We’re working our way down a wash deep within the Mojave Desert, examining the volcanic outcropping on one side of the wash for petroglyphs, and finding a ton of them. There is a lot of different styles and revarnishing, so this wash wasn’t used just once. Therefore, we’re going slowly and not letting the sheer abundance of petroglyphs overwhelm us.
Let’s check out the next section!
Just a little further along the wash is a rather busy stretch of petroglyphs. These are exciting because here, too, we find older and newer petroglyphs overlaid right on the same boulder. We’ll go over the whole thing in detail – following our direction of travel, which is right to left in this picture.On the right the panel is dominated by Rectilinear grid-like designs that all seem to be around the same age. Down below, just above the ground, are some abstract elements, and a little burst. There is also a very spindly grid design scratched into the surface between all these elements, an obvious later addition.A close-up look at the little burst element. Here, too, I wonder about the crack in the rock face and the petroglyph. What happened first? The crack is not new – it shows about the same amount of patina as the rest of the boulder. Yet, why position the petroglyph there, where the crack means the very edges of it has to be awkwardly extended over the crack? And yet again, if the petroglyph was there first, how was it created without any patina on the boulder? No, the crack almost certainly predates the petroglyph, which makes its placement fascinating – was it so important to put it there, and not just a little lower where the crack wouldn’t interfere?The two elements to the left of that one fit neatly on their panels without extending over the crack running above them. The spindly, scratched Rectilinear grid is also visible. It is an obvious later addition, with a long scratch crossing the petroglyph to its left. Vandalism? Maybe.The larger of the pecked grids. It fills out most of its panel but spills into the crack a little at the bottom. The element next to it freely extends over the crack above it.Some damage from a chunk of rock breaking off, and the second grid element, which has some appendages up top and to the sides..I am really getting into the details here, fascinated by the placement of the elements. In some vision quest traditions cracks in the rock face can represent entries to the spirit world. I wonder if some of these petroglyphs are pecked as close to the cracks as they are with this in mind.A fussy little “snake” element winds back and forth on this part of the rock. It is lighter in color than the elements around it, so it is probably newer. Even though it is also in a pecked style its lines are also thinner.In the center of the overview shot, these elements are pecked under a little overhang. They are not as detailed as some of the other petroglyphs and the pecks are not as closely spaced together.Some rather strange meandering petroglyphs sit right above those. They are about the same hue as the coiled snake, and also feature the thinner pecked line that the snake does. I think it likely that these elements are all later additions to this panel.Well, here is a panel where there are definitely petroglyphs from more than one time, in some cases overlaid over one another. I see at least three different sets of petroglyphs represented here based on the coloring – very light, medium light ( the majority ) and a few very dark elements ( like the bisected circle towards the top right, underneath the rightmost of the half burst elements.Let’s start there. Here is a closeup of that part of the panel. We have the half-burst element, a fishbone-type element with a hollow head, and the much more faded bisected circle. This panel has some repeating elements – two bursts, two of these fishbone-style elements, one with a solid “head” and one with a hollow one, and solid circles with lines extending down.To the right of this panel is another with the lighter abstract element obviously overlaying the older elements, which may be zoomorphs or even rudimentary anthropomorph. There is also a pattern of dots pecked above that.Just to the right, up on the main rock face, there is a pattern of larger dots, of the “medium light” colored patina. It looks like the middle row and the bottom right dot may have been refreshed at some point since they are a little lighter than the others, but it could also be that these were pecked or rubbed with more force, removing more of the patina.Two solid circles connected by a line, with a grid design around it. There is also a wriggle line extending out from the bottom left of the grid, and also from the left of the top circle. The latter line has been overlaid by another, lighter design.The lighter design. It skirts the crack in the rock face with its upper portion stopping short of the crack and the lower portion going right up to it but not crossing it. There are older designs of the “medium light” coloring all behind it. Over to its left is a design with a herringbone motif and hollow circle head, reminiscent of the two later fishbone design elements. Up in the top right are two nested ”U” shaped elements, quite deeply pecked.The leftmost burst seems to have digitate left and right rays.An odd abstract design rounds out the panel.Just down the wash from this panel is another with some rather odd elements on it. This seems stylistically completely different from the two panels we just saw, doesn’t it?Note the elements on the right-hand side, and how their grouping suggest a big circle. Either part of the rock face broke away and the circle is no longer there, or they were never meant to be in a circle, or … it can be hard to tell, looking at these petroglyphs all these years later.Detail of the area under scrutiny. Apart from those elements there is also a curious “pomegranate” outline – a bulb with an open mouth” and a little trident-like shape.A meticulously-pecked little element, made up of a horizontal line and evenly spaced “leaves” or rows or dots on either side. Note how it is much more delicate than the reversed “C” shape to its right. To the left if that are some curious elements that seem more scratched or rubbed than pecked. An 8 with a tail. This element is suddenly lighter in color than the others – maybe it is a bit newer. Most of the petroglyphs are intact but in places the years took a toll.A little B-shaped petroglyph hidden right at ground level.We’re on our way downstream to see what is next – but first, let’s look at this panel, half buried. there may well be more to see under the sand of this wash, but it is not for me to try and find out.In the background of the previous picture, in the shaded alcove, this petroglyph was hiding. This site is somewhat unusual in that the petroglyphs are often low down, at ground level. Many sites have them at or above eye level. In this case, the higher parts of the outcropping are almost always without petroglyphs.A last look back. We leave the panels we just examined in peace and make our way down the wash to see what else is waiting for us.
I hope you are enjoying this walk into the past with us. It is a bright spring morning and the sun is bearing down, but we have our sun hats and long sleeves, and we’re enjoying the walk!
