Rafting the Lower Owyhee: Petroglyphs and Artifacts

In a desert environment, any water source is an important resource. In southeast Oregon, the Owyhee and its tributaries provide a water source in a notably arid land, water that has always attracted both people and animals. For indigenous peoples, the river provided water, a navigation landmark, and a source of game millennia before the Euro-Americans came on the scene. It should be no surprise then that artifacts of these peoples are scattered along the river corridor.

On day four of our trip, Amanda pulled our raft to the side in a fairly non-descript location to show us a large collection of petroglyphs (stone etchings) and to feed us lunch. When I started wandering the area and realized how big a collection of artwork is in this location, I began to ask myself why this location. 

Site of Boulders Covered in Petroglyphs; Why Here?

The site seems almost random to me. There is nothing here that would indicate that this is a good place to camp, hunt, or fish. Moreover, it does not seem to mark any geographically significant location or a place of high visibility such that other travelers might see the artwork. When I put my question to the group, the best we could come up with is that this is a good location for these basaltic boulders whose dark color really shows the figures etched into them. Maybe the petroglyphs are here merely because this type of rock is here.

Estimates of the age of these petroglyphs vary and while dating such things is complicated, all estimates are clear that these artifacts were here long before the modern Northern Paiutes and Shoshones wandered this area looking for food and water. I have read a couple of accounts that the oral history of these tribes does not include making petroglyphs. I wonder if these more modern tribes were as mystified as am I about why their progenitors selected this site.

In addition to petroglyphs, I saw a lot of flint that looked like it had been worked all along parts of the river. At this particular petroglyph site, there are caches of flints and arrowheads. These caches are necessarily hidden to keep people from stealing the artifacts. While it is not illegal to pick up and keep these things, even on public land, I believe that they are not our property and should remain where they were left.

Flints and Arrowheads

Arrowhead and an Animal Etching

Flint Flakes from Arrowhead Making Site

This final photograph is from a site in the Chalk Basin where I came upon an area where people clearly sat and flaked arrowheads. There were hundreds and hundreds of flakes that are clearly man-made in origin. I returned all the flakes that I photographed to the exact location where I found them. I want to leave as little trace of my coming and going as possible.