This is a little site in Tübatulabal territory, on the bank of a seasonal creek. The site is a bit unusual in that the pictographs are not painted on granite. Instead, they are on the side of a slate outcropping on the creek’s eastern bank.
There are also some bedrock mortars down by the creek bed – beautiful conical mortars, worn about ten inches deep. One of the mortars is on a smallish boulder that has washed down the creek since it was originally made. We know this because the boulder is now wedged at an angle in the creek bed. There are also a couple of grinding slicks on a nearby boulder.
This site seems to be a small hamlet site. It is in an area that was part of the Tübatulabal’s winter settlement region. The pictographs do not feel typically Tübatulabal – that is to say, they do not show some of the Yokuts influences that pictographs further west of here show, and they do not include the long tally lines that seem to be common in Tübatulabal pictographs. Instead, they are not dissimilar in style to the elements found at the “What lies beneath” site, which in turn is closer to Kawaiisu territory.
Let’s have a look!
This site is in a very pleasant location – a seasonal creek, some trees for shade … good spot! You can see the outcroppings the pictographs are painted on in the background.
Across the creek this granite boulder hosts a nice grinding slick. This may have been a small hamlet, or a seasonal processing site.
This boulder sits almost right in the creek bed, next to a small drop that would have made a nice little waterfall. There are two bedrock mortars on it.
One of the two bedrock mortars. It is pretty deep, about 10 inches or so, and conical in shape. This is a really pretty bedrock mortar.
The other mortar is mostly filled in with dirt, which I didn’t excavate.
A little downstream of the two bedrock mortars there is another boulder with a smaller bedrock mortar. This boulder has washed downstream and is now tilted.
Time to walk up to the site! There is an interesting streak of red on this outcropping. Let’s go look!
Ah – is that an antropomorph? I see some other red pigment as well. Let’s go closer.
I don’t think this is really an anthropomorph, not with the connected circles, but it may be. Note how the paint is roughly applied on the surface towards the bottom of the figure.
Some DStretch.
That wasn’t the only pigment we saw in the overview picture. There’s also this, higher up on the rock face. Hard to make it out, though. Let’s apply some DStretch to this too.
Not particularly insightful! Looks like a roughly drawn circle.
This is a little more distinctive-looking, though. This little element is lower down the rock face, closer to the big figure we looked at first.
What you can see with the naked eye is pretty much what is there.
Time to check out the next rock face, a bit downstream from the one we were at before. You can see some red right in the center, so let’s use DStretch again.
Not bad! There are several elements here. Down and to the right are some more.
The lower left element is just a simple line.
Oh wait! Not just a simple line. There is a very thin additional line coming off of the left, and some other, faint lines that DStretch grabbed for us.
The elements in the middle of this panel looked quite interesting, so let’s examine them next.
Here they are. There’s a double circle and some lines. It appears that parts of the panel have exfoliated away.
Let’s take a small step back, because it appears there are also some elements down at the base of the outcropping.
Yes, there are some more lines close to the ground, but they’re not very distinctive.
Let’s move on to the other part of this panel. Looks like there are some nice elements here as well.
Very interesting! That cross-shaped element with a tail reminds me of an element at the Steam Wells site that is said to depict a shaman transforming back to his human form after a vision quest in his snake form. We also see another double circle ( right at ground level on the right ) and some other scattered elements.
A short distance away we find another rock with pigment.
There might be traces of some handprints here. The lower left part might even be someone’s hand and entire forearm, pressed into the rock. Pretty interesting.
Parts of the rock face seem very uninteresting – just little specks.
Still looks like little specks.
Just as we think we’ve seen everything and are preparing to leave the site something high up on the outcropping catches my companion’s eye. So we get the camera out again and take a picture. Here is a very cropped version of it.
That is a nice find — a little circle made of dabbed dots.
This is a very nice little site, situated on a creek, with some mortars nearby. It is easy to imagine a small hamlet here, maybe a single family. I enjoyed visiting this site very much, and if you visit it, make sure to leave the site pristine, just like it is now.
The last time I visited this site, there was a nice stand of nicotiana near the mortars. I notice that it is often found near other hamlets as well. Perhaps left overs from cultivation at this site?
Oh, I would almost bet that is the case! At some point I read a paper that examined the connection between rock art and nicotiana or datura, and I believe there’s some evidence of sites where cultivation ( or maybe accidental growth via dropped seeds, etc ) took place.
I don’t recall seeing nicotiana growing nearby. I did find a lean-to someone built around a tree just past the site, and that was a little creepy. Not sure if it was a local or some kids, or if it was a homeless encampment. Didn’t notice it until I had already explored the site!