What do you do when you need to escape the heat and questionable air quality of lower elevations in mid-summer Central California? We went driving up into the Sierra foothills which – spoiler! – was almost as hot and smoky as the lower elevations. Dang!
But we did find something to make the trip worthwhile – a nice little site on a large boulder with a scenic view.
There’s a pretty large midden field extending outward from the easterly side of the large boulder that forms the centerpiece of this site. This suggests that the site wasn’t just an isolated ritual site – people lived here, prepared food here, likely appreciated this landscape and view and what the land had to offer, right from this very spot we’re visiting today.
Let’s have a look.
One boulder offering a bit of shelter on an otherwise exposed shoulder of the Sierra foothills was all it took to establish a human presence in this landscape.
There’s an extensive patch of midden below the pictograph boulder. People lived here for a long time.
A closer look at the two pictograph elements we just saw in the overview shot.
The boulder sports several other pictographs too, though they are a bit faded.
With this DStretch enhancement the wavy lines in the center of the picture is easier to see.
With a different DStretch enhancement the large X-shaped element on the far left comes into focus. It looks like the ends of the X are digitate. Let’s see if that shows up better in a different enhancement.
Here we go. I think the ends of the X are made more clear this way. It looks like there’s some more pigment over there on the far left, too.
A closer look … hmmmm, maybe there’s more pigment to the lower right, too?
There seems to be, but it is mostly small dots and doesn’t seem to form any clear pattern.
The grouping of elements at the upper right end of the X ( which shows up very faintly in this picture ) seems like it almost forms a burst element.
Time to take a last look back before we leave. Nice view. Note the large patch of midden.
I hope you enjoyed this brief visit to a neat little site. Some of the elements at this site, like the large X shape, are rather unusual. Others are more typical of the pictograph elements in this region. If you visit, make sure to leave no trace that you were here. This site is quite exposed, and the pictographs are slowly fading. Make sure you do nothing that would speed that process.