Several years ago, we travelled through Western Mono territory and visited a few pictograph sites. I had somehow not gotten around to writing about this site until now.
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“The Cure” Pictographs
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“Blasted Bursts” Pictographs
This is a spectacularly large rock shelter, but unfortunately it is extensively vandalized and damaged by illegal camp fires. On top of that, the graffiti that used to be there was cleaned up by power washing the shelter! Yikes, that couldn’t have been good for the pictographs.
Despite all this damage … if you take the time to look closely, you can still find the remnants of some pictographs on the walls. The number of elements is very low for the size of the shelter, and mostly consists of burst elements. This shelter probably made a very good living area during the summer months. Maybe that is why it wasn’t covered in a whole lot of pictographs.
Shelter Rock Pictographs
I’ve read some very interesting research into this site’s purported usage as a solstice observatory site. I personally haven’t had much luck with solstice observatories so I haven’t yet investigated this aspect of the site for myself. That doesn’t mean that the possibility isn’t intriguing! It is — especially since if true, it means that this site is pretty old.
“Perilous Portal” Pictographs
Oh boy! Let me tell you about this one.
Typically, you’ll find me documenting any site I visit in some detail, complete with DStretch enhancements, overview pictures, detailed pictures to show how the elements occur relative to each other, the whole works … I really do put effort into trying to bring back some good pictures to show. Sometimes I’m dog tired from a long cross-country scramble but I still manage to pull it together. Other times ( and this site is one of them ) well, other times … I don’t quite get there. Continue reading
“Sharktooth” Petroglyphs
The petroglyphs at this site are pretty new-looking – there is not much varnishing at all – but they are very spectacular and they appear authentic. We stopped by this out of the way site one bright morning, and really enjoyed our visit. The petroglyphs are extensive and unique.
Let’s look!
“Shepherd Sector” Pictographs
Over the summer we bid farewell to the low country for a day and went roaming around the toes of the Sierra, looking for traces of the past. The drive in was my favorite kind, changing from blacktop to graded dirt to bumpy two-track to a place to park.
“Sojourner’s Solace” Pictographs
Early one morning we were headed out along a well-travelled route that we’ve followed for the start of many adventures. This time, we noticed that we could clamber our way over into a small, semi-hidden little valley. When we did that, we found a cluster of boulders with a small habitation site tucked in among them.
“Eye Of The Beholder” Pictographs
This site is a pretty small one, consisting of a single panel on a modest boulder with two very shallow bedrock mortars close by. The pictographs are still very vivid even though the site is quite exposed to the elements. I’m wondering whether this site is fairly modern – or maybe the binding agent in the pigment is particularly robust. The pigment and pictographs themselves definitely appear authentic – no modern paint used here!
“Prime Point” Petroglyphs
This is a small petroglyph site in the Mojave desert: a couple dozen glyphs on an eroded lava flow above a wash. Unfortunately, vandals have found the site too and scratched some spindly marks around or over some of the petroglyphs.
“Go Robot” Pictographs
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.