Now here’s a site that I’ve spent some time hunting for! Even though I first found it years ago, I’m only now getting around to writing about it, after we’ve been back to take some more pictures of it. It is in an area of Joshua Tree National Park I’ve visited often, but it isn’t really obvious. You kind of have to know that it is there.

My only clue to find it was that it was in a hollow rock, so I spent an insane amount of time eyeing the huge granite boulders, wondering whether they were solid or not, and walking around them looking for a way in. How often do you see someone march up to a boulder with a speculative glint in their eye before they start circling it and bending down looking for hidden entrances? Looks like they got a touch to much desert sun to the head when they start doing that, I’ll tell you!

Without any clear idea of where to look we left a lot of strange tracks in the desert. On my GPS these tracks meander all over, growing spikes as likely valleys or gullies are investigated, and sporting plentiful knots as large boulders are found and circled.

It was a rainy day in Joshua Tree National Park when we finally found this site. We were poking around in the gentle misting rain, enchanted by the musical notes of water gurgling down little gullies and pouring over tiny waterfalls. It isn’t always the best idea to be out in the desert when it rains – flash floods is a real danger – so we kept a careful eye on our surroundings.

After just the right amount of walking and with the sweet smell of the wet desert all around us, we walked up to a towering boulder and spotted a low entrance. Once inside you can stand upright and there is also a handy outcropping to sit on. Suddenly dry and cozy, we glanced around the interior. Except for the elements right by the entrance the pictographs are completely protected and are still crisp and bright.

Sitting inside the hollow rock, looking back towards the entrance. This wide-angle shot shows many of the elements that will be discussed next in context.

There’s no sign of habitation near this site – no grinding slicks or mortars, no obvious midden or lithic scatter – but the boulder itself, large enough for multiple people to sit under but not tall enough to stand up in, bears signs of fire on the entry lip. There is also a curious fire-blackened hole in the rock right by the entry. I haven’t seen something like that before.

This picture was taken looking to the left of the entrance. There is a Rectilinear element with seven enclosed lines quite close to the entrance, here visible at the lower right of the picture. The burst element visible upper top center is at the apex of the boulder’s internal cavity. Some tiny tally lines, carefully divided in half, are nestled below the burst in the lower center of the photograph. To the left, more tally marks are drawn along the natural curve of the hollow. These elements will be shown in more detail later.

The same picture with DStretch

This poorly focused photo ( sigh – it happens sometimes ) shows the rear of the hollow. The tally lines seen towards the left in the previous picture are now on the right. There is a scratched petroglyph on the left of this picture. This might be a modern element. The scratches certainly appears fresh but then again they do not line up with the modern vandal’s tendency to scribble a date or a name. So this petroglyph could well be contemporary to the pictographs, with its sheltered location rather than recency accounting for its unvarnished appearance.

Another overview shot to show the elements close by the entrance. The two elements to the left we just examined. The tally marks close by the entrance have been weathered somewhat, and in this picture the smudging around the maze-like geometric element is evident as well. There are also some squiggle lines at the top right of the picture and another set of tally lines lower right.

Near the entrance the pictographs are overlaid with a thin film of dried mud; this kind of deposit is common in the area. What makes it unusual here is that these pictographs are a good 4 feet off the ground.

This shows the apparently deliberate erasure of lines in the geometric element more clearly. The small soot-blackened hole in the granite is also visible.

The tally marks above the entrance lip. The soot deposits seem to be superimposed on the pictographs. Also note the smudged, washed out tally lines below the washed out lines of the geometric element. This angle also makes clear that the hash marks taper off and grow fainter as they march away from the entrance. Finally, note the careful little dabs of pigment, almost cross-shaped, between some of the tally marks.

Closer look at the delicate squiggle lines that we first saw in the photo showing the entrance. These lines are horizontal. The photo was rotated to capture them more clearly.

The burst element, nestled in its little alcove right at the top of the hollow.

The Rectilinear element. Darker spots are splattered over the pictographs lines.

The little collection of hash marks.

This site is still in pristine condition. It is tucked away under the boulder and thus protected from the elements. Many pictographs in this area were painted on open rock faces and have almost completely washed away. In their protected home these pictographs stand every chance of enduring for as long as willful destruction passes them by.

To that end: if you visit, remember to only look and take photos. Do not touch or trace the pictographs! This will damage them. Even a single touch is not “nothing” or “just one touch, it can’t hurt” – no, the pigment is fragile and easily worn away by a series of “one touch can’t hurt” touches. Take pictures, enjoy the rare sight of pictographs still appearing as they did the day they were first painted, and leave the site as you found it for the visitors who will follow in your footsteps.