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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

5/25/09 Owens Valley Ca.


Monday morning we headed back down into the desert, just north of Bishop, Ca.. In the Fish Slough Wetlands area, where we had heard there was some rock art panels. This area was once inhabited by the Paiute and Shoshone. These two Native American groups had settled the western foothills of the White mountains around 8,000 years ago.

Several miles of dirt roads led us to our first stop just, outside the wetlands. This area had a few dozen petroglyphs, scattered on various boulders. It also had a few smooth polished grinding slicks, as well as cupules used to prepare food.























The second stop held even more rock art panels, many of which pertained to the spiritual rituals of the Native Americans.



The third and last of these stops was by far the most remarkable, with hundreds and hundreds of petroglyphs. Several Shaman, Graph, Foot and Hand prints covered almost every rock face. Some Believe the foot prints to represent a diminutive human spirit, Known as Water Baby. This spirit was called upon during some Shaman rituals.

























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