• facebook
  • twitter
  • pinterest
  • 500px
  • instagram
  • flickr
  • google
  • rss

Travel To Eat

Look...Learn...Eat...Live

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Categories
    • Arabia
    • Belgium
    • Bridges and Buildings
    • California
    • Cathedrals & Churches
    • Clocks and Astrolabes
    • Colorado
    • Cooking and Recipes
    • Egypt
    • Ethiopia
    • Events
    • Food and Drinks
    • France
      • Versailles
      • Paris
      • Rouen and Normandy
    • Plants and Gardens
    • History
    • Jewels and Jewelry
    • Las Vegas
    • London
    • Maps
    • Monument
    • Museums
      • Painting
      • Sculpture
      • The Louvre
      • British Museum
    • Portugal
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Rome
    • This and That
  • Blog
  • Glossary

December 29, 2018 by Kurt Buzard

Art and Science of Petroglyphs

Ancient Petroglyph of Bighorn Sheep. Little Petroglyph Canyon, China Lake California

Ancient Petroglyph of Bighorn Sheep. Little Petroglyph Canyon, China Lake California

The process of creating useful and visually pleasing petroglyphs is one of the more difficult art forms, related more to creating a stone statue than painting. Unlike cave paintings that are added to the rock, petroglyphs involve removing material, in particular the desert varnish or patina that covers rocks in the desert. Today this would be difficult and take time, even with our modern steel tools, back then they only had stone tools making the process long and laborious. To cut a hard stone you would need a harder stone, preferably with some kind of point to focus the energy. Aside from the technical difficulties, there is the matter of artistic depiction of various animals, experiences and ideas. To communicate even relatively simple things, given the relatively crude stone canvas, the essence of the item being depicted must be communicated unambiguously, to translate to even strangers speaking a different language. While this discussion is directed primarily at Little Petroglyph Canyon, the principles are applicable to most petroglyphs.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Archaeology, California, Native Americas Cultures Tagged With: California, Celtic Knot, China Lake, Conchoidal Fracture, Coso Volcanic Field, Cup and Ring Symbol, Desert Patina, Desert Varnish, Dual Centered Spiral, geology, Holocene, Little Petroglyph Canyon, Microstratigraphies, Petroglyph, Petroglyphs, Rhyolite, Ridgecrest, Rock Art, Rock Varnish, Schist, Spiral, Terminal Pleistocene, Trinity Spirals, Triple Spirals, Triquetra, Triskele, Triskelion, Water Petroglyph

December 11, 2018 by Kurt Buzard

Little Petroglyph Canyon Overview, China Lake, California

Coso Range at Little Petroglyph Canyon. China Lake, California

Coso Range at Little Petroglyph Canyon. China Lake, California

Since both the Little and Big Petroglyph Canyons are within the bounds of the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, thus limited for photography, I am including photographs of the surrounding area before delving into the petroglyphs. The southern part of the Coso range lies in the restricted Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and the northern part of the range is designated as the Coso Range Wilderness. To visit Little Petroglyph Canyon, you need to go through the Maturango Museum which is located in Ridgecrest, California. To arrange a guided tour of the Coso Rock Art District located on China Lake Naval Weapons Station, you will need to call the museum to secure a reservation, pay a small fee and go through a written security questionnaire. No photography is allowed on the fairly long trip from the front gate until you reach the parking lot for the canyon. Since I believe you cannot properly appreciate the petroglyphs without the context of the surrounding area and cultures, I have decided to do a post on the canyon itself and the surrounding area.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Archaeology, California, Native Americas Cultures Tagged With: Argus Range, China Lake, Coso Range, Joshua Tree, Little Petroglyph Canyon, Maturango Museum, Mormon Tea, Native Americans, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Nevada Ephedra, Petroglyphs, Renegade Canyon, Ridgecrest, Rock Art, Rubber Rabbitbush, Tarantula Hawk Wasp

Search the Site

Site Tags

Africa Ancient Egypt Auckland Australia Birds Birdwatching Botswana British Museum California Cappadocia Cathedrals & Churches Colorado Costa Rica Denver Eiffel Tower Flowers France Garden Istanbul Kunsthistorisches Museum Kurt Buzard MD Larco Museum Las Vegas Lima London Louis XIV Madagascar Mesopotamia Montreal Museums Napoleon I Napoleon III Nevada New Zealand Normandy Painting Paris Peru Restaurant Sculpture Sydney The Louvre Tomatoes Turkey Vienna

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Twitter

Welcome to Travel to Eat

This website has been redesigned from the ground up to make it easier for you, the reader to find posts that might interest you. Just click on a photo to select the topic or the blog for the most recent posts

Buzardweb@gmail.com

Civilization

Every society has a specific set of ideas and customs, and a certain set of manufactures and arts that make it unique. Because ancient civilizations continue to influence us today, and because I love history, I have devoted many posts to prehistory and ancient civilizations.

About the Blog

This blog is a collection of my thoughts on places, things and places, that I find interesting. There are no advertisements, no cookies and I do not share your email address with anyone. I hope you enjoy your visit and I hope you will return and leave a comment.

Subscribe Us

Copyright © 2021 · Travel To Eat · Built on the Genesis Framework