Painted rock on Carrizo Plain, California, USA
|
GPS: 35° 8′ 46.05″ N, 119° 51′ 42.07″ W |
Painted Rock, Carrizo Plain, CA
The site is located on the south western of the plain already on a gentle slope on the bottom of the mountains that delimit the plain. For that reason there is a good view over the plain from the site. The rock is a horse shoe formation of almost 100 m diameter of marine sandstone. The ‘horse shoe’ opens up to the North into the valley.
Rock art panel in Painted Rock
The inside of horse shoe formation forms a natural court with additional alcoves and small caves. The location and the physical appearance of this natural rock formation is stunning: Once you approach it and stand in it becomes apparent: This is a special place and almost as an imperative it must been used for sacral ceremonies. Therefore it is no surprise that the rock is covered by paintings of local natives. The site also resembles parallels to the sites La Zarza on the Canarian island of La Palma.
The paintings are concentrated on the eastern half of the rock. On one of the small caves on the western half shows an intense layer of soot. The pictographs are created by the Chumash, Salinan and Yokut peoples over many thousands of years. The plain was abandoned around 600 AD.
Datura plant near Painted Rock
May be a coincident, but there are plenty of Datura plants, also called angel’s trumpets near to the site, actually most numbers on the car park near rock. The native people were known to use Datura as a drug to gain altered states of consciousness.