I first visited this site about three years ago in the dead of winter. During our first visit we encountered the remnants of a recent cold snap: little drifts of snow and frozen tanks of water. Most people don’t associate Joshua Trees and towering White Tank granite boulders with snow, but if you visit Joshua Tree National Park at the right time you’re in for a surprising treat.
During that visit we crunched our way up the frozen washes. Instead of slogging through soft sand we were walking on top of frozen sand! We made our way past frozen pools of water and carefully scrambled over icy boulders. Granite is slick enough when dry – add a nice layer of ice on top and you risk your tailbone with every scramble.
The photographs I took during that first visit were not very good so I revisited the site recently. I was glad to see the site still doing well, with absolutely no vandalism.
The pictograph boulder. There are red, white and black pictographs under the low overhang at the left. The much higher overhang in the middle predominantly hosts red pictographs but red, white and black pictographs can also be found in the low tunnel to the right.
While hunting for pictographs I will often joke that a candidate boulder is “not the right kind of rock”. Over time you think that you develop a feel for what kinds of surfaces and what shapes of boulders even are more likely to have dabs of pigment on them.
During the first visit I found a nice candidate boulder – just the right kind of rock, I thought – about 50 yards from the actual site. I peered into its concave interior for the longest time, trying to decide whether the red streaks were natural pigment or pictographs. After a while I noticed my companion had wandered off.
I figured that he had wandered over to another nearby boulder that I had dismissed as “the wrong kind of rock” and went over to have a look. And sure enough, there he was, quietly examining the pictographs while he waited to see how long it would take before I gave up on my bogus rock and come see what he was up to!
This is one of the finest sites in Joshua Tree National Park. As other visitors to this site — most notably the dzrtgrls, whose excellent website have done much to lure me into this kind of backcountry traveling — have noticed, the symbolism at this site seems strongly tied to ceremonial rebirth. We’ll get to exactly why in a bit.
The pictographs are all on a hulking monolith that faces towards a shallow wash. The side facing the wash is hollowed out and this is where most of the pictographs are.
The boulder has a low, cramped overhang on its northeastern side. There are several multi-colored pictographs in this overhang. The common pictograph colors – red, white and black – are all in use. The lines themselves are crisp and uniform and the pigment is thinly and evenly spread on the rock. These pictographs were probably painted with a brush and thin paint – the easiest way to get this kind of effect.
This panel is very similar to some of the panels at Alister’s Cave in terms of its style.
It is hard to tell for sure, but it appears that the different colors were added at different times – perhaps red, followed by black, then white.
A DStretch enhancement shows the black elements a little more clearly and the red element much more vividly.
This rake symbol is painted under the same overhang. This element appears to be deliberately painted in three colors – the main element is red, but it has a white outline and some traces of black pigment, too.
This DStretch algorithm all but hides the black pigment but the white lines it highlights gives an idea of what the shape used to look like. If anything it reminds me of the Protea flower that is indigenous to Africa.
An unusual find: these sunburst-type elements are overwhelmingly depicted in red pigment but here is one painted in black!
A DStretch enhancement of the black sunburst. Note that one end has two rows of notch marks and the other end ends in a knot. The black streak running through the photo from top left to lower center is a soot deposit. At one time fires were lit in the shelter.
The view back into the lower overhang. The elements just discussed are visible in the background. ( You can click the picture to see a much larger version. ) In the foreground there is a thick jumble of red Linear and Curvilinear symbols. This second overhang is tall enough to stand up in. The black markings are soot deposits from fires lit in this shelter.
The carefully drawn white Rectilinear element is immediately obvious here, but there is also a black element above it and three very deliberate dabs of pigment down the center of the picture. The upper dab is surrounded by white pigment and the lower one has smaller red dots around it.
DStretch does a fine job of highlighting all three pigments. Note the notched rake-like left side of the white element, and the second white Rectilinear symbol below it. The black arc to the right of the white element is soot deposits from fires lit in the shelter.
The soot deposits are tell-tale evidence that this shelter had some sort of use beyond the purely ceremonial.
I have poked around in the vicinity and not discovered any obvious habitation sites so I am inclined to think that this site may have been a seasonal spot, used annually to gather foodstuffs. There is a portable metate ( a smallish loose rock with a smooth depression made when food was ground on it ) nearby, and also a small scattering of sherds.
The Serrano were the most likely occupants of this site – this whole area falls broadly into their territory and the style of the elements bear resemblance to others at known Serrano occupation sites in Joshua Tree National Park.
A closer look at the next panel. Note the superimposed white elements in the upper right quadrant of the picture: some bursts, an encircled chevron symbol, and other Rectilinear elements. There is also a large red rake element visible in the upper center.
With DStretch the rake element is clearly visible in the upper left center. To the lower right of it there is a large spoked “wagon-wheel” circle. Further down the white encircled chevrons stand out. Below these chevrons there is another a white burst element in the lower right third of the picture.
Towards the wash side of the boulder the ceiling drops down to form a hollowed-out overhang. This wide-angle shot flattens the perspective but also shows the elements inside this overhang in context with the previous panel.
For context, the rake element in the upper left of the previous picture is at the lower right here. In the right center of the picture there is a large squiggle – another element common to the Southwest. Yet another circle with spokes is visible top center. Under the overhang is a dense cluster of Linear elements. Some are also rake-like.
To the right of the previous pictures is the back wall of the ceiling. The vivid circular spoke element immediately draws the eye but there are some other faded elements in this picture as well.
DStretch shows the rest of the panel. There’s been some exfoliation damage in the center of the photo and the elements there are largely destroyed, but another large spoked circle is still visible lower left center, and in the upper left is an element that looks vaguely like an antropomorphic outline.
There are several more red elements above the spoked circle in the previous picture ( here shown in the lower left ). Some areas of the rock face exfoliated away, but a rake element, a spiral, a large fishbone element and a geometric symbol are still visible. This panel also looks like it has the only anthropomorph on this boulder, close to the center of the picture.
Mixing in some DStretch magic makes the digitate anthropomorph in the center more obvious. It is angled top left to bottom right in the center of the picture. There is also a nice large sunburst-type element to its left that’s been partly destroyed by exfoliation. Concentric circles, a rake, and other elements round out the panel.
Just these elements by themselves are already more than enough to make this site a very exciting find – but we haven’t even touched on the most interesting feature of it!
That would be the low, smooth tunnel running under the right edge of the boulder – visible in the first overview picture and shown in more detail below.
It is this feature, this long narrow tunnel, that lends this site the nickname the dzrtgrls gave it. The entrance of the tunnel is adorned with symbols known to be associated with girls’ puberty rituals: diamond motifs.
The tunnel. It is rather longer than it appears in this picture. The boulder face above the tunnel appears bare at first glance but there is a red and black pictograph element above and somewhat to the left of center.
The diamond motif close to the front entrance of the tunnel. White elements are also present.
Knowing what these symbols mean makes it easy to imagine what rituals took place here. A Serrano girl on the threshold of womanhood crawls through the constrictive tunnel and emerges back into the world, symbolically born again as an adult.
A little deeper into the tunnel there is a delicate little fishbone pictograph surrounded by several small dabs of red pigment.
The tunnel really is cramped, barely fitting an adult on hands and knees. I wormed through on my elbows with my butt tucked in, careful not to brush the sides of the tunnel.
Of course it was just my luck that some cholla spikes and other miscellaneous pointy desert fauna had found their way into the tunnel, and most of them hitched a ride out with me!
Low on the tunnel wall, close to the floor is a delicate red element. In the gloom its features are a little hard to make out.
A good dose of DStretch shows the element more clearly, including the row of chevrons radiating upward from it.
Nevertheless, I emerged back into the daylight at the back of the boulder with a feeling of awe. Many, if not most, pictograph and petroglyph sites seem to be out of our reckoning nowadays, their cultural meaning lost, but this site seems to proudly broadcast what its function was.
When finding a pictograph or petroglyph site in the wild, on one boulder among many, or on one single volcanic outcropping in a valley that has miles of outcroppings you can’t help but wonder: what made this particular rock more suitable for a pictograph panel than another? What was it that spoke to the creator of the art and made this boulder more powerful / suitable / impressive than the rock next to it?
While we do know that petroglyph and pictograph sites were often considered sites of power, we don’t know how you can tell which locations are and aren’t powerful. Sometimes there is a strong correlation with a natural feature, such as being near water, or a deeper than normal overhang or hollow that served as a gateway to the spirit world, but this doesn’t always hold.
In the case of this site there is no great mystery: it appears as if this boulder was chosen specifically for the tunnel running through it. It also appears that important and impressive rituals took place here.
It feels as if this site allows for a rare touch between the modern Western worldview and the worldview that was held by the creators of this site – we can touch base on the importance of passage into the adult world, when we leave behind the children we were and assume the new responsibilities of the adults we will be.
Let’s look at some more pictures. The tunnel is longer than it appears to be in photos and it is just a little bit claustrophobic to tuck yourself in under the rock with your camera in front of your nose, taking pictures of the pictographs.
Glancing back at the tunnel entrance. I am laying down on my back and taking the photo across my body, slightly less than halfway through the tunnel. And it is about to narrow down! Just right of center in the photo is the diamond motif I already talked about. The white fishbone element that was also shown is just above and to the left of it, and in the remainder of the photo you can see several other, less distinct red and white pictographs. The black areas are soot deposits.
Moving forward again. The view is in the opposite direction from the view in the previous picture. We’re almost at the end of the tunnel!
The upper entrance of the tunnel has some thickly painted red elements as well, mostly Linear in form. The whole lip of the tunnel’s upper entrance is smeared with red pigment.
The red pigment used here has a dark red undertone, similar to pigment I’ve seen in other places, such as the “Comet Cave” site, which lies in a completely different tribe’s territory. This pigment almost looks like thick red blood, certainly very striking.
The red and white elements by the entryway. These geometric symbols are all abstract. The zig-zag line may depict lightening bolts, associated with power, and the large element with the circular ending could be a dragonfly. Far more likely is that these pictograph had a meaning we no longer know.
A close look at the darker pigment. The white lines were scratched over the red at some later point.
The view when peering back through the tunnel from the upper entrance to the lower. The red elements just inside the tunnel are visible on the left, and behind them is the thickly smeared pigment. The concave rock visible beyond the far exit is a metate.
The metate can be seen in the foreground in this picture.
Getting to this site requires some effort. It isn’t close to any habitation sites I know about, but it is situated in a pleasant location and close to seasonal tanks that collect rain water during the wet season.
This distance from well-known, more permanent habitation sites coupled with its pleasant location and metate makes it probable that it was at least a seasonal settlement. This part of Joshua Tree National Park is at higher elevation than the southeastern Pinto Basin and therefore gets colder in winter, so it typically wasn’t occupied year round.
This site has persevered unharmed to date. If you visit it, be very mindful of brushing up against the pictographs, especially in the tunnel. Most of the pictographs are in cramped locations and will require you to lie on your back to see them properly.
Don’t try to duck in under the overhangs – you may hit your head on pictographs! Scoot in instead and sit on the ground and look up. Make sure not to touch any of the pictographs. They are very fragile. Finally, be sure to leave the small sherds that other visitors have collected and placed near the metate in place. All archeological artifacts are protected by Federal law.