California cave paintings present dilemma
Synnoveah J Cooke
wrote:
When my family settled in California, we settled 20 miles from this
place and it was a place that we used to hike to all the time.
Lots of interesting stuff in this area.
>X-no-archive:Yes
>
>Thought this looked like our kind of story.
>
>Frenchy
>
>http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/07/23/ancient.art.ap/index.html
>
>Cave paintings in California present dilemma
>
> Officials grapple with preservation of tribal tradition
>
> July 23, 2002 Posted: 11:00 AM EDT (1500 GMT)
>
> BYRON, California (AP) -- On a grassy
> hillside a short 30-minute drive from
> the 21st-century bustle of San
> Francisco lies a secret from
> California's past -- rock art left by
>the
> region's original inhabitants.
>
> They are paintings that time forgot,
>faint
> etchings of red and black in
>tantalizing
> swirls and patterns inscribed by the
>United
> States Indian tribes who once met here
>for
> ceremonies and purposes that now can
> only be guessed at.
>
> The paintings present California
>officials
> with a dilemma as they try to balance
>the
> desire for access with the need for
> preservation. It's an issue tackled at
> ancient sites around the world -- from
>the
> Egyptian pyramids to national parks in
>the
> United States.
>
> The caves are believed to have been in use as early as A.D.
>500 and show a variety
> of art styles. The site is striking -- rocky outcroppings
>jutting out from gentle hills
> where golden eagles soar. But there isn't much in the way of
>food here, few oaks
> or other nut-bearing trees, leading researchers to conclude
>the site was reserved for
> ceremonial and spiritual purposes.
>
> Time and the elements are slowly destroying the paintings,
>drawn on the walls of
> shallow caves amid the rolling hills of Contra Costa County.
>The land was in private
> hands until it was sold it to the parks district.
>
> Now the rock surface is slowly flaking away as water seeps in.
>But birdlike figures
> and possibly other animals, which may be representations of
>tribal gods, can still be
> seen.
>
> "We would love to open this area up so we could tell
>schoolchildren at an early age
> about history," says Tom Mikkelsen, assistant general manager
>of the East Bay
> Regional Park District.
>
> Before that happens, officials would have to find a way to
>address the concerns of
> California Indians, who consider the site sacred. They also
>have to figure out how
> to keep it from being vandalized or simply loved to death.
>
> "It's extremely fragile, that's the problem," said Jeff
>Fentress, an anthropologist
> who has studied the paintings.
>
> Public access
>
> The paintings, known as pictographs because they consist of
>symbols, are about
> four miles from the town of Byron and about 50 miles east of
>San Francisco.
>
> Tribal traditions link the caves to two other nearby
>landmarks -- Mt. Diablo, now a
> state park and at 3,850 feet the San Francisco Bay area's
>highest mountain, and
> Brushy Peak, which is about 1,700 feet high. The three sites
>are part of the creation
> mythology of the region's Miwok, Ohlone and Yokurt Indians.
>
> "For native people, these weren't casual use places. They
>weren't places that
> everyday people went to," said Bev Ortiz, an ethnographic
>consultant.
>
> The issue of how to appreciate, but not destroy, ancient sites
>is nothing new. In
> Egypt, the number of visitors allowed daily at the Great
>Pyramid was cut from
> thousands to 300 to prevent damage.
>
> At the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico,
>home to fascinating
> ruins of the prehistoric Anasazi culture, officials offer
>guided tours and keep some
> trails unmarked as they try to balance public access and
>historic preservation.
>
> "There are some special rock art sites that we have actually
>covered up and we
> now no longer show people because of the vandalism," said park
>guide G.B.
> Cornucopia.
>
> Sacred site
>
> The tension between ancient ways and modern life also has
>played out at Brushy
> Peak, about 10 miles south of the pictograph caves, where a
>plan to provide more
> access to the summit drew protests from some California
>Indians.
>
> "This site was visited by certain people
>in
> our society to conduct private secretive
> ceremonies," said Don Hankins, a Plains
> Miwok Indian. "Not only is it the place
>of
> our origin as referred to in our
>creation
> stories and songs but it's also a place
>where
> many of our ceremonies stem from."
>
> Park officials agreed to monitor access
>to
> the peak and work out a way to make sure
> the area is protected if more trails are
>open,
> perhaps through guided tours.
>
> A bill now pending in the Assembly would
> give added protection. The legislation
>would
> stop approval of projects deemed to adversely affect such
>sites unless tribal
> officials accepted mitigation measures, such as allowing
>public access but keeping
> the site closed during periods deemed particularly sacred.
>
> For those who do get to see them, the pictographs are a
>glimpse of a culture that
> was all but wiped out by the disease, destruction and
>dispossession wrought by
> colonialism and the Gold Rush.
>
> Hankins is sometimes amazed at how his heritage all but
>slipped away in a matter of
> generations, leaving traces as faint as the wind-blasted
>pictographs of Contra Costa
> County.
>
> "Yet," he says, "we still continue to survive. And we're
>picking up the pieces."
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*Synn*
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