This pictograph shelter forms part of a much larger habitation complex.
The pictographs themselves are not particularly special – in fact, some are fairly rudimentary – but the whole area is of archaeological interest because of midden fields and other evidence that this was an extensively used habitation site at one time. Across a small open space from this overhang there is another, much larger shelter, and while there are no pictographs in that second shelter the soot deposits on the ceiling shows that it was inhabited too.
The pottery sherds that archaeologists recovered at this site point to Serrano or Cahuilla occupation, dating from around a thousand or so years ago to historic times. The site also yielded lithic scatter and midden deposits, the later radiating away from the rock shelter.
Nowadays no artifacts are left to be found – visitors have plundered the surface of all that remained.
Let’s take a look at the shelter and its pictographs. Even though the elements are fairly rudimentary, a few of them are intricate in their own right and they are all interesting as markers of a faded civilization.
A sight guaranteed to quicken the pulse of a certain kind of desert wanderer – a nice overhang with soot deposits and some red pigment!
The north side of the overhang’s entrance. There is a pictograph right by the shelter mouth – just left of center in this picture.
A close look at the element by the shelter entrance. This is a nice-looking element, if a little damaged by exfoliation. It looks like it could be a zoomorph.
No … now that I added DStretch, I rather think this is a bisected circle. This design is not uncommon in this region – it shows up at other nearby petroglyph and pictograph sites. Some other sites with this design include the Hidden Cave and Double Decker sites.
An overview of the left side interior. To the left are several pictograph elements, and to the right, towards the back of the shelter, extensive soot deposits. There is also a bare bedrock outcropping. Sometimes bedrock outcroppings in shelter will have grinding slicks or mortars in them. In this case, no food processing appears to have taken place inside the shelter – or at least, not the kind that required grinding.
This group of pictographs, like most of the others in the shelter, appear rudimentary. Much finer specimens can be found within a mile radius or so of this shelter.
This is one of the better executed groups of pictographs in the shelter. We can see some circular red elements and some white elements too. There appears to be a white zig-zag at the top of the photo. This is interesting – the zig-zag element occurs at some puberty ritual sites, though always in red. This white zig-zag probably means something else.
This element in that grouping seems well-drawn: confident lines of a uniform width. Note that the soot deposits overlay the element in some cases. Perhaps the symbols lost their meaning over time and covering them up with soot was not a problem, or perhaps they were meant to be decorative, not ritualistic. Or maybe they were used in a ritual at one time, such as when the tribe first moved into the shelter, but didn’t hold special meaning afterwards and they were covered by soot over time. We can only speculate. Well, let’s use some DStretch to see if we can tease more visibility out of this picture.
Ah – it is a nicely-drawn Linear element. DStretch shows a white grid with thin lines behind it, or maybe even drawn over it, that wasn’t very visible in the picture before.
Some of the elements in this picture are just a thick mass of pigment. The more legible figures here are a circular element with two tines sticking out at the top and bottom, seen at the bottom of the picture, and an indistinct figure-8 shaped element to the right of it.
A deliberate zig-zag of white pigment painted on the soot-stained ceiling.
The back wall is very soot-stained, but also has some interesting elements. The pigment on the left side seems rather indistinct but on the right side, in the lighter portion of the rock, there is a faded element that looks like a digitate anthropomorph.
Here is a closer look at that possible digitate anthropomorph. In the gloomy overhang it is hard to make it out. Another good candidate for DStretch!
Yes, that could be an anthropomorph.
This braided element often represents entoptic visions.
The braided element seen with DStretch.
Even though the pictograph elements in this shelter aren’t the most spectacular the site is still a valuable archaeological resource. If you happen to visit, please make sure not to touch the pictographs or leave any trace of your visit.