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<\/a>While wandering the outskirts of the Eastern Sierra we found this well-used bedrock mortar station. The most fascinating thing about it is how there are several very shallow holes interspersed between the deeper ones. I wonder why.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>There’s a second, smaller station a short distance away. Creating these mortar holes took some time. Can you imagine how long it took to wear a hole in granite using another piece of granite as a pestle? And how hard it was to pound that heavy stone in the mortar, over and over again?<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Finally, we see a third station, close to the creek bed running through this site. The proximity to water makes sense because if these mortars were used to grind acorns, water would be needed to leech tannin from the ground acorn.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>We wandered upslope a bit and noticed the outcropping in the background. It is massive. On our way there we travelled past the boulder in the foreground and found a single pictograph at its base, under the overhang.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Just one pictograph! It looks a little like an arrow pointing the way to the main panel.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The main outcropping has a really nice panel, though. There are also two isolated pictographs way up high on the outcropping. You can see one in the lighter colored patch at right corner of the base of the upper section of the rock. The second one is up even higher, on a darker part of the rock.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>A little bit of DStretch to have a better look at where those two small elements are. How on earth did their creator get up there? The two rocks are too far apart to form a chimney for climbing.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Let’s crouch down and look at the main panel. Unfortunately, as you can see here, the top portion of the panel exfoliated recently, taking some of the pictographs with it. ( It is the lighter colored portion of rock. ) The rest of the panel shows many sunburst elements scattered in the lower portion.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>With DStretch we get an idea of what the remainder of the panel looked like. It looks like there were some more burst elements up there. If anyone has a photo of this panel in its original state to share, I can link to it if you’re willing to share! Also note that the lower panel has a row of tally marks in the lower corner.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>When I turn my head I notice that somebody had visited here since the damage occurred and had neatly tucked the exfoliated and broken pieces under a nearby overhang to preserve them.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>In fact, when we inspect the ground below the panel we find a couple of other tiny pieces to tuck under the overhang as well.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>A short distance away there is a grinding slick on another boulder. I can see how the shade would have been attractive!<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Looking up at the towering outcropping, I wonder again how those two pictographs got up there. The bottom one is dark and well preserved – looks almost modern to me, like paint, not pigment – but the upper one looks authentic.<\/p><\/div>\n