Rock Art Blogging

Last May my wife Connie and I were lucky enough to take part in a tour of archaeological sites at Vandenberg Air Force Base here in Santa Barbara County, California. The tour was set up by Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society and guided by Larry Spanne, Chief of Cultural Resources at VAFB and I want to thank them both for the opportunity.

One site visited was the Honda Ridge Rock Art Site (CA-SBA-550) an exposed cliff face covered in pictographs painted in red pigment by the prehistoric Chumash who lived in the area for thousands of years.

The image above is that of a raven's head, one of hundreds of figures painted on this panel. You can see the circle around his eye and his beak pointing to the right side. Standing under the panel looking south you can see Point Conception. It figured greatly in Chumash mythology and historically there was a shrine there named Humqaq'. This translates from Chumash as "The Raven Comes."

This second shot shows a general view of what the panel at Honda Ridge looks like, a south-facing, slick rock face covered with red painted images, more of which we will share with you in the future. Yours truly is the earnest photographer with his hat turned backwards.

This last shot is a study in contrasts - from the stone age to the space age - and explains why the resources at Honda Ridge have been protected from harm. In this view from the north side of Honda Ridge, you can see a large structure in the middle distance which is the gantry for one of the space launch complexes at VAFB. Military and commerical satellites are launched into polar orbits from these facilities. The fact that the VAFB area has restricted access has kept looters away and saved these magnificant cultural and natural resources for the future.