Ancient Graffiti

by Bill Oudegeest

California must have been an interesting place in pre-Colombian times. It was the most populated area on the continent and the most diverse ethnically and linguistically. There were nine language families in the Sierra alone.

Native Americans thoughtfully left us a record of their presence in the Donner Summit area. They left us many petroglyphs, rock carvings. There are many petroglyph sites around. One is just below Donner Summit. You can find some if you head down old Highway 40. Look just below the old bridge on the flat granite which is just west of the road and just before you get to the Chinese Wall monument marker. They are hard to see but fascinating. There are others just west of Serene Lakes and South of Palisade Lake.

Most likely, petroglyphs in our area were made by the Washo Indians who, like all the Great Basin Indians, were nomadic. California Indians, such as the Nisenan who lived in the American, Yuba, and Bear River drainages, lived in permanent settlements gathering and hunting what was at hand although sometimes summering in the Sierra.

The Washo traveled all over our part of the Sierra making use of all of the life zones as one big Safeway. They even commuted almost as far west as Sacramento. Adapted to the Great Basin and the Sierra, they made annual rounds following different game, gathering various foodstuffs and taking part in the trans-Sierra trade. Imagine a band coming through Serene Lakes hundreds of years ago carrying salt and obsidian for trade, trout and pinion nuts to eat, hunting deer, and leaving behind signs of their presence for us to enjoy and wonder about.

The Great Basin artists incised their pit and groove pictures on the granite by pecking into the rock with other stones or bones using larger rocks as mallets. Mostly they made abstract designs as opposed to the mnemonics, records of events, clan symbols, etc. found in other areas.

The drawings are possibly related to communal hunts for deer. Much of it might also just be doodles (there wasn't much on TV in those days, either). Granite is so hard to carve though, that a doodler had be very dedicated - try it! The natural process of exfoliation is at work on our granite (peeling away of layers due to water expansion). Someday the petroglyphs will be gone and along with them will go the tangible record of the first visitors to Serene Lakes.

In addition to visiting the various sites, I consulted:

California Archeology

Art of the American Indian

[Editor's Note: The petroglyphs have been highlighted to improve their visibility in the photographs. The use of chalk was once a common and accepted practice by archeologists. However, current thinking argues that the components of chalk may damage petroglyphs and strongly discourages its use. ]