Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park
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Chaw'se Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park is a historical state park located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, eight miles east of Jackson. The park is named after a great outcropping of marbleized limestone with some 1,185 mortar holes — the largest collection of bedrock mortars in North America.
The park is nestled in a little valley 2,400 feet above sea level with open meadows and large specimens of Valley oak (Quercus lobata) that once provided the Miwok peoples of this area with an ample supply of acorns.
Chaw’se is the Miwok word for grinding rock. Upon this rock, they ground the acorns and other seeds into meal, slowly forming the cup shaped depressions in the stone that can still be seen today. Along with the mortar holes, the main grinding rock within the park also features a number of decorative carvings (petroglyphs): circles, spoked wheels, animal and human tracks, wavy lines, etc. Some of these carvings are thought to as much as two or even three thousand years old and are now becoming difficult to see. This association of rock art and bedrock mortar pits is unique in California. Except for one other small site, Chaw'se has the only known occurrence of mortars intentionally decorated with petroglyphs.
[edit] Chaw'se Regional Indian Museum
This museum, within the park grounds, features a variety of exhibits and a vast collection of Sierra Nevada Indian artifacts. A Miwok village complete with a ceremonial roundhouse has been reconstructed in the middle of the small valley (the roundhouse is registered as California Historical Landmark #1001). The Museum has been designed to reflect the architecture of the traditional roundhouse. Exhibited in this two-story museum are examples of the technology and crafts of the Miwok and other Sierra Nevada Native American groups. As a regional Indian museum, the collection at Chaw'se includes exhibits on the Northern, Central and Southern Miwok, Maidu, Konkow, Monache, Nisenan, Tubatulabal, Washoe, and Foothill Yokuts.
[edit] Wildlife
Bird life varies depending on the season, but many species are seen year round, including turkey vultures, Western scrub and Steller's jays, California quail, acorn and hairy woodpeckers, northern flickers, hermit thrushes, wild turkeys (non-native), and California thrashers. In summer, the bright colors of the western tanager, northern oriole, calliope and Anna's hummingbirds can be seen in the woods around the meadow.
Animal life in and around the park includes deer, fox, gray and California ground squirrels, black-tailed jackrabbits, bobcats, bats, and occasionally a mountain lion or black bear. Coyote calls can be heard on quiet summer nights.
