Death Valley National Park: Rock Art

A cairn found in Cohab Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park.

Frank and Anne's Canyon Country Hiking and Camping Notebook.

Death Valley National Park

Campsite

Ancient Ruins and Rock Art

Titus Canyon petroglyph panel, Death Valley National Park.

This page contains a discussion of the rock art found at the Klare Springs Petroglyph site within Death Valley National Park. All photographs are from our our personal collection. If you'd like to see more rock art from this location, or if you'd like to see higher resolution or larger images, send us an e-mail message and we'll see what we can do.

Rock Art

Klare Springs Petroglyphs

The petroglyphs at Klare Springs can be found about 17.6 miles from the beginning of the Titus Canyon Road at GPS Coordinates 36 50.471N; 117 05.441W. This is a one-way backcountry drive that should be only attempted by high clearance vehicles. There is a sign indicating the large dark boulders upon which the petroglyphs were carved. They are on the right side of the canyon as you proceed down the wash.

There are three groups of petroglyphs that we were able to locate. One near the sign, then a second, larger group (pictured above) around on the southwest facing side of the larger boulder in the group. Then, just a bit farther down the road, there is another large rock surrounded by reeds. I suspect that this is where Klare Spring is located. On the south facing slope of this rock, up high, there is a lone petroglyph that at first looks like a representation of the Sun, but with only the bottom rays visible. Because of similar images from other desert sites, I believe this may be a marker for the spring. After all, water would be very important in a dry desert environment.

There is some modern graffiti and degradation of the site, but it was not as bad as I had been lead to believe from other sources. If you are driving the Titus Canyon Road it is definitely worth the time to stop and take a look. It is not a large site, but several of the images are quite interesting.

See our Klare Springs Petroglyphs Personal Notes
See Archaeological Site Etiquette.
See American Antiquities Act of 1906.
See Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.
Archaeological Resources Protection Act Hotline: 800-227-7286.

This image, on the large panel, appears to be what I have often called an atl-atl, or throwing stick. But it seems to be attached to some other object at the bottom, so I am not sure. Sometimes these images run together and may look like they are of one piece, but are, in fact, just two overlapping images.

I have recently run across some information that contends that some of these so called atl-atls are actually pointers toward water sources. That may or may not be, but this image is only about a foot tall and points to the ground below the rock, where there is obviously no present source of water, and it doesn't look as if there ever had been. However, near the next large boulder just down the road there does appear to be a small spring.

Also, to the lower right of the atl-atl, there is what looks to be a small lizard.

This image, also found on the main panel, is, I am pretty sure, a representation of the Sun, with all of the radiating rays around its circumference. Also, as you can see, this boulder is not the typical flat, solid surface that we might expect to see hosting rock art. The boulder appears to be a cemented conglomerate that has fallen from higher up on the nearby cliff face.

This image, from among those on the main panel, is similar to images I've seen elsewhere in the southwest. Quite often it is interpreted to be a woven basket, in which the seeds of the pinyon tree would be gathered. It's hard to say, but it could well be.

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This page was last updated Friday, December 19, 2008

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