Posted on 12/19/2009 5:21:27 PM PST by SunkenCiv
With us rode David S. Whitley, an archaeologist and expert on prehistoric rock art and iconographic interpretation. Having visited hundreds of sites all over the world, including Lascaux and Chauvet in France and the Côa Valley in Portugal, he believes the Coso Petroglyphs to be one of the most important rock art sites on earth.
Mr. Whitley estimated that there may be as many as 100,000 images carved into the dark volcanic canyons above the China Lake basin, some as old as 12,000 to 16,000 years, others as recent as the mid-20th century.
Floating across a landscape strewn with more than a half-century's weapons-testing debris -- observation towers, armored vehicles, projectile-riddled shipping containers -- I tried to fathom that people had been coming here and making art since at least 90 centuries before the founding of Rome.
"It was a very different place then," Mr. Whitley explained, conjuring the end of the last ice age, 18,000 years ago, the melting of glaciers, the system of saline lakes across what is now called the Great Basin. "This had water over 100 feet deep," he said. Mammoths, saber-toothed cats and giant Pleistocene bison still roamed the upland peninsulas.
(Excerpt) Read more at travel.nytimes.com ...
Some of the rock paintings at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Center near Death Valley have been dated as far back as 16,000 years ago. [Bill Becher for The New York Times]
Patriot Call To Action* * * Telephone Tea-Party * * *Call Congress Today And Tell Them To"Kill The Pelosi/Reid/Obamacare Bill"Call Congress Now (202) 224-3121Are we Venezuela Yet?Sponsored by Gwilym McGrew, A Concerned Citizen |
another picture is here:
Freeper Canteen Road Trip: Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake 08 SEPT 2009
Serving The Best Troops And Veterans In The World | The Canteen Crew
Posted on 09/07/2009 6:00:10 PM PDT by laurenmarlowe
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2334281/posts
|
|
|||
Gods |
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
I visited the Guadelupe Mountains National Park recently and in a ranch house museum I saw some very old photos of Apache ceremonial dances.
They were wearing head gear similar to that depicted on these and many Utah petroglyphs. Before seeing the photo, I was leaning toward space aliens,
Where do you think the Apache got the idea? ;’)
Good thought.
They may have seen the petroglyphs of the space aliens rather than following the custom of their grandfathers.
Seriously, the resemblance was striking.
These are from Sand Creek just out of Bluff UT on the San Juan River. There are many others just a few miles down stream I really like the idea of aliens because the glyphs are wide spread and were meant to record something very very important
Or course the best art to be found there is in the Panamint Valley. If you are there at the right time, you can see an authentic American artform kicking a$$ across the desert floor in full burner. If those indians could only have known the glory that would grace their skies only thousands of years later.
Well, the kids were all homeschooled, and they didn’t *have* refrigerator doors, so...
Thanks!
A fascinating read is the book “In Plain Sight: Old World Records in Ancient America” by Gloria Farley. She records and interprets petroglyphs up to about 4,000 years old. Frequently found near rivers that could have been traveled by people coming from the Atlantic and Caribbean seas. Suggests visits by Phoenicians, and other ancient people.
I wonder how many of these were by bored settlers/cowboys/mountain men, created after seeing real ones.
Looks more like Captain Video outtakes. :’)
My guess is, the amateur look to rock art (in general) means it was done by kids who were hanging out every summer for centuries.
I’ve read some of Farley’s stuff, probably in ESOP years ago, but not sure I’ve got that particular title, Thanks g.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
