U.S. Widens Its Protective Frame for Indian Rock Art

Los Angeles Times ^ | May 20, 2005 | Fred Alvarez

[SunkenCiv]

A ceremony at China Lake will mark the 36,000-acre expansion of the historical landmark... There are bighorn sheep and long-tailed cougars scratched into the walls of the high desert corridor. There are snakes and dragonflies and mammoth-like creatures, captured in rock carvings by the native people who once hunted and gathered their food on the western edge of the Mojave Desert. There are so many images, in fact, that they can't all be counted. All anyone knows for sure is that the carvings, set deep within the Navy's testing range at China Lake, make up the largest concentration of Indian rock art in North America. And that every visit yields new discoveries... A small section of the base was designated a national historic landmark in 1964, marking the only such designation on Department of Defense lands. And at a ceremony today, officials will add a 36,000-acre slice of the desert to that designation, increasing by 100 times the size of the area under protection... Richard Stewart, a member of the Big Pine Band of Owens Valley Paiute Indians, said he had no problem with the Navy limiting access beyond Renegade Canyon, arguing that the military's presence had kept the etchings in good condition. Even with limited access, someone has carved the crude outline of a car on one boulder. Another rock bears the inscription E=MC2 and is thought to be the work of physicists at China Lake connected to the Manhattan Project... The oldest petroglyphs are thought to date back to the end of the last Ice Age, a period that launched a rock art continuum that stretched to the late 1800s.

[SunkenCiv]

This is a good move. But Repeal NAGPRA. Now.

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[SunkenCiv]

will ping the list tomorrow (that's the plan anyway). Same goes for the Digest, plus the other topics that need to be pinged.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

The digest is in progress (meaning, I plan to compile any minute now). This (and a few others) will be in it, despite (possibly) being a bit later than the virtual cover date.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[concentric circles]

Renegade Canyon, also known as Little Petroglyph Canyon, is located in the Coso Range situated on the China Lake Navel Base and is about 30 miles north of Ridgecrest, California.

With over 6000 images pecked and abraded into the basalt rocks, the Coso Range contains the highest concentration of petroglyphs in North America.

Petroglyph dating using the latest technology has provided dates as old as 16,000 years and as recent as the 1800's, indicating this area has been used continuously by native peoples over a very long period of time.

Renegade Canyon is a rock and sand bottom wash approximately 1.3 miles in length, up to 200 feet in width with canyon walls 10 to 50 feet in height. Concentrated panels and isolated petroglyphs of animals, abstracts and ornate anthropomorphs occur all along the length of the canyon.

See them yourself!

Maturango Museum - Ridgecrest, California

NAVAIR, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division - China Lake - Petroglyphs of the Cosos