{"id":217,"date":"2017-05-03T23:59:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T23:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/?p=217"},"modified":"2017-05-03T23:59:59","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T23:59:59","slug":"ancient-rock-art-sooooo-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/03\/ancient-rock-art-sooooo-cool\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient rock art&#8230;.sooooo cool!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"subscriber-preview\">\n<h1>Ancient rock art evokes mystery, reverence &#8211; even some controversy<\/h1>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<p>LINK to original article:\u00a0http:\/\/www.bakersfield.com\/entertainment\/ancient-rock-art-evokes-mystery-reverence&#8212;even-some\/article_999b8a43-d497-592c-98a5-e72683d714b1.html<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list-inline\">\n<li>BY LOIS HENRY lhenry@bakersfield.com<\/li>\n<li><time class=\"asset-date text-muted\" datetime=\"2016-05-14T22:07:30-07:00\">May 14, 2016<\/time><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_221\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-221\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/shamen-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-221 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/shamen-2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/shamen-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/shamen-2-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/shamen-2-1024x767.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/shamen-2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-221\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Experts theorize these figures, found throughout the canyon, may be shaman figures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I\u2019ve toured the Little Petroglyph Canyon on the China Lake Navy base twice now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-preview\">\n<p>Both times, I\u2019ve had the same question as I wandered along the sandy floor looking up at countless images painstakingly chipped into the rocky walls:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>The petroglyphs, considered the largest concentration of Native American rock art in the Western Hemisphere, were carved thousands of years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Some may be 6,000 years old. Others are even older \u2014 dating back 10,000, perhaps even 15,000 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>But certainly it was before electricity and takeout food.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>My point is that life was tough back then. You had to expend a lot of energy just to survive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>So why would people take time away from finding food and shelter to make thousands upon thousands of cryptic images on rocks?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>The fun and kind of frustrating part about the tour is no one gives you an answer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_218\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-218\" style=\"width: 245px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/rock-art-hunters-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-218\" src=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/rock-art-hunters-2-245x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/rock-art-hunters-2-245x300.jpg 245w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/rock-art-hunters-2.jpg 412w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-218\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tours of Little Petroglyph Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Because not only do we not know when the petroglyphs were made, we don\u2019t know exactly who made them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>\u201cThe ancient ones\u201d is the only description given during an orientation film at the first stop tour guests make, in Ridgecrest at the Maturango Museum, which hosts the tours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>According to archeologists, the Paiute-Shoshone people settled in the Coso Mountain area about 800 years ago and likely contributed to the rock art.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>But scholars argue over whether the majority of the images predate the Paiute-Shoshone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Either way, current tribal members consider the art sacred and an important part of their heritage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>The bigger mystery, to me, is what the images meant to those who made them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_220\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-220\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/emc-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-220 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/emc-2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/emc-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/emc-2-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/emc-2-1024x767.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/emc-2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-220\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Early Navy scientists left their own petroglyphs when China Lake was established in the 1940s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Even the seemingly self-explanatory carvings, such as bighorn sheep, probably meant more than what they seem on the surface, according to scholars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>The sheep, which used to be prolific in the area, are carved on nearly every surface in the canyon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Some are clearly being speared, so perhaps those markings depict a recent hunt or wishes for a good hunt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Others are just there, repeated over and over, leading some scholars to theorize they were spirit animals, possibly associated with water or rain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Which is interesting because the climate changed in that area dramatically between 12,000 and 700 years ago, going from a lush region with huge lakes (China Lake) to the desert we know today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>So if the petroglyphs were made in the more distant past, those artists were reflecting a very different world, putting their meaning even further out of reach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>People who study these things believe the canyon was a religious site and that shaman or those on spirit quests made the images. Though, again, that\u2019s up for debate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tncms-region-article_instory_middle\" class=\"tncms-region hidden-print\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Some images are easily recognizable: the sheep, antelope, weapons, stick-figure humans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Others are really mysterious, especially the human-like images that scholars say are shaman figures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Those have long, rectangular bodies filled with geometric designs and bird claw feet sticking out the bottom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Their heads are sometimes just swirls or seem to be erupting in flames or aren\u2019t heads at all but a pair of eyeballs on the shoulders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Some appear to be holding daggers. One looks as if it\u2019s stirring a large pot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Were they depictions of dreams? Visions? Were they meant to convey a ritual or a final step in some kind of training?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>At first, they seem fun, whimsical. But the more you look at them, the eerier they become. You get the feeling they were never meant for public consumption.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>None of the petroglyphs appears haphazard, as if doodled out of boredom. (I\u2019m not counting the more recent additions such as \u201cJ.P.\u201d or \u201cE=MC2\u201d; those are just vandalism.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>The ancient petroglyphs are very detailed and clearly took time to make.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_219\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-219\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/knife-head-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-219 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/knife-head-2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/knife-head-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/knife-head-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/knife-head-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/loishenry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/knife-head-2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-219\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One petroglyph appears to depict one figure sticking a knife in another figure&#8217;s head. Depiction of war?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Regardless of their specific meanings, I suppose what the petroglyphs tell us in general is that artistic expression has always been a vital part of human existence no matter how hard that existence might have been.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>At least that\u2019s my very unscholarly take.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"factboxleft\">\n<p><strong>Rock art: overexposed, underappreciated?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Though the Paiute-Shoshone people haven\u2019t objected to museum-led tours of the petroglyphs, the recent Petroglyph Festival in Ridgecrest has created some bad feelings.<\/p>\n<p>The festival is the latest attempt by the City of Ridgecrest to boost its economy outside of the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, the town\u2019s main employer.<\/p>\n<p>The city has long billed itself as the gateway to Death Valley and has had a trickle of tourism from that. But mostly pass through.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of years ago, it tried a balloon festival. High winds wreaked havoc on that idea, and the balloons.<\/p>\n<p>Then in 2014, city officials held the first petroglyph festival, a joint effort between the Ridgecrest Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Maturango Museum.<\/p>\n<p>It was a hit.<\/p>\n<p>Up to 15,000 people flocked to the desert town over the two days of the event, held in early November. (This year\u2019s festival will be Nov. 5-6, http:\/\/rpfestival.com\/.)<\/p>\n<p>But many Paiute-Shoshone were dismayed that an event promoting a very special and sacred part of their heritage didn\u2019t include them.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, no one from the festival reached out to the Paiute-Shoshone, said Kathy Bancroft, cultural officer of the Paiute-Shoshone in Bishop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven after the festival got some bad publicity over it, no one reached out to the local tribes,\u201d Bancroft said. \u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead of Paiute-Shoshone speakers, displays or historical discussions, the festival features a car show, beer garden, tchotchke\u00a0galore and life-size petroglyph cutouts that people can stick their heads through for photos.<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s the \u201cintertribal\u201d pow-wow with a Cherokee hog fry and Cherokee dances.<\/p>\n<p>The Cherokee weren\u2019t in the Ridgecrest area at the time the petroglyphs were made \u2014 or for thousands of years afterward. They have nothing to do with the petroglyphs, Bancroft said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s insulting. The whole thing just feels like exploitation for profit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She and other tribal members would like to see the festival focus on education, especially preservation. Because ancient petroglyphs and pictographs are being damaged, even stolen, throughout the Mojave desert.<\/p>\n<p>Little Petroglyph Canyon on the Navy base is an incredible collection of carvings in one small area. But Bancroft said there are countless more ancient carvings and paintings scattered throughout the desert on open land.<\/p>\n<p>A thorough discussion of the danger those artifacts face would be helpful in raising awareness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really strange to me because people come here from around the world because of the petroglyphs. I would think they (festival organizers) would want to teach them the value of the petroglyphs and the meaning. There are a lot of people around here who\u2019ve studied them for years and know the stories behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Debbie Benson, with the Maturango Museum, agreed the emphasis should be on education.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why the festival is being tweaked this year to have more events at Petroglyph Park that include docents giving talks about the history of the area. Benson said she\u2019s reached out to one member of the Paiute-Shoshone and will be reaching out to Bancroft as well.<\/p>\n<p>She added that the museum has an archaeologist on staff and works with an anthropology professor at Cerro Coso Community College to provide educational programs for local school children about the petroglyphs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will be some changes this year,\u201d she said. \u201cWe would like the festival to go more in the direction of understanding, respect and the need for preservation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"factboxleft\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"factboxleft\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"factboxleft\">\n<p><strong>If you go<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Getting on a tour isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n<p>You have to go through the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest for a supervised tour.<\/p>\n<p>Start at the museum website: http:\/\/maturango.org.<\/p>\n<p>Cost is $55 per person for non-museum members.<\/p>\n<p>The museum only has tours in the fall and spring when the weather allows.<\/p>\n<p>Little Petroglyph Canyon is on the Navy base, which allows the Museum to lead a couple dozen regular tours a year under very tightly controlled circumstances. The Navy has opened that up a little for Ridgecrest\u2019s Petroglyph Festival.<\/p>\n<p>Because the petroglyphs are on a military base, visitors going on the regular museum tours must fill out a slew of forms, submit to a background check and, on the day of the tour, all vehicles are searched.<\/p>\n<p>Normally, non-U.S. citizens are not allowed on tours but an exception is made during the Petroglyph Festival.<\/p>\n<p>The regular tours start at the museum at 6 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>The drive from the entrance of the base to Little Petroglyph Canyon, also known as Renegade Canyon, is about 40 miles.<\/p>\n<p>Tours typically last from about 10 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>The canyon itself is only about one and a half miles long so, if you go the whole way, it\u2019s only a three-mile walk.<\/p>\n<p>The terrain is very easy with no steep climbs. The canyon floor is sandy with a few rocks, and there are a couple places you have to scramble down some boulders.<\/p>\n<p>Guides are there to help you. And you don\u2019t have to go the entire way. There is plenty to see on just about every surface.<\/p>\n<p>There are still a few spaces available on tours June 4 and 5.<\/p>\n<p>After that, you\u2019ll have to wait until the fall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ancient rock art evokes mystery, reverence &#8211; even some controversy LINK to original article:\u00a0http:\/\/www.bakersfield.com\/entertainment\/ancient-rock-art-evokes-mystery-reverence&#8212;even-some\/article_999b8a43-d497-592c-98a5-e72683d714b1.html BY LOIS HENRY lhenry@bakersfield.com May 14, 2016 I\u2019ve toured the Little Petroglyph Canyon on the China Lake Navy base twice now. Both times, I\u2019ve had the same question as I wandered along the sandy floor looking up at countless images painstakingly &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/03\/ancient-rock-art-sooooo-cool\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ancient rock art&#8230;.sooooo cool!<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}