Luiseno Tribe Pictographs – Riverside, CA

Mockingbird Canyon, Riverside, CA pictographs – cave art of the Luiseno Tribe:

Pictographs: interpretation of rock art is not definite as about 70% of archaeologists do not interpret in their studies. The ethnographic interpretation is that the concentric circles= universe; and the circle w/ bands = the Milky Way.

“The Luiseno lived in present day Orange County from Aliso Creek inland to Temecula and south to Oceanside. Their name comes from the San Luis Rey Mission, where they were taken during the Spanish occupation of California.”

“Paints were made from minerals found in rocks. Red paint came from hematite
or iron oxide. Orange and yellow paint were made from yellow ocher. Black paint was made from charcoal or a soft black mineral, manganese. White paint came from diatomaceous earth. These minerals were ground and mixed in bowls made of stone, fish vertebrae, or shells. The paint powder was mixed with juice from milkweed, wild cucumber seeds, animal oil, or egg whites.”

Source –  The Chumash People, Materials for Teachers and Students, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, EZ Nature Books, San Luis Obispo, CA 93403, 1991

Adolescent ceremony pictographs – difficult to see, but there are diamonds patterns in the vertical direction.

 

 

Entering the rock shelter.

 

 

 

Above – Luiseno ate buckwheat plant – Fagopyrum esculentum.

 

Above – Juniper shrub/small tree – Juniperus californica.

 

Above – white sage – Salvia apiana (these seeds were mixed w/ buckwheat).