Prof. Roger Robinson's Formal Letter
Dear Joe,
I am writing you this letter as a follow up on our telephone conversations over the past few weeks concerning the archaeological site in Kern Canyon in the Tehachapi Mountains of Kern County. I want to assure you of my support in your efforts to preserve and protect this unique and valuable cultural resource. Archaeological and historical sites are disappearing at an alarming rate across the Nation, and as an anthropologist, I see this as a tragic loss of cultural heritage. I am certainly in support of any and all efforts to protect and preserve these irreplaceable and non-renewable treasures. As an anthropologist, I may not be able to offer much advice or help with the legal and technical problems you will probably encounter, but I know from past associations that such efforts must overcome many hurdles and generally take a very long time. I admire your commitment to this worthwhile cause, and wish you success.
I first visited the Kern Canyon site in the very early seventies. I do not remember the specific date. For the next fifteen years or so I visited the site from time to time, perhaps as often as once a year. During these visits I was able to photograph the site and explore the area in general. I found the isolated pictograph downhill to the east, several bedrock mortar outcrops scattered around the area, and the small midden, (prehistoric cultural trash accumulation), along the stream bed east of the rock art and west of the stream. I remember noticing that there had been some digging in this midden, (probably ‘relic hunters’), but that the damage was not extensive and appeared quite old. On one visit to the site I was able to prepare a rough map of the site and a diagram of the highly polished bedrock mortar next to the main rock art panel. At one point, probably in the early to mid eighties, I found the small midden freshly and completely destroyed.
After this, I began visiting the site on a more regular basis, often bringing students from my archaeology classes. I also conducted an extensive and thorough records search on the area. The result of this search was somewhat surprising. I found three sites on record with Kern County located in three different canyons along the blank-facing slope of the Tehachapi Mountains, . From the official site records I was able to determine that only one site had actually been recorded. Obviously the problem was that the recorders of two of the records didn’t know where they were when they did their recording. This problem was corrected with C.S.U. Bakersfield, Archaeological Information Services. Also, at some point probably in the late seventies or early eighties, I discovered a new design element at the site. On the boulder face to the north of the main panel I found a brightly colored zoomorphic design which I knew immediately had not been there on previous visits. It may have been a modern addition, or a “touch-up” of an old faded Design which I had simply not seen before.
This concludes my description of the site as well as my summary of my direct experiences with the site. I am not familiar with the works of other archaeologists regarding this site. I do know that Mr. Andy Green, and Mr. Harold Williams, two tribal ‘Elders’ of the Kawaiisu people, were familiar with the site and had visited it often. I would think that they considered it a sacred place, but neither one could offer any historical details in the conversations I had with them. Overall, I consider the Kern Canyon Rock Art Site to be an extremely important and valuable cultural resource. It is as complex a polychrome pictograph as any I am familiar with in the Antelope Valley or Tehachapi Mountains. It is also unique, done in a style quite different from the rock art sites in blank Canyon and blank Canyon. Although the site cannot or has not been precisely dated, its origins are obviously prehistoric, and general comparisons would probably place the site within the last five hundred to one thousand years. I do not know if Kawaiisu speakers did the original painting or not. Kitanemuk and Chumash origins are not out of the question, but I do know that any Native American would immediately recognize this site as a ‘very important place”. Most certainly it should take “High Priority” in any rock art preservation effort. I can think of no archaeological site of any kind in the entire Antelope Valley area more critical in terms of protection and preservation. Again, let me congratulate you on your commitment to this cause, and know that I fully support your efforts. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the event that I may be of further help.
Most Sincerely, Roger W. Robinson – Professor Emeritus, Anthropology/Archaeology