Coso Rock Art District

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Coso Rock Art District
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
Nearest city: China Lake, California
Designated as NHL: July 8, 2001[1]
Added to NRHP: October 08, 1999[2]
NRHP Reference#: 99001178
Governing body: United States Navy
Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city: China Lake, California
Added to NRHP: October 15, 1966
NRHP Reference#: 66000209

[2]
Governing body: United States Navy

Coso Rock Art District, also known as Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons is a site of Indian petroglyphs now located within Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, near China Lake and Ridgecrest, California.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001.[1]

A November 2007 Los Angeles Times' Travel feature article includes it within a top 15 list of California places to visit.[3]

According to that article: "No one knows for sure who decorated Little Petroglyph Canyon with images out of a dreamscape, some thought to be more than 10,000 years old. Or why the basalt walls of a narrow wash in the bone-dry Coso Mountains at the northern edge of the Mojave became a magic canvas for flocks of bighorn sheep, hunters with bows and arrows poised and more. But the area is probably the richest Amerindian rock-art site in the hemisphere. To see the canyon, you must contact the Navy base or join a tour offered by Maturango Museum. It's a rough 40-mile drive to the trail head, followed by a hike and a scramble along the canyon. Visits only in spring and fall."[3]

Contact info from that article: "Info: Maturango Museum, 100 E. Las Flores Ave., Ridgecrest, CA 93555; (760) 375-6900, www.maturango.org. Private tours through the Naval Air Weapons Station, (760) 939-1683."[3]

According to the Maturango Museum website, only U.S. citizens are allowed on the tours, and advance reservation is required.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Coso Rock Art District. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  2. ^ a b National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
  3. ^ a b c Susan Spano (2007-11-15). 10. Mojave Art on the Rocks, in "THE GOLDEN 15: 15 places to visit to see the real California". Los Angeles Times.

[edit] External links

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