Results of the Fort Hunter Liggett Rock Art Investigation Project in Monterey County, California

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Fort Hunter Liggett (FHL), in the central coastal region of California, contains a prodigious rock art record composed primarily of hundreds of red, black, and white pictographs. Most people familiar with this rock art know of the National Register-listed La Cueva Pintada, a large cave with several hundred overlapping elements, but there are also other archaeological sites on the installation with pictographs. Importantly, rock art at FHL is concentrated in two locations: (1) away from habitations on an isolated mountain top and, (2) directly associated with habitations on a valley floor. This poster presents the results of recent research by USAG Fort Hunter Liggett, in partnership with Desert Research Institute, on this unique pictographic assemblage. First, we display data on the number of elements, their colors, and combination of motifs for each site and show there are important differences between the two concentrations. Second, using pXRF analyses, we discuss the geochemical composition of various pigments used in element creation and implications regarding pigment use and procurement.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35742.0