Rock Art at Little Lake: An Ancient Crossroads in the California Desert


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Series: Monographs 74
ISBN: 978-1-931745-93-2
Publication Date: Dec 2012
Price: Hb $59.00, Pb $35.00
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Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Gordon Hull, and John C. Bretney

The product of ten years of fieldwork at Little Lake Ranch in the Rose Valley, the southern gateway to the Owens Valley, this book presents the results of intensive rock art analyses carried out by the interdisciplinary research team of the UCLA Rock Art Archive. The research attempts to establish a connective web of associations to break down traditional but artificial barriers between rock art and the rest of archaeology. Through time-honored methods of stylistic analysis, the focus is on recent breakthroughs in the analysis of meaning and religion in the context of landscape attributes and ecological opportunities. Regional or ethnic differences suggested by the rock art record has made it possible to create a flexible analytical framework.

This book describes the occurrence, concentration, distribution, and formal variation of pecked and painted motifs. Scratched, pecked, and painted patterns are analyzed separately. Full-color illustrations throughout enhance the physical appeal of this beautiful book. overlooked archaeological excavation and object data.

Recipient of the Jo Anne Stolaroff Cotsen Prize
Table of Contents

Magic Petroglyphs by Wendy All
Foreword by Charles S. Stanish
Preface by Jo Anne Van Tilburg
Introduction by Jo Anne Van Tilburg
Field and Archive Methods by Gordon E. Hull

Vistas

Chapter 1. Little Lake Geology by Allen F. Glazner
Chapter 2. Little Lake Environment and Archaeology by Jo Anne Van Tilburg and John C. Bretney

Visionaries

Chapter 3. Little Lake Ranch Rock Art Complex by Jo Anne Van Tilburg, John C. Bretney, and Gordon E. Hull
Chapter 4. Atlatl Cliff by John C. Bretney
Chapter 5. Scratched Rock Art at Little Lake Ranch Rebekah by Miller Reed
Chapter 6. The Desert Bighorn Sheep Motif by Noel Van Slyke and H. Bill White
Chapter 7. Painted Rock Art and Stahl Site Pigments by Jo Anne Van Tilburg and Clarus Backes, Jr.
Chapter 8. Rock Art, Aesthetics, and Belief by Jo Anne Van Tilburg

Vernacular 

Chapter 9. Little Lake Ranch Toward the Future by James L. Pearson
Chapter 10. Basketry An Ethnographic Legacy by Judith W. Finger 
Chapter 11. A Rare Cached Brownware Pot by Jelmer W. Eerkens and Jo Anne Van Tilburg