Kumeyaay Rock Art in San Diego County. Another beautiful rock shelter of multicolored sunbursts. Southern California Rock Art.





With Summer just around the corner I was reminded of the migrations of the Kumeyaay to find a cooler climate, new food resources, and water.  This area offered all those prospects in a predictable or reliable way.  This small shelter resides above a creek and faces east towards the rising sun.

While I was growing up my father took me to sites in the area as we shared a growing appreciation for the Kumeyaay culture and its mysteries.  At that time there was a large and clean spring in the area.  Today it is befouled and polluted, sucked nearly dry by invading Tamarisk.  It is a sad site to see.  Steps are being taken by Anza Borrego State Park to eradicate the Tamarisk and restore the once beautiful landscape of the area.  If we are fortunate we can restore the useful harmony seemingly portrayed in the rock art at this site and other sites in the area.

My father took me on many walks in this area as a boy.  Once we walked up this granitic sand dune close to sunset.  It was early summer and it was still warm out.  He asked me, "Don, do you know how I know there is a God?"
"No", I said.
"Dig into the sand at your feet" my dad suggested.
After scooping out sand and digging a little hole, I came across a small sand dollar.  Then several more.  It seemed the dune was full of them.  It was like digging at the sea shore, yet we were more than 4000 feet above sea level in the mountains and nearly 100 miles away.  It didn't seem likely to me that these were trade items as they were spread over the dune.  All that was left was to think that the Creator had played a role in putting them there when the earth was much different.  Like so many things from the past, what actually happened is unknowable.

Click on photos to enlarge - copyright 2014.  Don Liponi.

 



 

Kumeyaay Rock Art. Shout out to the Campo and Manzanita Bands of the Kumeyaay Nation. Thank you for your support. Southern California Rock Art.





It was truly heartwarming to hear that the members of the Kumeyaay Nation are supportive of our effort to photograph their rock art sites and use digital restoration on the resulting images.  This is an attempt to honor past and present Tipai/Kumeyaay who created and are trying to preserve these spiritually inspired messages.   We can all do our best to preserve what is left from these ancient communications, just we would with early Christian, Jewish, or Buddhist documents.

The beautiful, red, triangular grids shown below are some of the brightest pictographs in the area west of the Colorado Desert and in the rain zone.  This rock shelter and the surrounding area has other art that, to me, is just as enigmatic.

Perhaps one day we will understand more of what the Shaman was trying to tell his people and what it means to us.

Click on photo to enlarge.  Copyright 2014 - please no copies without permission.
Don Liponi

 



 

Kumeyaay or Quechan Petroglyph. Imperial County Rock Art. Kumeyaay Rock Art. Southern California Rock Art.



In the area of Indian Pass in Imperial County, west of the Colorado River, there are at least several petroglyphs within a short distance of the road.  Usually found on  isolated boulders like the one shown below.  This one is located in a small drainage and is covered in circles.  It is probably the most photogenic of the ones I have seen there. 

These "baked" rocks have an incredibly hard crust.  It takes a great deal of effort to chisel away and remove the patina.  The landscape in the area is just about Lunar or Martian in desolation.  These observations lead me to the theory that this design must have had some purpose.  Why else invest the hours it would have taken to create these petroglyphs?

Click on photo to enlarge.  Please do not use or reprint without permission.  Thank you.