Rock Art Redefines ‘Ancient’

[Adsos Letter]

Source: The New York Times
By DAVID PAGE

Ridgecrest, Calif. — We were inside Restricted Area R-505 of the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, rolling in a minivan across the vast salt pan of an extinct Pleistocene lake on our way to see a renowned collection of ancient rock art. On the console between the seats was a long-range two-way radio. It was there so that our escort, a civilian Navy public affairs officer named Peggy Shoaf, could keep abreast of where and when any bombs would be dropped — or launched, or whatever — so that we wouldn’t be there when it happened.

Established in the summer of 1943 in the heat of Allied offensives in the Pacific, China Lake is the Navy’s premier weapons testing range and its largest real estate holding. “Every weapon being used overseas right now was tested here,” Ms. Shoaf said. The property comprises 1.1 million acres of Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles and west of Death Valley, including the Coso Mountain range and an active volcanic field that is one of the largest producers of geothermal electricity in the country.

The base is a haven for wild horses, burros, rattlesnakes and scorpions. It is also home to a complex of remote canyons holding the greatest concentration of ancient rock art in the Western Hemisphere, known as the Coso Petroglyphs.

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.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/travel/escapes/18petroglyph.html
________________________________________________________________________

Some nice photos at the link. :)

[opihimoimoi]

1. Stunning KnR

[Hekate]

2. Very interesting. I'd read about this before, and it's nice to have my memory refreshed.

:hi:

Hekate

[Digit]

3. I love reading of things like this

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[SutaUvaca]

4. Very interesting

and some of it nearly 17,000 years old. amazing.

[gimama]

5. offensive & upsetting

that so often, these Sacres Sites are co-opted/corrupted/infested with Military weapons(testing?!) & personnel ? This is disRespect at best, desecration at worst. Beauti-full photos tho, thanks for sharing the link.

[comrade snarky]

6. There are some amazing petroglyph sites in Nevada

Thanks for posting, I love these finds. That is one early site for North America.

Grimes Point in the northern central area has more examples from around 8 thousand years ago. It's a great site to hike, used to be underwater so some of the caves and overhangs are covered in ancient coral. When people lived there it was lakes and grasslands.

http://www.americantrails.org/nationalrecreationtrails/blm/grimespoint-nv.html




The Valley of Fire is another. Much more recent at around 1000 years. Crazy beautiful area, vibrant red rock formations.

http://www.parks.nv.gov/vf.htm

[Adsos Letter]

11. Lovely photos! I've spent quite a bit of time checking out the petroglyphs

around Cedarville (extreme northeastern corner of California; part of the Great Basin) and the long stretch of Fish Slough Road that runs north/south from Mono Lake to Bishop, through the desert valley separating Mammoth and the White Mountains.

[comrade snarky]

15. I wish I could claim them

But they're not mine. Didn't have time to go through the archive so I grabbed a few from the intertubes.

The Eastern side of the Sierras is a place I need to explore more. Yosemite and the gold country I've spent time in but for some reason I've hardly been to the Bishop\Mono Lake area. That will have to change.

My wife and I did a road trip from San Francisco to Death Valley recently and went that route. I find myself enjoying deserts a lot more now that I've learned not to go in the summer.

This is a shot I got from that trip.

[omega minimo]

13. My kid could do that

:yoiks:

[comrade snarky]

14. Some days I ask myself

Self, why is it I don't have OM on ignore?

[omega minimo]

16. It's humor, duh.

[comrade snarky]

17. No, humor is funny

That was a childish crack I'd expect from any 5 year old.

Humor is a release of tension and shift in perspective. Humor is unexpected. I know humor, humor is is an old friend of mine and you madame, are no humorist.

[omega minimo]

20. You're

too tense and stuck in your perspective to see the humor in it. Buh bye.

[comrade snarky]

21. Oh no, I see it.

But like you it's neither funny, nor original.

[roguevalley]

7. adsos letter, thank you for all the wonderful historical and cultural

posts lately. you help keep me sane. Thank you again for the bliss.

[Adsos Letter]

12. Thankyou; I am gratified that you enjoy them

and I hope your spirits lift soon. :hug:

[dysfunctional press]

8. silly me- i thought that this was going to be about led zeppelin...

[xchrom]

9. Recommend

[greyl]

10. Mr. Whitley is a bonehead.

The "origins of human creativity and religion" began 16,000 years ago? What then, does he think was going on for those other few million years?

16,000 years ancient? Yeah, so is 6,000.

[Odin2005]

18. Wow! 16,000 years? that blows Clovis out of the water.

[Quantess]

19. Cool!