Arizona Rock Art - Yuman or Kumeyaay Precursor or Piman Rock Art? Part 2 Southern California Rock Art?

Previously I wrote a summary of the enigma of the origins of the La Rumorosa  Pictograph style that appears throughout much of Southern California and Northern Baja California.  The photos below are from a site an Arizona.  Publications have compared this particular site and Indian Hill of Anza Borrego State Park.   It is easy to see that many elements are similar between the two sites.

First, I need to reveal that this art comes from deep inside a tilted and narrow crevice high above the canyon floor.  Even with a 10-24mm lens, I needed to use a flash and a flashlight just to see what I was shooting at.  Second, our party was made up of a SDRAA mountain climbing guide and his agile climber wife who, wisely it seemed, refused the climb - this should have told the rest of us something.

No one mentioned beforehand that surviving the fall from the pertinent rock shelter was unlikely or that a rope might have been a useful life saving tool.  Just climbing to site involved scaling a massive granite bedrock slab, worn slick by millennia of water, which provided complete and uncompromised exposure .  The area has a well known reputation for many deaths due to falling accidents over the years.

While trying to get decent photos I often slipped a few undesired inches downward towards the edge.  The crack was so narrow only one person at a time could squeeze into the rock art area.  So I was on my own, balancing expensive technology and the potential to slide right off into infinity.  At times like this, I often recite to myself portions of Edward Abbey's "Dead Man at Grandview Point" from Desert Solitaire.  This way I can feel more at ease in case something goes south.

The anxiety and the gymnastics required to stay wedged in place coupled with the 2 foot focal plane and needing flash, about half of my photos were blurred and disappointing.  However the ones that did come out were fantastic.

For those tempted to go there, taking pictures of these pictographs are right up there with the Sirens of Homer's Odyssey.   Like many rock art aficionados, as with the Sirens, it is not bravery that draws us.  It is the irrational obsession to see rock art that sublimates any concern for personal safety.  Many outsiders would equate this with stupidity and foolishness.  Most of these people know what they are talking about - but few of us listen.

Unless you a capable mountain climber (as evaluated by someone other than yourself) do not go here alone.  Even with company this is a very dangerous place to get to and see.  Its reputation as a place of death far exceeds its standing as a rock art destination.  I was merely lucky - a fool's luck.  A rope and a couple of people on the other end of it would have made it a safer, but not safe, outing.

All that said, have you ever seen a Sunburst like this one in Southern California???  I know I haven't.  This La Rumorosa style panel is more on a level that you see in Baja California.  Here is one image before and after D Stretch treatment [which all of us can see thanks to Jon Harmon].

Click on to enlarge - copyright Don Liponi 2014.

Are Origins of La Rumorosa style Rock Art in Western Arizona? Patayan or Yuman Rock Art? Pimas painting Kumeyaay like Rock Art?

 

Where and when did the La Rumorosa style evolve remains one of the great regional rock art mysteries.  Since the style was in existence prehistorically there is no direct evidence to answer these questions.  If we can obtain more extensive radioactive dating data we may be able to trace earlier style efforts.

The photographs below are from Western Arizona.  While there are fewer pictograph sites in Southwest Arizona than in Southern and Baja California, those that have been discovered have a strong similarity to the La Rumorosa style.  Is it possible that some faction of the Kumeyaay were in the area?  Could this mean that ancestors to the Kumeyaay [Patayan/Yuman culture] painted them?  If that is not the case, why would another group adapt the La Rumorosa style of painting?

Historical information from various firsthand accounts of the Spanish, beginning as early as 1605, relate that this area was occupied by Piman speaking people [specifically, the Hia C-ed O'odham] and not by Patayan/Yuman [ Kumeyaay] speaking groups.  While this Piman group resembles the Yumans in their customs, it remains a puzzle if they in fact adopted a Kumeyaay, Southern California rock art style.  For further information and discussion, please see the text “Fragile Patterns: the Archaeology of the Western Papagueria” [2008].

I have seen only three of these panels firsthand and they do contain aspects very similar to Kumeyaay art found in San Diego and Imperial Counties.  These aspects include digitate anthropomorphs, sunbursts, and curvilinear abstract designs.  I hope this enigma can be clarified with future research.  Click on photographs to enlarge

Copyright Don Liponi 2014.  All 3 photos have been restored using Photoshop CS 5 and D Stretch [appreciation to Jon Harmon!].

 

 

Kumeyaay Pictograph Multicolor and Multi-element near spring. Kumeyaay Rock Art. San Diego County Rock Art.

This panel, although quite faded, does respond in different ways to various maneuvers by D Stretch.  While D Stretch brings out some of the designs, its limitations are apparent.  There are still damaged areas of the panel that are beyond current digital restoration tools.  While digital enhancement "may not be natural", in this case it allows us to see more of the art than through "natural vision".

For those with the love of rock art, we [San Diego Rock Art Association] are trying to document this aspect of San Diego's Native American culture while portions of it are still recoverable.  Please join us and the Kumeyaay in our efforts to preserve this part of their history.  No one else is going to do it.  Neither our government nor our universities are likely to contribute in this effort – it is up to us.

No matter where you live, you can get involved and make a real difference.  You do not need a degree in Archaeology - just a little instruction, a camera, some free software [D stretch is available from hardworking Jon Harmon online], and you are set to go on this adventure!  If you love the wilderness, then the thrill of discovering prehistoric communication like these below is a rush that cannot be matched!
Click to enlarge. Don Liponi, copyright 2014.

Rock Art of Utah.

 

There is something about Utah - it is a very special place.  I believe the people there have been dedicated stewards of the rock art.  URARA [Utah Rock Art Research Association] has been an exemplary organization for the education and protection of a massive and multi-cultural array of pictographs and petroglyphs.  One of the BCS pictograph panels I visited just a few days ago is shown below.  Believed to be 3000-4000 years old, it is still incredibly bright and detailed.  A long 4WD drive and a significant walk that includes some death defying exposure has helped protect it from the casual observer.

In one moment of day dreaming while I was walking, I tripped over an exposed tree root.  I fell off the trail into the saving arms of a tree rather than the slickrock platform below.  It all happened before I could think about it.

That false step aside, I want to thank the artist who worked 1000s of years ago in this beautiful canyon; a canyon with year round water, cooling alcoves, warming structures, and abundant edibles.  Thanks also to those who work so diligently in Utah and URARA to protect and maintain this magnificent panel and others like it.   I especially appreciate that URARA carries a direct link to this blog - I will try to continue to make it interesting for your members.  Thank you very much.

Click on panel to enlarge - copyright, Don Liponi 2014.