Death Valley

So I had gathered together a bunch of data from disperate sources over the years that started to paint a picture of Native American activity in a couple areas of the park that seem quite separate from each other for the way that we travel, but not so much for the way you might on foot.  I’ve been sort of trying to tie together different areas (trails/springs/hunting grounds/places of shelter/art) into a bigger picture.  

I started out with some hunting grounds on a ridge/bench.









One or two blinds held a bit of lithic scatter.  I was hoping to find some but not really expecting it.  I didn’t think you’d lie in wait in your hunting blind looking for sheep while casually banging rocks together. 


All in all there’s probably several dozen hunting blinds in the area.  The canyons below have potholes that hold water.   Sheep trails were everywhere.  Some of the trails were cleaner and wider and I expect those human trails.  


A scant few miles away in a valley I found a small complex of alcove/caves.  Maybe a dozen scattered small alcoves and one or two larger ones.  All showed signs of longer term (likely seasonal) occupation.  



Note the small walled in cubby.  


Note the rocks all swept away from the mouth. 


Small game arrowhead I found inside the largest cave with what I think is a volcanic glass chip. Or regular glass.  Lol.  I left them and am informing the park archeologist of their location.  Some other lithic scatter was found here and there in various alcoves. 


I also found this insanely polished rock in the topmost cave (that took a pretty serious climb to get to).  I’ve never seen a rock that polished in DV. Much less that high up.  There were oddly 4-5 rounded polished stones in the one alcove only.  Very curious. 


On the side of the hill the alcoves were in I found this oddity.  A decent collection of wood hidden behind s rock wall.  The wood was sawn, so I doubt it was a Native American cache.  But there were zero signs of a fire anywhere from the last 30yrs at least.  No fire rings or charcoal.  Very odd.  


Several miles again in another direction I found a decent sized pictograph panel. 


I’ve never seen a pictograph of a person wearing what seem to be clothes.  But I love the splatter of spat/blown pigment.  Sort of ties you to the moment of creation, the humanity of it.  









Very very exciting to me find/connect different aspects of historic life to a line of travel and then walk it.  There’s definitely more exploring in that area that I need to do.

Your photos and report bring life to Death Valley. The last image: The theory of those red colored slashes/marks is, distance, direction, calendar, seasonal, counting, or other? Fascinating.

Those hunting blinds are fun to come across and imagine how difficult it was to hunt big game back then. Maybe the sheep were not as fearful of humans as they are now? Maybe the gold miners with guns scared them off more?

Next time out in DEVA I'll be much more observant.

(2023-01-16, 12:38 PM)DeathValleyDazed Wrote: [ -> ]Your photos and report bring life to Death Valley. The last image: The theory of those red colored slashes/marks is, distance, direction, calendar, seasonal, counting, or other? Fascinating.

Those hunting blinds are fun to come across and imagine how difficult it was to hunt big game back then. Maybe the sheep were not as fearful of humans as they are now? Maybe the gold miners with guns scared them off more?

Next time out in DEVA I'll be much more observant.

That’s a really good question about the line patterns.  It’s one of the few elements you see almost everywhere, petroglyph or pictograph.  Some of the petroglyphs I’ve seen seem to be counting.  As in, you can see some marks are older/more patinaed than the later ones.  Often that is also represented by by a rectangular grid of dots or circles instead of lines.  It’s harder to say with pigment like this what’s older or not.  

I’ve read conjecture that some of these types of markings indicate direction and distance to water sources.  But I haven’t seen anything particularly achedemic on it.  I believe one of the places I saw mention of that type of system was in the less than reputable accounts of DV in “Loafing Along Death Valley Trails”.  Which doesn’t make it less feasible as an explanation.  Especially when you see so many parts of ancient life in one relatively small area.

I'm intrigued by the cache of firewood.

Sure hope you remembered to look up at that picto site!
DSC_0344 by Andrew Dunning, on Flickr

Neat trail, didn't have that one mapped before.

(2023-01-16, 05:55 PM)GowerGulch42 Wrote: [ -> ]Sure hope you remembered to look up at that picto site!

Neat trail, didn't have that one mapped before.

I did!  I took loads more photos than I posted.  Pretty much always how it goes right?  Who needs 30 photos of hunting blinds that mostly resemble piles of rocks.  Lol.  

The Picto site was quite dirty.  The heavy rain this summer really covered a lot of art sites in a thin film of mud.  I saw that in UT this year as well.

(2023-01-16, 01:16 PM)DAW89446 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm intrigued by the cache of firewood.

The last time Julie and I were in that area there was a large religious group there. Most every shelter, overhang had an individual living and finding/seeking whatever it was the organization was promoting. I expect there are other items cached out there. I did report the group to the NPS as it looked to be an unpermitted activity.

(2023-01-16, 08:03 PM)ski3pin Wrote: [ -> ]

(2023-01-16, 01:16 PM)DAW89446 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm intrigued by the cache of firewood.

The last time Julie and I were in that area there was a large religious group there. Most every shelter, overhang had an individual living and finding/seeking whatever it was the organization was promoting. I expect there are other items cached out there. I did report the group to the NPS as it looked to be an unpermitted activity.

Very strange!

(2023-01-16, 08:03 PM)ski3pin Wrote: [ -> ]

(2023-01-16, 01:16 PM)DAW89446 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm intrigued by the cache of firewood.

The last time Julie and I were in that area there was a large religious group there. Most every shelter, overhang had an individual living and finding/seeking whatever it was the organization was promoting. I expect there are other items cached out there. I did report the group to the NPS as it looked to be an unpermitted activity.

Wow!  That’s crazy.  That must have been surreal.  I had no idea it was on anyones radar.  I mean, I never assume no one knows about wherever I am.  But a group like that is very freaking odd.  

Maybe they just like sitting in sheep poop??

Edit: if there are illegal caches out there, I’m very tempted to … ah… return everything to its natural state, so to speak.

(2023-01-16, 08:03 PM)ski3pin Wrote: [ -> ]

(2023-01-16, 01:16 PM)DAW89446 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm intrigued by the cache of firewood.

The last time Julie and I were in that area there was a large religious group there. Most every shelter, overhang had an individual living and finding/seeking whatever it was the organization was promoting. I expect there are other items cached out there. I did report the group to the NPS as it looked to be an unpermitted activity.

Hmmm ... I was sort of hoping it was Scotty's old hiding place, Camp Hold Out.  Thanks Monte.