Deep in the El Paso Mountains, at the site of a fossil spring, is an extensive Coso Native American village site. We found rock circles, grinding slicks, mortars, manos with metates, and petroglyphs spread out across a wide area.
Each time we revisit the site, we seem to discover more. This is the southernmost known extension of the Coso petroglyphs and one of the few sites not found inside the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station.
Most of the petroglyphs found here are the Coso Representational and Classic styles. I think I spotted some Western Desert Archaic ones here as well. The Coso petroglyphs seem to have been created between a few thousand years ago to AD 1300. My friend Dr. Alan Gold has researched them extensively and written several articles on them.
