Rocky Gap Handprint Pictographs - Red Rock Cyn NCA

Handprint pictographs are always a treat for me. I think it's because normal pictos and petros are made with tools. Handprint pictos are created from the actual placement of the hand on the surface. When compared to most other symbols, handprints seem very personal. In my mind's eye I can picture the person placing their hand on the rock. The "rock art" in this area are estimated to be about 1,000 years old. That is seven or eight centuries before the first white settlers started arriving.

You can barely see them with the naked eye.

With DStretch much more is revealed. Notice where the middle of the palm didn't make contact with the rock.

This one shows five handprints.

The rocky surface is a very large, or multiple Agave roasting pits. 

 A nice sized rock shelter

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Red Rock Wash Pictographs - Red Rock Canyon NCA

This pictograph site is in the same area as my last post. We like auto-touring, but love getting out of the jeep and exploring much more. This site isn't a secret, but we saw very few people while hiking around.

The view from where we parked the jeep.

 Straight ahead to our intended target. There is a waterfall at the end of the canyon on the left. I'll cover it in another post.

In the bottom center you can see some rock shelters used by the original inhabitants. 

 The first pictograph we saw here.

Same pictograph enhanced with DStretch. It would have been nice to see it before it started fading. 

 Hard to see anything on this wall.

 Not much better after enhancement, but there is a nice sunburst and a few other images.

Self portrait of the original owner?

A closer look at the rock shelters. 

Excuse me! Can you two get a room please? 

Rock Shelters. I'm not sure how much "barricading" these barricades actually do, but I don't blame them for trying to keep people out. 

It's hard to see in this view, but in the enhanced version below you can see...

 ...a red hand print!

I have no idea how old these pictos are. Several hundred to maybe a thousand years? They were done by either the Southern Paiute, or the Patayan who were here before them. 

We viewed another pictograph site and also one with both pictographs and petroglyphs. There are more in the area, but our time in the Las Vegas area was limited this trip. Next time. 

I hope everybody is okay with my low-key and sometimes humorous approach to these places. 


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Unknown Pictograph and Habitation Site - Joshua Tree National Park

This post is not about one of the "secret rock art sites" in Joshua Tree N.P. It's about a virtually unknown rock art site in Joshua Tree N.P. I have to give credit to someone for telling me about this place. Please see his info, at the end of this post.

In case somebody reading this wants to find it, be advised that the landscape photos in this post are not anywhere near the site. I'd like to keep this place as obscure and pristine as it is now.

This photo was taken along one of the well know trails in JT. It is not related to these pictographs 

 Neither is this one

Nor this one

Ditto here

After a long hike, and a lot of climbing in, around, and over boulders, we arrived.  My eyes lit up when I saw two milling slicks hidden in a spot that would be very hard to find. If you don't already know, a "slick," is also known as a "metate," or "grinding surface." Together, they are used to grind acorns, nuts, grains, plants, etc.

The rock has two well used surfaces on it. You see one of them just to the left of middle. As smooth as a baby's behind (as my granny always used to say), That stone wasn't sitting on the slick when I got there. I found it sitting on the ground just a foot or so away.  That rock is called a "Mano" or "hand"(para aquellos de ustedes que no hablan espanol). 😉 The presence of the mano at this site is a really big deal.

Unfortunately, it is broken. I started looking around for the other half. I don't know if this it, but it might be. It is either half of this one, or half of another, Because both were very smooth. I wasn't about to start digging around to find out. I didn't leave them on the rock, and I also didn't put them exactly where I found them. I'd hate for them to be taken by the next person who sees them. I hid them!

 Very close by was this rock shelter. 

Always happy to see the faint remains of pictographs. Note the lines in the upper left corner. I don't think I've seen any violet or purple pictographs in this area (that I can remember anyway).

 A little processing of the photo with DStretch reveals the pictographs

 You can see the grid like symbol much better in this one

 Another little hint of red in this photo

 Even after processing the photo, this still isn't very clear. 

 Another symbol (in the center)

 Look what else showed up!

The sunburst is very cool in it's own right, but look in the middle of it. Another sunburst!   I have never seen that before. The center usually is empty, or solid, or has a "dot" in the middle.
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Without the help of my friend Robert, I probably would have never found, or even known about this place. Robert is a professional photographer and has also published several books about rock climbing. You can see his photography here, or here. You can see and/or purchase his books at Amazon.




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Dead Mountains Petroglyphs - Eastern Mojave Desert

The Dead Mountains are a fairly small range in the Eastern Mojave Desert. About 20 years ago, the federal government created the Dead Mountains Wilderness area. That designation bans vehicles of any type from entering the area and assures (allegedly), that there will NEVER be any type of development allowed. The only tire tracks to be found here are those from BLM jeeps, who enter the area to enforce the laws. Like most other desert mountain ranges in the Mojave, during the summer daytime temperatures can reach deadly high levels (how about 120 degrees). That is why we were there recently and not in July!

In the early 1800's, mountain man and frontier explorer Jedediah Smith* was tasked with finding an acceptable route for crossing the brutal Mojave Desert. The route had to lend itself to both horses and wagons. The canyon in which we found these petroglyphs, is about six miles long, and was part of the very route Smith hoped to establish as part of the route for pioneers and others traveling west. He observed many of the same petroglyphs we saw there two weeks ago (love the history of that). Unfortunately, there are a few places in the canyon that were blocked by dry waterfalls, or very rugged areas. Wagons would never be able to use the route. The path was moved a little bit to the north and was eventually known as the "Mojave Road."  The Mojave Road, has an amazing history of it's own, and today is used only by four wheel drive vehicles out for a few day's adventure into the past. More about the Mojave Road, in the future.

*Jedediah Smith is credited as being the first white man to travel overland from Salt Lake City, Utah, to the Colorado River, through the Mojave Desert, and eventually into California. He is also credited with being the first United States Citizen to explore and cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains and into the Great Basin. He was also thought to be the first American to travel up the California coast into what is now called Oregon. Not much a hero to me though, because this period marks the beginning of a long period of genocide, inflicted upon the Native Americans. The Spanish deserve some of the blame also, but the later expansion of the United States from "Sea to Shining Sea, was much worse.
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Here is one of the areas deemed impassible for wagons. Now back to the beginning...

After driving about an hour from where our RV was parked, we had to go off pavement and onto this "power-line" road. Very deep sand in places and very easy to become stuck. The wilderness area starts a few hundred yards up this road and to the right. When we reached a spot just over the horizon, the driving part of this trip was over. We parked the jeep and started hiking towards the Dead Mountains. You can see a little bit of the them in the upper far right of this photo.

Did I mention that it's been getting warm and there are rattlesnakes out here? While we were hiking our way into the canyon, my wife stepped off a little eroded ledge in the wash and almost landed right on top of this guy!

Judging by his length (about 18 inches) and that he only had one rattle segment, he was clearly a youngster. However, being young doesn't make him any less dangerous or deadly. Like most snakes, they like encounters with humans, even less than we do. He went his way and we went ours. No harm done.

Working our way down wash, towards the canyon.

The actual entrance into the canyon is just to the right of center. We were hiking in the opposite direction as Jedediah Smith.

A look back

My wife on the north side, while I'm on the south.

Very rugged country in the Dead Mountains

See what is right next to the orange blotch towards the top?

A closer view. This petroglyph is very old and the desert varnish is reclaiming it. As far as we knew, the petroglyphs were only supposed to be around a spring, which was still a couple of miles into the canyon.

I don't know (or claim to know) much about geology, but I do know that those veins (of whatever it is) is an amazing sight.

You need an eagle eye to spot the petroglyphs in this jumble. The next photo is a dark horizontal rock just above center.

A cross in the center (much conjecture about exactly what it means). In the upper left are a couple "atlatls." If you don't remember, the atlatl predates the bow and arrow as the means of propelling arrows/darts and spears.

My wife is the one with the eagle eye and here she is using it.

To me, the most interesting part of this panel, are what appear to be antlers of some type. Not like the usual mountain sheep you usually see around here.

Interesting symbols in a pretty scene

Most of the petroglyphs in this canyon are geometric symbols, and referred to as being of the "Grapevine Style." There are many "styles" out there, and many of them overlap, so I'm sure they are called other things as well.

Diamonds and what looks to me like a "D" as in Damn graffiti! I hope I'm wrong, but it looks totally fresh.

LOVE the anthropomorphic symbol with the huge hands in the upper right.

This part of the canyon is covered with petroglyphs and close to a spring. If there was any habitation here, it probably took place in this area. I also say that because, it was fairly level here and the canyon seemed to drain in both directions.

Closer

Even closer. See the big hands near the bottom?

Here is the spring.

The round "baseball" looking symbol on the right part of this rock, looks very similar to a symbol in Joshua Tree. I need to find it and post it under this photo.

Where is Waldo?

This is the level area I was talking about. There were a couple of very shallow grinding stones near here. I have so many more photos from this place, but I think I've already overdone it...
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One thing I almost forgot to mention... There were more animal footprints in this canyon, then I've seen in a long time. There was one kind of animal that we saw exactly ZERO footprints from. HUMANS! Not a single print for miles.



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