Greenwater Canyon Pictographs

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

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Hiking cross-country.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Hiking into a wash.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — The Mojave Asters are blooming.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Alysia and the Dzrtgrls

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — I spot a Zebra tailed lizard

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Into another canyon.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — and wash....

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — I think we are lost.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Alysia takes a break while we start scouting around.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Dan reports back that he thinks he is on the right track.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Another canyon. This one is tighter though.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — A nice little Hedgehog cactus is blooming too.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — This little rock shelter looks promising.

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

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — It is a little tricky getting over to the cave.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — It is a hot day! But check out all of those pictographs behind Alysia!

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Wow!

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — I desaturated this image to try and pull out some detail.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Greenwater Canyon pictographs.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Some of these look more like deer than sheep.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Red and black pictographs all along the back wall.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Circle around this hole.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Lots of lines in the cave. Also note the black bighorn sheep above the lines.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Counting?

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — White and red counting lines (?) in sets of three.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — More up "rake" style pictographs.

Greenwater Canyon 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.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — False color image of the anthropomorphs.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Note that they seem to be holding hands.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — More figures. Are they dancing?

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — This is hard to see.

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

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Pictographs on the ceiling.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Dan relaxes after a long and hot hike.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — We are all happy to be in the shade.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Niki taking a break.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Myself.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — My dad and Jamie relax from the heat.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Battle of photographers...

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — On to another cave, also with pictographs.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — At least one figure.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — There are a few pictographs here.

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

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — A faint red sun pictograph above a few cupules.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — We move on to another nearby shelter with more pictographs.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Some chert flakes lay in a small depression.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Red and black ceiling pictographs.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — More ceiling pictographs.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — More chips and flakes

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Flakes in what looks more like a mortar. Cupule next to it.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — I hike up to yet another shelter.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Faint sheep and other pictographs here.

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — Charcoal (?) bighorn sheep.

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

Greenwater Canyon Pictographs — 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

Post date August 8, 2018
Post categories In California, Death Valley
TagsPictographs