Coyote Hole Rock Art #2 - The BAD - Joshua Tree

As I said in the last post, this amazing site was all but ruined by decades of neglect and abuse. For many years, it has served as an isolated and well used party site by young people from the area. 

It has also been used as a large graffiti canvas, bonfire area, and trash dump. We can't blame it all on the young though. The next to last time I visited, there was ATV tire tracks all over the wash. I was deeply saddened by what I saw. I gathered up all the trash I could carry and left. What I took, barely made a dent. 

Years ago, many rocks were dynamited and used for road bed fill, by a construction crew. Many of those rocks contained petroglyphs!

I first visited this place about 50 years ago when it was pristine (the petroglyphs anyway). The next few times I saw it over the years, it was also pristine. Somewhere in between then and now, that all changed. It has become nothing short of an eyesore. 

What follows are several examples of what I saw there. As you can see, some graffiti had been removed, only to have more painted on top of it. Also, I used DStretch on some of the photos, so you could see old graffiti. There is some good news these days, I'll tell you about that at the end.

The Good News:
There is a group of people (most of them local) who have taken it upon themselves to protect and champion Coyote Hole. Feel free to follow this link to visit their FB page. "The Friends of Coyote Hole" spend a lot of time restoring, protecting, and educating folks about how important this great place is. Because of them, most if not all of the graffiti in these photos has been removed. No government agency will claim this place (to the point of protecting it), so these fine folks have gone above and beyond, to do it themselves. 

Now, if you don't mind, a little rant...
If I was the current, or past superintendent, archaeologist, or other official at nearby Joshua Tree National Park. I would be embarrassed to admit that I had sat idly by and done nothing, while this ancient cultural treasure was being trashed. To me, it doesn't matter if it isn't within the NP boundaries. It is darn close! They should have been involved! The same thing applies to the local governments.


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Coyote Hole Rock Art #1 - The GOOD - Joshua Tree

The Coyote Hole rock art site is on the edge of the town of Joshua Tree (in Quail Springs Wash) and just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. The area was also used for habitation by the Serrano and/or Cahuilla Indians and is several thousand years old. At one time, it was considered one of the most important rock art sites in this part of the country.

Here is some of the good stuff...

Somebody had to do some climbing to create the petroglyphs on the top right, of the tallest rock. It is about 40 feet off the ground.

A closer look at the symbols. As you can see, much of the surface of this large boulder has eroded off as the centuries have passed.

Another tall stack of rocks containing petroglyphs.

It looks like there are a couple of layers of symbols in this panel. Some of them have almost been reclaimed by "desert varnish." Re-varnishing is one of the methods archaeologists use to date petroglyphs. The style of the petroglyphs can also indicate a time frame.

The image just to the right of center is called a dumbbell (as in a dumb-bell used for weight lifting). Of course a dumbbell is usually a straight line (or bar) connecting to round shapes. Of course, there were no "dumbbells" back then, and the jury is still out as to what this particular type of design represented. HOWEVER, when I was a youngster my granny told me that the traditional "dumbbell" image represented a conversation, negotiation, or communication, between two people. THIS image represented the same thing, but with another person "in the middle" acting as an intermediate, who passed the words of one person to another. It may have been needed because the two people needed someone to mediate what they were talking about, or because there was too much distance for the two to communicate directly. Maybe I'll gather up various types of "dumbbells" together that represent several types of communication.

My granddaughter Tay still loves this stuff. Note the graffiti on the large rock to her right and left.

Various designs. The one in the middle looks to be anthropomorphic (giving human like characteristics to something that is not human).

This panel contains six different images of atlatls. The atlatl is a device used to throw a spear, or arrow like shaft, before the advent of the "bow and arrow." This also aids archaeologists in dating petroglyphs.

This is the panel containing the images in the previous two photos.

A large mumber of images in this area.

Many images, some of which were apparently made by different tribes, in a different style, over a very long time period. Some are of the Great Basin Abstract (Curvilinear) style, and others are Rectilinear. There are a couple more Anthropomorphic images here also.

Rough country...

Although the large mortar in the middle has been there for a very long time, the rocks appear to be a fairly recent addition. I (and others) think that it is supposed to look like a fire ring. However, something just now struck me. Why would somebody go to all the trouble to arrange these heavy rocks in a circle? There isn't any visible evidence of fires in, or near the mortar.  In the next photo you can see a large rock (bottom right) that clearly has been "worked" and probably used as a grinding surface. Just a thought, but we will never know...

Coming next...

Coyote Hole Rock Art #2 -The BAD - Joshua Tree