangout, too – the ground was sparkly with broken glass and dotted with rusted cans. Just wonderful.
Fortunately our sour moods had reason to dissipate right away: we immediately saw petroglyphs all over! It was a pity that the site was so littered, but the litter was mostly on the flat and the petroglyphs were mostly up on the outcropping. There were some graffiti on the rocks but they mostly didn’t affect the petroglyphs, only the aesthetics. We started clambering around, looking at every rock.
This is representative of the petroglyphs at this site – densely packed, shallowly pecked abstract images ( very often just meander lines like these ) on small, darkly varnished boulders. There’s a fair bit of patina to the petroglyphs – they’re not recent. Note the trash in the background. Sadly that was representative of the site also. Oh, and the rodent droppings in the hollow on the right of the boulder! Also a common sight here.
A “target” of concentric circles. In this close-up you can see why the site is called “poorly pecked”. There’s a lot of misdirected blows around the image. This site was probably made directly with a hammer stone, which is less precise than using an awl or chisel.
This boulder, upslope a ways from the rest, have some decently well-made petroglyphs. More concentric circles, and many more of the meandering “tortoise shell” petroglyphs.
Hard to see, but this is a pretty nice element – two circles bisected by a continuous line.
A “basket” of sorts pecked on a concave boulder face.
One of the three circles in the center of the picture is much darker than the others. It was defaced by a gunshot.
Part of the rock flaked away some time ago. Pity, because what’s left looks interesting. There’s a zig-zag line and a ladder-type Rectilinear element — and also a lot of aimless pecks.
Another Rectilinear element. Looks like the artist ran out of usable rock face to the right.
The petroglyphs wrap clear around this boulder.
The poorly made circle on the left looks modern, judged by the lack of varnish. The spindly scratched circle below that is definitely modern. The authentic petroglyphs include a coarsely made shield design in the center of the picture.
A Rectilinear element, randomly placed on a small boulder.
More doodles. This site certainly has a lot of petroglyphs! Not many are recognizable as commonly depicted elements though.
Petroglyphs can be tricky to photograph. The desert varnish is very reflective.
Did I mention the ground here is simply littered with trash? Lots of broken glass. This piece of glass is interesting though. That purple hue means it dates from the 1890’s or earlier. Magnesium was used as a clarifying agent for glass back then, and prolonged sun exposure tints it purple.
Here’s a different angle of the boulder we saw earlier.
These petroglyphs on a precarious overhang must have been tricky to make. It’s quite a ways down if you fall off.
Coarse rock. I like the texture in this shot: the rough rock and the shallow relief of the petroglyphs.
One element packed onto an otherwise unused rock face.
There is a single mortar hole on the top of the low hill. Of course there is rodent droppings in it!
A determined hand applied these petroglyphs: this particular boulder doesn’t have very many, if any, misdirected pecks, and the design was laid down in spite of the rock surface, not because of it. It may have been made at a different time than most of the other petroglyphs at this site, or at the very least by a different person.
These bisected circles were a popular choice at this site. There are also some other fitful pecks on the rock that didn’t pan out into much of a design.
Atop the low hill is a lot of obsidian lithic scatter. I am struck by how this is just as much litter of its time as the broken glass is litter of our time. Maybe in the far future archeologists will find all this and wonder whether Native Americans and the later settlers co-existed at this site, or whether people used obsidian and glass side by side!
This boulder is so heavily decorated that almost all the varnish was scoured off! I wonder if it was a ritual rock, carved over and over again, and the added lines over time brought it to this state. Notice how densely the parallel lines on the left side of the spur jutting down are packed.
The very top of the boulder.
A site overview. It is really more of an eroded lava flow than a hill. The petroglyphs are scattered on the various boulders.
This site was fun to visit even though the weather was hot and the site was covered in broken glass and vandalized with graffiti and gun shots ( I am not selling it at all, am I! )
If you visit, make sure to spend time walking the entire flow since the petroglyphs are all over it. There are some housing rings on the top as well, but they’re very jumbled and didn’t photograph well. At one point in time this was probably a habitation site, or maybe a hunting encampment. There is a creek not far away that would have provided water. Be careful as you step over and around the boulders – don’t step on the petroglyphs and don’t trip!