Petroglyphs are less often seen in Joshua Tree National Park than pictographs are but this doesn’t mean they are not there, or are rarer. They’re just harder to find, out in the quiet nooks and crannies of the Park.

This little rock panel in the center of the photo is next to a large dry waterfall and holds a few petroglyphs.

One such remote cranny, at the foot of a dry waterfall in a fairly large wash, holds a few petroglyphs. After rains the pool at the foot of the dry waterfall fills with water and remains that way for quite a while. It still had some stagnant water in it when we passed this spot, weeks after the last rains in the area.

Unfortunately my photos are not very good, since they were snapped in a hurry as we crankily made our way along a super sandy wash in hot temperatures after many hours out in the desert ( and carrying a load of camera equipment, too! ) This site is such an effort to get to that I might not go that way again for more photographs.

Still, I wanted to share them because this location is interesting enough in its own right.

A number of the petroglyphs I’ve found in JTNP have been in just this kind of environment: below a dry waterfall with no obvious habitation site nearby. Many dry waterfalls have some sort of natural tank at their base, even if it is just a sandy depression worn by the water, so it seems as if they may make good habitation spots. Unless the tank has a rocky base the water may be very ephemeral.

In my opinion petroglyphs in the area in and around JTNP are found often enough at the base of dry waterfalls that it is not a coincidence.  After all, the desert does not lack for varnished rocks to carve designs on!

Yes, definitely petroglyphs. They are not very deeply pecked and the light wasn’t too good, but there is definitely a circle with lines in the top left, almost like a shaman with a headdress, and also some hash marks top right. The remainder of the stone seems covered with geometric, diamond-patterned designs.

Some of the sites, such as the cupules at Twin Tanks, may hold additional meaning linked to fertility. It is also possible that the rock surfaces were simply handy when migrating tribes passed through and used the pools of water in the tanks at the feet of the waterfalls.

At this site the petroglyphs are all on a single rather nondescript little panel. The only distinguishing feature of it is that it is slightly more varnished than the other rocks in the vicinity, and that was probably reason enough for its choosing.

A final look at the whole panel.

These petroglyphs may be the product of a shamanistic trance: the hash marks at the top right could be a rake-like element and the diamond pattern down the middle is reminiscent of a design that often occur at entoptic sites, thought to represent the rattlesnake – a powerful animal and guide on a vision quest.

Still, we don’t know for sure and I’ve never heard mention of this little site anywhere else so I don’t have anybody else’s thoughts to go on, either!

If you do stumble across this site, look from a distance and do not touch or disturb the designs. petroglyphs or no, they should be left alone to prevent any accidental damage.