BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VII
PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.
For the space of 4 miles southward there are a few scattered petroglyphs, to which reference will be made below, and the greatest number of characters are not found until the southernmost extremity of the entire series is reached. These are over the surface of immense bowlders lying on the east side of the road where it passes through a little valley known locally as the Chalk grade, probably on account of the whitened appearance of the sand and of some of the embankments. A general view of the faces of the bowlders upon which the chief sculpturings occur is presented in Fig. 17. The petroglyphs are represented in Pls. VIII to XI.
Fig. 17.—View of Chalk grade petroglyphs, Owens valley.
The figures presented in Pl. VIII are, with one exception, each about one-thirtieth the size of the original. The animal character in e is upon the top of the largest bowlder shown on Fig. 17, and is pecked to the depth of from one-fourth to one-half an inch. Portions of it are much defaced through erosion by sand blown by the strong summer winds. The characters in g are only one-tenth of the original size, but of depth similar to the preceding.
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VIII
PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.
On Pl. IX, a is one-twentieth the size of the original, while the remaining sculpturings are about one-tenth size. The cross in a is singularly interesting because of the elaborateness of its execution. The surface within the circle is pecked out so as to have the cross stand out bold and level with the original surface. This is true also of f on Pl. VIII. Pl. IX, b, contains some animal forms like those reported from New Mexico and Arizona, and Brazil [and presented in this work], especially that character to the right resembling a guanaco couchant, although, from its relationship to the figure of an antelope, in the same group, it no doubt is intended to represent one of the latter species.
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IX
PETROGLYPHS IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.