Greenwater Canyon Pictographs

Dan, Niki and Jamie (of Dzrtgrls fame), Alysia, my dad and I went on a long and blistering hike in late April of 2006 to try to find a set of pictographs in Greenwater Canyon. They are not easy to find and required some searching across a few canyons by us. And even though it was a bit of a distance, the heat was more of a factor in making this hike tough. I guess even April was too late to be out in Death Valley.

The pictographs here show a Coso style influence.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs

55 photos

Hiking cross-country.

Hiking into a wash.

The Mojave Asters are blooming.

Alysia and the Dzrtgrls

I spot a Zebra tailed lizard

Into another canyon.

and wash....

I think we are lost.

Alysia takes a break while we start scouting around.

Dan reports back that he thinks he is on the right track.

Another canyon. This one is tighter though.

A nice little Hedgehog cactus is blooming too.

This little rock shelter looks promising.

We spot some water in a tinaja. This would have been important for anyone trying to live out here.

It is a little tricky getting over to the cave.

It is a hot day! But check out all of those pictographs behind Alysia!

Wow!

I desaturated this image to try and pull out some detail.

Greenwater Canyon pictographs.

Some of these look more like deer than sheep.

Red and black pictographs all along the back wall.

Circle around this hole.

Lots of lines in the cave. Also note the black bighorn sheep above the lines.

Counting?

White and red counting lines (?) in sets of three.

More up "rake" style pictographs.

There are two series of different anthropomorphs glyphs here. A black row (and a large white one) on top and a row of black figures covered by red pigment along the bottom.

False color image of the anthropomorphs.

Note that they seem to be holding hands.

More figures. Are they dancing?

This is hard to see.

This seems to be a mortor or cupule of some type. Perhaps to mix powders into paint?

Pictographs on the ceiling.

Dan relaxes after a long and hot hike.

We are all happy to be in the shade.

Niki taking a break.

Myself.

My dad and Jamie relax from the heat.

Battle of photographers...

On to another cave, also with pictographs.

At least one figure.

There are a few pictographs here.

This is a strange panel. The bighorn sheep seem to have horns that curve down in front of them.

A faint red sun pictograph above a few cupules.

We move on to another nearby shelter with more pictographs.

Some chert flakes lay in a small depression.

Red and black ceiling pictographs.

More ceiling pictographs.

More chips and flakes

Flakes in what looks more like a mortar. Cupule next to it.

I hike up to yet another shelter.

Faint sheep and other pictographs here.

Charcoal (?) bighorn sheep.

While we are hiking back to our cars, we come across the guardian of the pictos - a chuckwalla. He looks healthy.

Taking a break in the shade of a boulder on the hike back. It was a long and toasty hike out.

Last Updated on August 4, 2020 by Guy Starbuck