June 17, 2008
I failed again on this trip, I did. I still have never found an arrowhead, despite inclinations to the contrary. I look and peer and stare at my feet a lot when I’m in the hinterlands. I can’t seem to pull it off.
But leave it to Mr. Pencil’s keen eyes and we have something much better. I am not going to tell you exactly where we found this, but I will say that it is within the boundaries of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and it can be spotted from the (gravel) road to which it is adjacent. I don’t think other people have mentioned it often, as googling for the location I found it and “petroglyph” doesn’t give me anything relevant.
When David first spotted the boulder and stopped the car and backed it up and I saw it, I was so sure it was fake (so easy to find! Such complex and clear carving! Such something I’d not seen before!) that I sort of skeptically took a few sullen digi-snaps and wandered off again. However, interrogation of knowledgeable parties determined that it is indeed the genuine article.
These are likely the work of the Paiute people.