This site sits on the southern bank of a small ephemeral drainage that leads into the creek running below the “Shooting Star” pictograph site, and forms part of the same Tübatulabal summer settlement.

A large, sloped boulder leans towards the south, and on a natural shelf at workable height, several fairly shallow mortar holes are present.

Mortar holes are often a hint that interesting discoveries may be just around the corner. They do not disappoint in this case: turning westerly after examining these mortars to take a look at the sloped overhang of a larger boulder reveals a wonderful pictograph panel tucked away under the sloped surface.

This panel is much more vivid than the “Shooting Star” panel further south, due to it being mostly protected from the elements by the overhang it sits under.

The panel is made up of two sections. On the far southern end of the panel there are two large anthropomorphs. The larger of the two has a curious half-circle connecting its head with a similarly sized circle above it, and there is also a large splotch of pigment just above its head. This slender figure has more or less proportional limbs – the arms are angled at the elbows and one leg stretches downward while the other is angled towards the companion figure. Between it and the adjacent figure there is an abstract design.

The second figure is about half high to the first, has fingers but no arms to speak of, and the bottom portion of the design may have exfoliated away, erasing any trace of legs.

These figures are somewhat isolated from the main panel, which stretches across the width of the rock shelter and, like the site further south, bears a design reminiscent of keeping tally of something – but what? Time? Births? Deaths? Some other set of events? Perhaps an aid to recounting events from the times of myth and legend?

There is no way we can know now.

This busy pictograph panel has many striking elements. While the hash-marked horizontal line forms the centerpiece, the exquisitely rendered circular element to the right immediately draws the eye. Another notable feature is several anthropomorphs along the tally-marked line. This suggests a historic record of some sort – but again, this is all interpretive speculation, no more.

The central line terminates abruptly towards the left, ending with a non-remarkable hash mark.

The first discernible anthropomorph is located above the fifteenth and sixteenth marks moving northwards ( right ) from this termination point.

There is more red pigment above and below the tally-mark line to the left of this figure, but no distinctive designs pop out from this pigmentation.

Continuing northwards along the line, the twenty-seventh to twenty-ninth tally marks are straddled by the second anthropomorph.

This figure appears to be in a style similar to the smaller of the two anthropomorphs to the left of this design, with a thicker body and short arms.

A curved outline sits between it and the next anthropomorph.

Between these two figures but below the tally-mark line, there is a small but distinct anthropomorph with its hands extended downwards, bent 90 degrees at the elbow. To the left of this figure there are what appears to be a couple more of similar size, spaced at regular intervals.

The main tally-line is washed out beyond the thirty-ninth tally-mark.

At this point the design becomes very faded, possibly because a rain channel from the rock lip has washed away the pigment over the years. It is possible to tell that the tally line continues on, and also that some designs were present above and below it, though those designs can now only be guessed at.

A slight bulge in the rock face has protected the next area from damage. The hash marks continue – after eleven clearly visible marks, an antropomorph is inserted into the space where the marks were drawn up to this point.

This anthropomorph is unusual in that it stands directly on the line, unlike the others which are drawn above or below it. It is also a digimorph, having distinct fingers and toes. While some of the other anthropomorphs have fingers, none have toes as clearly drawn as this figure’s. Finally, it also has a line emanating from its head, but unlike the curved line of the large anthropomorph to the south, this extends upwards from its head.

Applying DStretch to this figure shows some additional details – on its right it appears to be accompanied by three smaller, more crudely rendered anthropomorphs.

Also to its right is a shape that … kind of looks like a duck swimming towards the viewer while looking to its left … that is bisected by the tally-mark line.

To the right of the anthropomorph there might be one more figure, but the markings are too faint to discern anything for sure.

To the right of the gap to make room for the digimorph there are 23 more marks made before a branch splits off towards the striking circular element.

This branch contains 14 hash marks before joining with the circular element, which is very carefully drawn, with an outline of near uniform thickness, a well-positioned central dot, and 22 spokes between the central dot and the edge.

The spokes do not touch the outside line and for the most part not the internal dot, either.

From this branch the main tally line continues on for another 23-25 tally marks, tapering off as it goes.

Above the split there is a rake-like element, which possibly is meant to be interpreted along with some lines above and to its left to form a symbol that also appears at other locations in the general area this site is found.

Above and to the left of this rake-like element there is an hourglass-shaped element, its top larger than the bottom, with negative space at the joint. ( Refer to the main panel image to see this element in detail. The image above shows its lower portion in the top left. )

This hourglass element is not the only abstract symmetrical element present in this panel.

Shifting our attention back to the beginning of this panel for a moment, a geometric shape is picked out with disjointed lines above the initial grouping of anthropomorphs.

A DStretch enhancement seems to confirm what the initial photograph suggests: the faded color to the north of this design is a complementary design, creating a roughly symmetrical figure.

The panel is rounded out by what appears to be an large, indistinct blotch of pigment towards the tapering end of the tally line. However, closer examination and image manipulation reveals a surprising find! Here can be found another, very faded anthropomorph, styled like the southernmost anthropomorph with a semi-circle above its head.

This shelter is fairly large and cooler inside than the outside temperatures. Since the boulder with the mortar hole shelf blocks much of the view, it lends itself to introspective gazing at the pictograph panel.

Also in the immediate vicinity is a smaller overhang containing some poorly defined pictographs, and a large rock shelter with obvious smoke residue on the ceiling.

This smaller shelter contains a couple of indistinct pictographs, one of which can be seen just past the right corner of the bush in the left foreground in the photo above.

The ceiling shows obvious smoke damage from fires. There is also two indistinct charcoal-drawn figures in this shelter, one of which is shown here.

Finally, a little ways uphill from the smaller shelter, there is quite a large overhang that shows plenty of smoke damage on the ceiling. This overhang has a rough floor and has no visible pictographs at all.

This site is a splendid site to visit. If you do so, please respect it and leave it as you found it. Do not touch the pictographs with anything – not your hands, not a stick, not anything to outline or alter them. They are fragile and precious. Leave them as you found them for others to admire.