A REMARKABLE PETROGLYPH LOCALITY IN DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT Edith Wallace Rock art figures prominently among the remind- larly well to petroglyphs, for when penetrated even to ers of Indian presence and activity that dot the land- a slight depth, the rock's underlying gray color ap- scape of Death Valley National Monument. Over 100 pears, causing designs to stand out clearly against the occurrences have been discovered and recorded (Mar- dark background. Slabs of all sizes bear markings, tin 1976). Petroglyphs, designs pecked into cliff faces, including several that measure only a foot or so across. outcroppings and boulders are by far the most numer- No fewer than one hundred decorated rock faces ous. But a few pictographs, either painted on walls of are visible. Many more must lie hidden from view, rockshelters (Wallace and Taylor 1955:364-5) or be- either overturned or covered with downwash from the neath overhanging ledges (Clements 1958), have been slope above. The patterns occur singly or in combi- discovered. None of the rock art displays is more nation. Sometimes they overspread an entire surface impressive or more interesting than the one in Arrastre without any discernible order. Quite a high propor- Spring Canyon on the eastern (Death Valley) side of tion remain amazingly fresh-looking, whereas others the Panamint Mountains. Narrow, winding, and have been dimmed by the elements or made inconspicu- sparsely endowed, the canyon was poorly suited for ous by a heavy coating of desert vamish (Figure 2). human living and only relatively few traces of human A wide selection of curvilinear elements appears occupancy are found (Wallace 1956). However, a on the stone blocks. Included are circles, wavy lines well-worn trail skirting the west side shows that small and complex "meanders" (Figure 3). Several of the parties of native peoples regularly traveled through latter give unmistakable signs of having been added on their annual journey to and from pinyon groves to at different times or having had their lines broad- high up in the mountains. ened and deepened by pecking and rubbing. Worthy At variance with scanty signs of human habitation, of special mention is a large, highly visible figure com- is the canyon's wealth of rock art. Eighteen separate posed of two big concentric circles, the outer one stud- places can be seen where figures have been pecked ded with T-shaped projections (Figure 4). This verti- into rock surfaces. Mostly, these line the trail, but cal slab stands alone. several, including the largest concentration, lie a short Markings rendered with straight rather than curved distance from it. Not all the markings are alike, nor lines also appear. Among them are various arrange- do they all appear to be the same age. A few sketchily ments of parallel and crossed lines, generally called abraded and schematized human and bighorn sheep "rakes," "ladders" and "grids" by students of native figures almost certainly represent work of recent Death rock art. Since rectilinear patterns occur side by side Valley Shoshone Indians. Of obviously greater anti- with curvilinear and display the same degree of weath- quity are the deeply scored, broad-lined geometric and ering and patination, there is nothing to suggest that amorphous patterns, not a few noteworthy for their they were created at a different time or represent a complexity. separate tradition or style. An outstanding group of these older-type Recognizable naturalistic elements are all but ab- petroglyphs occurs on the blocks of stone forming a sent. Only three-a sketchy human figure, a bighorn, steep talus slope at the base of a hillside on the and an unidentified quadruped-are present. All ap- canyon's eastern side (Figure 1), almost directly op- pear to be of fairly recent origin. Conceivably, some posite the only spring. Most often, surfaces stained a geometric forms are meant to depict living things. For deep mahogany brown with desert varnish were se- example, the wavy lines resemble snakes and con- lected for decoration. These lent themselves particu- nected circles give the impression of insect bodies. Wallace A REMARKABLE PETROGLYPH LOCALITY 160 Figure 1: Hillside on the Canyon's Eastern Side 168 FENENGA VOLUME Figure 2: Petroglyph Dimmed by the Elements Wallace A REMARKABLE PETROGLYPH LOCALITY 169 A~ ~~~~~ 4A ;4> Ab~~~~~~~~~ Figure 3: Petroglyph with Curvilinear Elements 170 FENENGA VOLUME ir i- 50i v Ni Al .4 C 44 L 10 2 4--W A-s-, A. -IL 4r dt C.6 - 4,t. A W, Figure 4.- Petroglyph with Large Circles and 'IT" Projections Wallace A REMARKABLE PETROGLYPH LOCALITY 171 But, if so intended, they are much too conventional- A tie with hunting magic seems quite plausible, for ized to be so identified. the Arrastre Spring site lies no great distance from a Just when the petroglyphs were made remains un- trail (the same one followed by humans) by which certain. There is a strong possibility that some were bighorn sheep approach the spring to drink on their created in the latter part of the Death Valley II (Mes- annual migration. Though no blinds for concealing quite Flat) period, dated between 3000 B.C. and the waiting hunters stand in the vicinity, a skilled bow- beginning of the Christian Era (Wallace and Wallace man could have shot down animals from cover in the 1978:4-12), when native peoples first began to go dense grove of willows that surrounds the spring. through Arrastre Spring Canyon (Wallace 1956). Attractive though this explanation may be, it is not Some measure of support for this relatively early place- the only possibility. Some other motive, wholly un- ment comes from the deep coating of desert varnish related to hunting, could have led to creation of the that covers several sets of figures. Although condi- rock engravings. Rites requiring their making could tions under which this dark stain forms are still open have been held here, opposite the most comfortable to discussion, it is generally agreed that it accumu- camping spots in the canyon, by men seeking super- lates very slowly. natural aid, or perhaps to ensure safe passage to and The great majority of the Arrastre Spring from mountain pinyon groves and a rich harvest of petroglyphs seem to have been created during the pine nuts. Or, on the return trip, to give thanks for a Death Valley III (Saratoga Springs) period when the bountiful one. canyon saw more human activity. This would place Obviously, much about the Arrastre Spring Can- them in the first thousand years of the Christian era yon petroglyphs remains unknown and probably un- (Wallace and Wallace 1978:12-21). Elsewhere in the knowable. Nonetheless, they compel attention and Desert West, similar petroglyphs have been assigned interest as a unique and enduring record of a vanished to the Great Basin Abstract Style (which includes people and another age. Curvilinear and Rectilinear sub-categories), believed to have had its beginnings around 1000 B.C. and to References Cited have continued to have been in style until A.D. 1500 (Clewlow 1978:620-621; Heizer and Braumhoff Clements, Lydia 1962:205-7; Heizer and Clewlow 1973:23-25). Some- 1958 Pictographs Discovered in Death Valley, time after A.D. 1000, Death Valley Shoshone Indians California. The Masterkey 32(4):108-110. added a few of their distinctive representations to the Clewlow, C. William, Jr. Arrastre Spring display. 1978 Prehistoric Rock Art. In California Even more obscure than their antiquity is the rea- Handbook of North American Indians, Volume son why people came to this particular spot, evidently 8, California, pp. 619-625. Robert F. Heizer generation after generation, to laboriously peck sym- vol. ed. Smithsonian Institution Press, Wash- bols into hard rock surfaces. It could not have been ington D.C. merely availability of suitable rock surfaces that drew Heizer, Robert F., and Martin A. Baumhoff them here, for these can be found nearly everywhere 1962 Prehistoric RockArt of Nevada and East- along the canyon's sides. Stone slabs on adjoining ern California. University of California Press, talus slopes bear no designs whatsoever. The concen- Berkely. tration of petroglyphs at this one place makes it diffi- Heizer, Robert F., and C. W. Clewlow, Jr. cult to escape the inference that it held special and 1973 Prehistoric Rock Art of California, Vol- important meaning for the region's inhabitants. ume 1. Ballena Press, Ramona. In recent years, it has become increasingly popu- Martin, Donald E. lar to identify rock art localities of this sort, often found 1976 Introduction to the Rock Art of Death close to a game trail, grazing area or favored ambush, Valley. Paper presented at Third Annual Sym- as places where small bands of men gathered prior to posium of the American Rock Art Research a hunt. Supposedly hunters assembled under a reli- Association. China Lake. gious leader who perhaps created the petroglyphs and Wallace, William J. performed other rituals to expedite killing big game. 1956 A Pathway to the Pinyon Groves. Arrastre 172 FENENGA VOLUME Spring Canyon. Wallace, William J., and Edith Wallace Wallace, William J., and Edith S. Taylor 1976 Ancient Peoples and Cultures of Death 1955 Archaeology of Wildrose Canyon, Death Valley National Monument. Acoma Books, Valley National Monument. American Anti- Ramona. quity 20(4):355-367. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH FACILITY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY The Archaeological Research Facility was founded as the California Archaeological Sur- vey in 1948 by Professor Robert F. Heizer. The present name was adopted in 1961 as the University of California, Berkeley's research efforts took on a more international scope. Today the Archaeological Research Facility is an organized research unit of the Univer- sity, reporting to the office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. The Facility serves the needs of thirty-six faculty associates from departments of Anthropology, Art History, Clas- sics, Geography, Near Eastern Studies, and The Graduate Group in Ancient and Mediter- ranean Archaeology, as well as the needs of allied specialists in the physical and biologi- cal sciences. Current fieldwork by Archaeological Research Facility associates includes projects in North America, Mesoamerica, Europe, the Mediterranean, Japan, and Oceania. In addition to sponsoring and facilitating archaeological fieldwork and laboratory research, the Facility publishes the results of such work in the Contributions series and in other series. For a complete listing of the Archaeological Research Facility's publications, please write: Books; Archaeological Research Facility; 2251 College Bldg.; University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94720-1076. Or visit our website at www.arf.berkeley.edu