Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 257-268 (1981).

Pitted Rock Petroglyphs in Southern California

D. L. TRUE M. A. BAUMHOFF

ECAUSE of a long-term research inter­ ethnographically based interpretations for pit­ Best in pitted rock petroglyphs, we were ted rocks in northern California (baby rocks interested and somewhat concerned several and rain rocks), similar features in southern years ago when Minor (1975) published his California could be associated with Luiseiio paper "The Pit and Groove Petroglyph Style migration legends and puberty ceremonies. in Southern California". Our interest was in This conclusion is based on a reading of the the description of the southern California ethnographic literature, on certain archaeo­ examples, the distribution data, and the fact logical data, and on a single reference by a that someone was working with this material local historian. In spite of this limited docu­ in a systematic way. Our concern was focused mentation, the idea has been picked up by primarily on the proposal that a meaningful writers interested in rock art and southern interpretation for the pitted rock features California ritual activities, and consequently is could be found in the extant Luiseno ethno­ in the process of becoming embedded in the graphic hterature. literature. For example, a reference to Minor's Although at the time we considered cer­ paper is included in a discussion of the Orange tain parts of Minor's interpretation to be County Maze and Bell Rock (Knight 1979; questionable, we did not feel that a response McKinney and Knight 1979) and is cited by or reaction to his proposal was necessary. In Fink (1979:61). Oxendine (1980:47) includes the interim, however, several writers have a mention of the Orange County Bell Rock in cited the Minor paper, and although these an end note and associates the concepts of authors are often careful not to endorse "ringing stones" and "pitted rocks" in a Minor's interpretation directly, the citations direct reference to Minor. tend to legitimize what would seem to be an Each of these citations, while properly incautious reading of the literature. cautious in its own right, tends to reinforce the interpretation proposed by Minor, an DISCUSSION interpretation that appears to be gaining an In essence. Minor (1975:15) proposed unwarranted credibility. With this prospect in that in addition to the previously suggested mind, we here address several of Minor's basic data sources.

D. L. True and M. A. Baumhoff, Dept. of Anthropology, An important part of his proposal is that Univ. of California, Davis, CA 95616. pitted rock features in the Luiseno territory

[257] 258 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY

were related to landmarks and territorial stones were placed on top of larger rocks or markers, and DuBois (1908a: I 58) is cited in outcroppings somewhat like simple cairns. support of this contention: While it is impossible to say that a pitted rock has never functioned as a location marker, When the people scattered from Ekvo Tem- eko, Temecula, they were very powerful. there arc reasons why Minor's proposal should When they got to a place they would sing a be treated with caution. It is clear from song to make water come there, and would DuBois, for example, that each group had call that place theirs; or they would scoop their own unique or distinctive marker rocks, out a hollow in a rock with their hands to and from the literature in general, that bound­ have that for their mark as a claim upon the land. The different parties of people had ary rocks are not necessarily the same as their own marks. For instance, Albafias' ancestor rocks or other important sacred ancestors had theirs, and Lucarios' people markers. DuBois (1908a: 153) stated, for had theirs, and their own songs of munival example: "The different parties of people had to tell how they had traveled from Teme­ different marks." This idea is reinforced by cula, of the spots where they stopped and about the different places they claimed. the example of the turtle rock on Albaiias' property. The turtle rock was left there by To reinforce the idea that rocks were used to Lucario's (Cuevish) ancestors as a "track of claim or mark territory. Minor again cites possession. . . It was left there to claim the DuBois: land" (DuBois 1908a: 115). This is a special rock form and DuBois goes to some length The song means that he is singing to his ancestors. He is singing about the rock. It is describing the appearance (cracks, etc.). his. They left it here to claim the land which A second important point relates to the was theirs [DuBois 1908a: 115]. concept of a scooped-out rock. The rock as described or mentioned by DuBois does not The specific reference in the above is the easily conjure up an image of a boulder Turtle Rock described by Albafias. marked by a number of small pecked depres­ A similar idea is stated by Strong sions. In fact, it is unlikely, in our opinion, (1929:285) who is cited by Minor as follows: that DuBois' consultant (Albaiias), who lived "In the old days each family (clan) had a very near to the scooped-out rock feature, territory inarked by rocks and they killed all would not have been able to differentiate trespassers." between the two rather different concepts There seems little doubt that rocks of (multiple pecked depressions versus a various kinds were used as boundary markers. scooped-out spot in a rock). To carry this idea Strong (1929:285), for example, presents a one step further, it seems logical that once a statement attributed to Francisco Ardea, a rock had been "scooped" to form a marker, Luiseno hving in Pala, that mentions territor­ there would be little point in repeatedly ies marked by rock^. The plural here is "scooping" in the same location, such as significant. First, it is likely that any territory would be required to make a typical pitted would require more than one rock to define boulder feature. Initially, it seemed clear its boundaries, even if the markers consisted enough to DuBois that the rocks were of single elements, and secondly the idea of "scooped" by the ancestors when they moved the use of stones in marking territories agrees into the area for the first time. In fact, the with data collected by one of us (DLT) from passage as stated by DuBois seems to suggest Luiseno consultants in the mid-1950's. In this that it was usual for the ancestors to "sing a later instance, the data indicate that marker song to make water there ... or they would PITTED ROCK PETROGLYPHS 259 scoop out a hollow in a rock with their ringing stones concept in greater detail. There hands. . ." with the implication in general that are several mentions of the ringing stones in this happened more than once (i.e., at more the standard literature, and some reason to than one place). However, a careful reading of believe that they can all be traced back to the entire passage suggests that the actual DuBois. Also, it is probably significant that all scooping may have happened only one time, references to this phenomenon are plural: and that it is the named ancestor rocks in DuBois (1908a:107): "Kaslapish, the ringing general that are found in more than one stones used in the girls cereinony"; DuBois location. With respect to the specific (1908a: 115): "song sung by one man to "scooped" rock, for example, DuBois states accompaniment of ringing stones"; Strong in a following paragraph, "Piyevla the man (1929:317): describes Ant Ordeal for boys: who scooped a rock on the hill near Albafias ". . . after this the anut songs were sung to the house at La Jolla was one of Lucario's accompaniment of ringing stones"; Strong ancestors..." (1908a:l58). This places a (1929:321): refers to the girls ceremony and second rock at La Jolla, but in the next to "a song sung to accompaniment of ringing sentence DuBois tells us that the aforemen­ stones"; Strong (1929:321): refers again to tioned scooped-out rock is //; the same local­ the Ant Ordeal and mentions the songs of ity as the turtle rock. This actually places the Anut: ". . . four or five of which are remem­ scooped-out rock at Potrero (Cuca) not at La bered, sung to accompaniment of ringing Jolla. A footnote to this passage, in fact, stones". verifies this location and gives the name The pattern is consistent, and the refer­ Peyevla (sic) to a hollow rock near Potrero. ence in every case is to stones. Our reading of The location in general is known as Popikvo these descriptions suggests a situation where and the "sliding place on the large rock in more than one stone is subjected to some Trujillos' field adjoining popikvo was made by treatment for the purpose of making a ringing Lucario's ancestors sliding on it" (emphasis sound. Nowhere, however, is it suggested that added). This clearly places Popikvo at Cuca the sounds were created by pounding, and to and as near as we can tell, the reference is to be consistent with the picture proposed by one scooped-out rock. No other mention of a Minor (and Oxendine), we would have to similar feature has so far been discovered in visualize a situation where persons were the standard Luiseiio ethnographies. pounding on boulders (more than one? ). and Minor then proposed that the process of to believe that such a pounding or pecking making a hollow in a rock (scooping) can be process would make a ringing sound. It is tied to the girls' puberty ceremony. This correct of course, to state that "ringing connection is made via the ringing stones stones" were used in some Luiseno puberty described by DuBois (1908a:95), and presum­ ceremonies. It is the association of the con­ ably the sound is a byproduct of the scooping cept of ringing stones (as part of puberty process, i.e., "scooping a hollow with their ceremonies) with the marker or boundary hands" (1908a: 158). Actually it seems that rocks, that concerns us here. If we are reading Minor is proposing that the ringing sound is Minor correctly, the logical sequence or set of (was) produced by pounding on the rocks to relationships as he sees it would go something make hollows. This in our opinion is inconsis­ like this: tent with the data as presented. Because of the importance of this idea, (1) Special rocks exist, at least one of however, it is probably worth examining the which was scooped out. These are 260 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY

described by Luiseno consultants. majority of the pitted rock features examined (2) These rocks were used to mark loca­ by us in San Diego County, however, are tions and to claim territories. made on rocks that do not ring. In fact, most (3) Such special rocks often were seen as of them are made on soft, almost decom­ ancestors and were sung to under posing, rock that makes a very dull thud when certain circumstances. struck. (4) The singing with respect to these To support his ethnographically based special ancestor rocks was done as argument (or vice-versa). Minor presented part of ritual activities. certain archaeological data that he believes (5) As part of other rituals, singing was document the use of pitted rock features in done to the accompaniment of ringing Luiseno puberty ceremonies. He proposed, rocks. for example, that there is a strong correlation (6) Such ringing rock sounds were pro­ between habitation sites, pictographs, and duced by pounding on the marker or cupule rock features (1975:17). Because a ancestor rocks to make pits number of pitted rock features have been (scooping?). reported from sites that have pottery and pictographs, he concluded that the cupules In our opinion, a move from the idea of a are late in time (1975:11). Because these scooped-out rock with very special connota­ features are known to occur at sites where tions, to the use of such a rock as accompani­ pictographs are sometimes present, and ment for songs sung as part of the girls' because pictographs are often associated with puberty ceremony, is logically deficient and Luiseiio puberty ceremonies, he proposed a lacking in empirical support. The only obvi­ direct correlation between pitted rocks and ous common denominators appear to be the Luiseiio puberty ceremonies. Furthermore, concept rocks and the process of singing. Minor proposed as part of the same argument In sum, we find no fault with the basic that since a number of ceremonials were ethnographic statements. That is to say, we shared by the Luiseiio and Diegueno (in late agree that the Luiseno used rocks as boundary prehistoric or historic times), whatever infer­ markers, and we agree that rocks have been ences can be made for the Luiseno can be identified as important sacred ancestral relics. applied equally well to the Diegueno. We accept the fact that certain of the puberty There seems no doubt that pottery, pic­ ceremonies included songs sung to the accom­ tographs, and pitted boulders are often found paniment of "ringing stones," but suggest on the same sites (or close-by). It may well be there is nothing in our reading of the htera­ the case, in fact, that this association is ture that in any remote way supports the meaningful in terms of the proposed late proposed relationship between the ancestral dating. In the absence of meaningful ethno­ rocks, territorial markers, "ringing rocks," graphic support, however, there is no basis at and pitted rock petroglyphs. all for assuming a correlation between the We are not suggesting that in some parti­ pitted boulders and any specific ceremony [ cular instance a boundary or ancestor rock Just because pictographs are found on a site might not also be a pitted rock, nor that a does not mean that a pitted rock feature on particular pitted rock might not make a the same site has to have been used in ringing sound when struck. It is the case, for conjunction with puberty ceremonies. We example, that the Bell Rock in Orange recognize that such a correlation or associa­ County is also a pitted rock feature. The tion is possible, but propose that it has not PITTED ROCK PETROGLYPHS 261 been demonstrated however remotely in any coming from the Indians: "They neglected to of the data so far presented. state. . ." etc. (Parker 1965:32). There may The strongest and most uncomplicated be no real significance in this difference other evidence for a connection between the pitted than editorial license, but it could be impor­ rock features and puberty ceremonies pre­ tant to know when editorial license has been sented by Minor is unrelated to the ringing used and when we are being presented straight stones, to the aforementioned marker rocks, information. However competent Parker may or to the archaeology as described. This have been as an historian, it is clear from his evidence consists of a report attributed to published work that he is not likely to be a Horace Parker via Paul Chace wherein an useful source of reliable ethnographic infor­ unnamed consultant identified a pitted rock mation. In fact, if the level of accuracy feature in the Aguanga area as a kind of presented in his little book The Early Indians "scorecard" used in conjunction with puberty of Temecula is any measure, there is minimal ceremonies (Paul Chace cited in Minor 1975). basis for serious consideration of any of his A slightly different version of this same story data, unless confirmation could be obtained is presented by Parker himself as part of his from other sources. For example, in the discussion of the girls' puberty ceremony: discussion of the puberty ceremonies and pictographs mentioned above, Parker In a nearby wash on the underside of a (1965:31) proposed that the several small boulder was a cluster of round peckings in mortars in the granite boulders around the the boulder about the size of a silver dollar. / was told by the Indians who lived here that ceremonial site were apparently "used for the these were a kind of score card with each preparation of Mani." Even a casual reading peck representing an initiate of the cere­ of the Luiseno hterature would suggest that mony. They neglected to state whether the the crushed Datura root concoction to which round marks were for the boys or the girls" he refers, was prepared in a small portable and [Parker 1965:32, emphasis added]. quite sacred mortar (Tarn Yush). A mortar, in fact, born of the "earth mother" as one of the While it seems clear enough that the rock original beings (DuBois 1908a: 130. 78, 79, described by Parker was a pitted boulder 92, 114, 115, 157, 161, 172; Sparkman petroglyph, and his proposed explanation is 1908:207). Given the very clearly stated potentially very significant, in our opinion circumstances surrounding this part of the this explanation should be considered in the ritual, it is unlikely that bedrock features light of several other important circum­ whatever their size would have been used as stances. part of the indicated ceremony. For one thing, we are puzzled by the differences in the published account and the As part of the same discussion, Parker information given to Chace more or less at the (1965:31) stated: same time. According to Minor, Chace talked It is now pretty well established that after to Parker in 1965 and was told that the the girls' sand roasting ceremony, and while function of the pitted rock (pit and groove they were still groggy [emphasis added] style petroglyph) had been told to him they were given paint made from tree pitch and mineral pigments and told to draw on (Parker) in or about 1953 by an Indian from the rocks. Aguanga. The consultant was said to have been a man in his 60's, who had passed away This statement is seemingly inaccurate in "in the mid 1950s." Parkers' published several instances, and it seems clear that account, however, has the same information Parker has confused aspects of the boys' 262 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY

toloache ceremony (which includes the use of were used in conjunction with puberty or the narcotic Datura), and the girls' ritual, other rites had this been the case? which did not. Sparkman (1908), who lived in the area None of these points of course actually for many years and who had an abiding negates Parker's proposed explanation for the interest in the language and lifeways of the pitted boulder, but it can hardly be argued Luiseiio, does not mention the pitted rock that ethnographic accuracy is one of his features. strong points. To reinforce our concern with Gifford (1918) and Strong (1929) were this particular data source, we suggest that the both interested in the hfeways and social explanation proposed is even more difficult to organization of the Luiseiio and had an accept seriously when considered in light of interest in clan (lineage) locations and affilia­ the previous ethnographies available for the tions. They do not mention the pitted rock Luiseno. For example, for the fifty-odd years features, nor do they suggest possible connec­ prior to the publishing of Parker's little tome, tions between the initiation rites and any such there is not one recognizable mention of "special rocks." pitted rock petroglyphs in any of the litera­ Kroeber (1925) seemingly does not men­ ture we have been able to examine to date. tion either the rock features or a special It is hardly reasonable to believe, for relationship with any rock feature other than example, that DuBois, who was working at a those used in the pictograph paintings. Har­ time when the Luiseno were much closer to a rington (1933, 1934) likewise does not men­ traditional lifeway than they are at the tion pitted rock features or any association present, and who focused her efforts and between similar features and initiation rites, interests on the ritual and ceremonial aspects nor does Curtis (1926). of that lifeway, would have failed to pick up In the 1950's, when Raymond White was even a hint relating to the role of pitted rock collecting data for his dissertation, he had features in any of those ceremonies. Her access to several critical Luiseno consultants, consultants were excellent, and given the not the least of whom was Reginaldo Pachito, detail she was able to collect in many areas of a Not'' of some considerable knowledge and Luiseiio religious life, it can hardly be argued importance. Pachito, in fact, was probably the that the pitted rock information was specially most knowledgeable of the surviving Luiseno withheld for some reason. at that time, and he had agreed to talk with If the arguments presented by Minor White in a very special capacity. He would relative to a connection between "marker talk not only as a consultant in the traditional stones" and other rocks with ceremonial anthropological sense, but as part of a special significance were valid, one wonders why Jose mission conceived by Pachito. to pass on as Albaiias and/or Lucario Cuevas did not make much of the surviving Luiseno tradition as that point for DuBois. If these two venerable possible for posterity (White 1963:IV). White consultants were willing to describe the tales worked with Not'' Pachito for many, many of munival. point out the location of the months, and during this time had access not marker rocks and describe the specifics of the only to knowledge held by Pachito, but scooped-out rock, going out of their way to information collected by Pachito from other emphasize the ceremonial importance of both elders in response to White's questions. It is the features, and the concepts they repre­ hardly feasible, given the circumstances, that sented, why would they not have gone one some mention of pitted rock features (as part additional step and explained how such rocks of any one of a dozen rituals or circumstances PITTED ROCK PETROGLYPHS 263 discussed) would not have been made if these Eleanor Beemer, who has lived in the features were a viable part of the surviving Pauma Valley area adjacent to the Pauma traditional knowledge. This notion takes on Village for many decades and who has col­ special importance when it is considered in lected data on the Luiseno for over 40 years, connection with other research activities in reports many interesting and important process in the same area at the same general details relating both to secular and religious time. aspects of Luiseno life, but does not mention During the period from 1945 through either pitted rock petroglyphs or any associa­ 1960, one of us (DLT) spent considerable tion of similar rock features with initiation or time researching several aspects of the other ritual (Beemer 1980). Luiseno lifeway, including a concern with When these general circumstances are con­ Luiseno pictographs. This research included, sidered in the aggregate, and in conjunction in addition to field surveys, repeated discus­ with the fact that pitted rock elements are sions with several knowledgeable Luiseiio. seemingly not mentioned as part of the The focus at the time was on ethnogeography Luiseiio creation myth, it is difficult to argue (territorial features, markers, mythical beings for significant use of pitted rock features by or persons marked by stones), and on the the Luiseno, at least in very recent times. Our ritual aspects of the puberty ceremonies point here is not that the pitted rock features connected with the rock paintings. are absent from sites in the San Luis Rey or These investigations were conducted Luiseiio territory, but rather to suggest that if under near ideal conditions with respect to such features were used by the ancestors of consultants, and it is difficult to beheve that the Luiseno, such use might have been at a knowledge of pitted rock features as elements relatively remote period of time, and with in the puberty ceremonies was being with­ ceremonials other than the initiation rites as held. During the same general period of time, proposed by Minor. There are many rituals, of this interest in the initiation ceremonies course, for which no detail is remembered. included participation in a reenactment of a Although we know far too little at the girls' puberty ceremony for a documentary present time to speculate meaningfully on the film (never published), made under the direct function, origins, or even distributions of supervision of a Luiseiio paha. No mention pitted rock features, there are some useful was made at the time of pitted rocks. Further­ points that can be made in conjunction with more, shortly before the filming of the the present discussion. It is important to aforementioned reenactment, Luiseiio con­ recognize, for example, that there is more sultants were taken to the prehistoric site at than one kind of pictograph (i.e., not all Molpa for the specific purpose of identifying pictographs in the Luiseno territory were and naming artifacts and features present on painted in conjunction with initiation cere­ that site. These consultants included several monies). Just as importantly, it is the case knowledgeable Luiseiio elders and Chief that there may be more than one kind of Pachito. Bedrock mortars, bedrock metates, pitted rock feature to be considered. and other features or elements were identified At the present time, in fact, we can and named (including the associated painted identify what appear to be two rather differ­ rock). Two pitted rock features were present ent kinds of pitted rock elements: on the site. One was not identified at all by (1) Those with small diameter holes simi­ the consultants and the other was described as lar to the specimens reported at Molpa a possible arrow-sharpening rock. (True, Meighan, and Crew 1974:Plate 264 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY

This explanation is believed to be very tenta­ tive, however, and should be considered in conjunction with other data available relative •AGUANGA to arrow making. J^«RALA ^j Examples of the second kind of pitted PANKEY Wp^ rock are relatively common in Luiseiio terri­ \ • •LAJOLLAVL' \ T \ys,y^'^"V. jffll LAKE tory, although minimal time has been devoted >^^ HENSHAW so far to distribution studies, and we are as yet uncertain as to their exact patterning and associations. Work is in progress relative to these kinds of data for southern California and will be presented in another paper in the \>K!/ PACIFIC future. OCEAN In the way of a summary, we suggest the following: \ SAN (1) There is no meaningful ethnographic evidence connecting the pitted rock features and girls' initiation or any other specific ceremony in the Luiseno territory. i (2) The proposed archaeological associa­ tions between some pitted rock fea­ Fig. 1. Map showing location of sites discussed in the text. tures and painted pictographs in Luiseno territory should be carefully and cautiously considered since the 5) and at the Pankey site (CA-SDi- apparent association may be of mini­ 682) (see Fig. 1). mal significance. (2) Those with small saucer-shaped (3) The proposed recent age for all pitted depressions that look like incipient rock features in Luisefio/Diegueno ter­ bedrock mortars. These are typically ritory may or may not be correct in one and one-half or two inches in all cases and in heu of substantive diameter and one-half inch deep and evidence, should be treated with con­ may be pecked into either vertical or siderable caution. horizontal surfaces. (This particular (4) Although no systematic effort has form may under some circumstances been made so far to look for such represent elements other than petro­ information, and it is unhkely that glyphs, and possible use as paint mor­ meaningful data will be turned up, we tars and acorn anvils should be consid­ suggest that evidence for the use of ered in some contexts.) pitted rock features would more likely At this writing, we know of only two be found in ethnographies of Yuman- examples of the small-diameter hole features speaking (Hokan) peoples than in the in San Diego County (Molpa and Pankey). Luiseiio. In point of fact, the only The feature at Molpa was tentatively identi­ references noted so far that have even fied as a possible arrow-sharpening rock and a remote potential in this direction are given the name lawalawax (White 1963:125). from the Yuman area. We recognize PITTED ROCK PETROGLYPHS 265

that these are not definitive state­ tale relates the travels of two people over vast ments relating directly to pitted rock portions of the Cocopa and Kainia territory, features as these are known archaeo- and their arrival (finally) at the land of the logically, but they represent the only dead. statements we have encountered so far that use words and concepts that When the travelers reached Kemp Hap they stood in front of the door. They saw only might be interpreted as possible refer­ the rock with some marks pecked on it. ences to pitted rocks or processes that Nothing else was on the outside because might result in pitted rocks. everything was inside the rock. . . [Kelly The first of these turns up in DuBois 1977:127]. "Ceremonies and Traditions of the Diegueno While we are fully cognizant of the feeble Indians" (1908/7:321-32). Here DuBois des­ relationships represented by these two situa­ cribes a Fair Weather Making Ceremony (Awi- tions, they are actually the only references we kunchi) which alludes to making holes in a have been able to find in southern California rock in conjunction with weather manage­ so far that even remotely refer to features ment. The Awikunchi ceremony is no longer that might be interpreted as pitted rock remembered, and DuBois was able to get only petroglyphs. In our opinion, in fact, the lack a few bits and pieces of information as of of specific mention of these features in the 1908. She stated for example: Luisefio/Diegueno ethnographic literature is Awikunchi is the name of a certain rock in of considerable significance. If these elements the middle of which there has been carved were related to any of the more recently the figure of a tiny coiled snake. When a practiced ceremonies, there is little question man makes a hole in this rock it will grow together again. . ." [DuBois 19086:231]. but that they would have been mentioned. It is amply clear that Sparkman, DuBois, Davis The rock itself had been defaced so that (1919, 1921), Waterman (1910), and others DuBois was unable to provide a more detailed had access to consultants who were not only description of its surface other than that it knowledgeable but who were willing to go was of soft granite. The actual relationship beyond the normal constraints with regard to between the rock and the song series which the divulgence of typically secret and sacred bears its name could not be discovered, but information. It is difficult to beheve that if she was told (DuBois 1908/7:231-232) that the pitted rock features had been part of any the series was sung for fair weather: "If it of the remembered ceremonies, they would rains for some time, they may say 'let us sing not have been mentioned or described. With Awikunchi to end the rain.' " Although this is this in mind we suggest: the only statement we have encountered so (1) The pitted rock features in question far that relates weather-control measures with were used in ceremonies no longer a rock or the process of altering the surface of remeinbered and are probably gener­ a rock, there are several mentions of weather ally unrelated to initiation rites; control in the general ethnographic literature (2) Such features were probably used in for the Yuman area. more than one ceremony and for A second reference that may be relevant more than one purpose; (or of interest) is found in Kelly's Cocopa (3) These ceremonies, whatever their Ethnography (1977). In this instance, the function, are part of a widespread reference is to a pitted (?) rock related to the cultural pattern in California and the mythical Keruk hap (land of the dead). The Great Basin; 166 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY

(4) There is a significant possibility that underlying scheme that we are considering this distribution can in some way be with respect to this kind of rock art (Baum­ associated with an early distribution hoff 1981:181). The idea briefiy was that the of Hokan-speaking peoples. Hokan languages represent remnant popula­ tions of what was once a basal layer or CONCLUSIONS cultural substrate in a large area of the southwestern United States. This is not basal As we stated at the beginning of this in the sense of earliest (the various Clovis-Iike paper, we were interested in Minor's paper finds are doubtless earlier), but in the sense of originally because of our longtime interest in fundamental adaptation from which all the pitted rock petroglyphs. Minor's compilation later (non-agricultural) cultures derive. It was is a very useful one and together with further proposed that the cupules or pitted Fleshman (1975) is one of the few distribu­ petroglyphs form an element of the cultural tion studies of these items to have been substrate. In order to demonstrate this, it published in recent years. The only other such would be desirable to show that where Hokan studies we know of are by Payen (1966) and peoples survived ethnographically the pitted Heizer and Baumhoff (1962:209, 234-238). petroglyphs should exist both early and late The study by Heizer and Clewlow (1973) while in areas occupied ethnographically by interestingly enough does not distinguish this non-Hokan peoples they should be early but sort of petroglyph as a separate type or style. not late. Even in a perfect world we would They present a North Coast style which not expect a one-to-one correspondence in largely consists of pitted or cupule rocks, but this respect. Given that the basic notion is they see these as local and late. correct, it might be that, for example, an Our collection of data on these petro­ immigrant group picked up the pitted petro­ glyphs so far has yielded a rough distribution glyph habit from their predecessors. in California and the Great Basin. They occur It will be seen from this perspective that in the Coast Range from Humboldt Bay to the present paper can be categorized as a case San Francisco Bay. To the south they are of special pleading, and so it is with some known from San Luis Obispo County south apology that we present what may be regar­ to the Mexican border. The hiatus between ded as a case of overkill. We think, however, San Francisco and San Luis Obispo is likely to that each case or proposed case for the be more apparent than real. In the Sacra­ ethnographic use of these petroglyphs must mento-San Joaquin Valley, they occur very be exainined as carefully as possible; other­ spottily, but rocks themselves occur very wise, it will not be possible to make the case spottily in that region. In the Sierra Nevada, plausible at all. they occur in the north and central parts; we think no one has looked for them in the REFERENCES southern Sierra. There may be a few in the Mojave Desert, but they certainly have not Bard, James C, Frank Asaro, and Robert F. Heizer been widely reported. In the Great Basin, 1975 Perspectives of Dating of Great Basin Petro­ glyphs by Neutron Activation Analysis of they seem to be present in most areas (Heizer the Patinated Surfaces. Report prepared for and Baumhoff 1962; Von Werihof 1965). It is the U. S. Energy Research and Development here that the evidence of antiquity is clearest Administration. (Bard, Asaro, and Heizer 1975). Baumhoff, M. A. Elsewhere, one of us has mentioned the 1981 The Evolution of Pomo Society. Journal of PITTED ROCK PETROGLYPHS 267

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