Petroglyph Point Interpretive Stops

Other -colors are evident elsewhere. Bullets PETROGLYPH POINT This site looked different several and shotgun blasts destroy petroglyphs. PETROGLYPH POINT hundred thousand years ago. It Carved graffiti is abundant and early at INTERPRETIVE STOPS was a wetter time when ancient tempts to remove it have left numerous Lake Modoc covered the Klamath- scars. Ironically, some early modifications An interpretive walk Tulelake Basin. All was not peace are now considered historic. J.D. Howard, an 3ful, however. About 270,000 years ago One day Kamookumpts was rest early explorer of the lava beds, is said to have ing on the east shore of Tule Lake. magma, from deep within the earth, welled painted here, and Japanese characters dating Looking around, he realized that up through a crack, or fault, in the earth's back to the World War II internment camp at crust, erupting explosively when it contact Newell are inscribed into nearby rocks. there was nothing anywhere except the lake. He decided to make land. ed the shallow water of Lake Modoc. Small IHe dug some mud from the lake bottom and fragments of lava were blown upward in a Researchers are investigating ways of pro made a hill. He used the mud from the hill to succession of wet eruption clouds. This ma tecting the rock art from wind erosion and create land and mountains. He also created terial then fell back around the vent, creat vandalism, but for now they remain vul rivers, streams, plants, and animals. Creat ing a mound of muddy layers of volcanic nerable to the intentions of visitors. These ing everything was tiring work, so Kamoo "tuff." The resulting hill of soft,volcanic tuff petroglyphs represent non-renewable, irre kumpts dug a hole in which to sleep under is Petroglyphs Point. Stripes in the cliff face placeable glimpses into the minds and spir Tule Lake. He left the hill he had made to before you reveal the ancient, compacted its of those who have gone before. They also mark the spot. As the mud dried the hill be volcanic layers. Because portions of the cliff remain a part of the ongoing culture of the came rock and is still visible today. have been eroded by wind and water, you Modoc people. Please respect them as such, Modoc creation story can find the same layers continued in the honor them for their cultural value, and ground beneath your feet. leave them undisturbed. Walk lightly above the bed of Kamookumpts, for the old story contains a prophecy: • Today we call this hill Petroglyph For hundreds of thousands of Point. It is a peaceful place. Often Someday Kamookumputs will years, little changed at Petroglyph the wind sings a steady song. surely wake up and look out Point. The climate gradually Perhaps today this melody j over the world he made. He became drier. Eventually Lake is joined by the sounds ..-"4J Modoc receded leaving behind may he angry at how things 2of farmers working nearby fields. have changed and bring the 4smaller, shallowe r lakes like Tule Lake.Then, More often, the air is filled with around 11,500 years ago, a new and exciting water hack to cover Tule Lake the flutter of wings or the cry event occurred - human beings entered the again, changing the world to of hawks. Petroglyph Point basin. How and why the first immigrants" be like it was when he first is home to many birds. The came is unknown. Perhaps they followed made it. high bluff provides protected game animals into this area as conditions nesting and roosting sites close to became drier elsewhere. abundant feeding grounds. Look above you on the cliff face. The many mud nests are built by cliff LAVA BEDS swallows, but offer shelter to other small birds as well. Petroglyph Point also NATIONAL MONUMENT hosts several kinds of raptors, or birds of prey. Watch for prairie falcons, kestrels, and red- tailed hawks. Examine the ground beneath Text: Michele Moore Published by Lava Beds National Monument Design & Drawings: S. Rajnus and the cliff for clumps of bone, fur and feathers - Printed on recycled paper Lava Beds Natural History Association evidence that owls also frequent this haunt. Maybe they were fleeing enemies. No one The lake and its features must have One of the first questions that comes Look behind you, beyond the farm is certain. We do know that these pioneers held great attraction for a people to mind when viewing the petro buildings, to view Tule Lake. Dur survived by hunting the mammoth, deer, whose very existence depended glyph is "What do they mean?" ing the Modoc Indian War of 1872-: waterfowl and fish abundant in this area. on it. Petroglyph Point, an island This question is almost impossible 1873, much of the carved cliff face This approach to making throughout much of the history to answer. Most researchers agree at Petroglyph Point was under wa a living changed little 6of the lake, became an important site for 8that the petroglph s are truly rock art and do 9fer. Shortl y after the turn of the century, the through the ages. The petroglyph carving. Over 5000 symbols are not represent a written language. Modocs, successors to carved on the cliff face, as well as on nearby Maybe understanding can only those first immigrants, boulders and in cave shelters, making this come by viewing the images also harvested fish, one of the largest rock art concentrations in as symbols rather than as shellfish, and water North America. representations. fowl from the shallow waters of Artists were required to approach the cliff by The numerous motifs the lakes. Plants, canoe. They then used incising, rough peck super-imposed on top of too, were gathered ing, simple abrasion, and drilling and con one another at Petroglyph in season, including necting small pits to create the images. Geo Point seemed to indicate the seeds of wocus or metric patterns predominate. Zoomorphic, that this is an especially waterlily, found on or animal-like images are few, unlike adja attractive or powerful site. the lakes. cent Great Basin rock art. The pictographs Is this then a sacred place? and petroglyphs of this region became an Natural land marks such as hills, United States Bureau of Reclamation began expression of the distinct cultural identity of mountains and caves often serve as focal altering the lakes. Eventually, the lakes were the artists. points for spiritual activities. Such sites are reduced to sumps. Tule Lake, which once sometimes associated with rock art which filled this entire basin, is now one-sixth of its Tule Lake, providing a source of helps provide a connection to the supernat former size. Waters that once fed the lakes construction materials, as well as . ; ural world. Are these petroglyphs, then, a are now diverted for irrigation of the farm plant and animal food, was inte Dating petroglyphs is difficult. Re manifestation of religious belief, ceremony, land created by the receding waters. These gral to the lives of many Modocs. searchers use climatic reconstruc or attempts to contact spirits or to acquire changes could destroy the petroglyphs. The The lake represented a changing tion to create a history of lake level power? exposed lake bottom sediments contain frag 5resource because its level fluctuated greatly. fluctuation and to determine when ments of sand, gravel and volcanic glass. Look at the shelf-like ridges which extend each wave cut was produced. A Or is the rock art secular or mundane in ori Driven by the wind, these particles pelt the along the cliff face in front of you. Each ridge 7petroglyph cannot be created until the wave gin, or reflective of the hunting and gather cliff face, scouring away the rock art. represents a place where waves have eroded cut in which it is carved is formed. Evidence ing activities of the ancients? We cannot be a portion of the wall, creating a wave cut. suggests that the carved portion of the cliff certain of the answer. Whatever their origi Thus each ridge represents a different lake face at Petroglyph Point was not exposed nal meaning, the petroglyphs invariably level. Notice also that the base of the cliff until a dry period between 6400 and 5700 mean something different to each viewer. Other more immediate is lighter in color that its higher portions. years ago. If so, no petroglyph can be older Have you found petroglyphs which hold forms of damage threaten Successive inundations by high water crest than that. Wave cut analyis suggests many personal significance for you? the petroglyphs. This sec ed this mineral deposit. of the petroglyph may date to a period from tion of the cliff, like much of '4500-2500 years ago. Petroglyph Point, is marred 1by vandalism0. Whit e paint has been applied to the petroglyphs in front of you. It is illegal to remove, excavate or vandalize any archeological or cultural resources on public lands. .

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