Burro Flats Painted Cave
Encyclopedia
Burro Flats Painted Cave is in the Burro Flats area of the Simi Hills
, located between the Simi Valley
, and West Hills
and Bell Canyon
, in Ventura County
of Southern California
, United States
. It is a Cave
containing Chumash Native American
pictographs. The cave is near the historic Chumash settlement of Hu'wam
, along upper Bell Creek
, and Tongva/Fernandeño settlement Jucjauynga The cave is located in present day Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory
on private land
owned by Boeing
-Rocketdyne, formerly operated by Rocketdyne
for testing rocket engines and nuclear research. The Burro Flats Painted Cave is not accessible to the public.
in Highland Park, Los Angeles.
In 1971, the Los Angeles Times reported that some have suggested "that the cave's drawings were made by Indian maidens who slept here and drew what they saw in their dreams, perhaps as part of puberty rites." Others have suggested that it was used as an astronomical observatory and to celebrate the winter solstice. The Chumash celebrated the "return of the sun" as their civilization depended on the sun for life. Anthropologist Al Knight has described the importance of the winter solstice to the local Chumash as follows: "The entire local Native American Indian religious ritual cycle is centered on the moment of winter solstice. It's like rolling together our Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's celebration in one event." Another theory is that the drawings were a cooperative effort between the Chumash and Gabrielino tribes in the 15th century to celebrate the solstice and friendship between the two tribes. One anthropology professor has opined that the Burro Flats pictographs were painted between 500 A.D. and the arrival of the Spanish settlers. He noted, "They've had very little vandalism, one of the least molested sites I know of."
, along upper Bell Creek
, and Fernandeño settlement Jucjauynga. In 1971, Chumash Indians asked Rocketdyne to safeguard the cave drawings. At the time, Fernandeño tribal leader Rudy Ortega, Sr. said, "We really know very little of our heritage. ... The paintings are one of the few physical links to our heritage. We hope one day to interpret their stories for our people." Tribal leaders expressed concern about damage that could result from vandals or weather and asked Rocketdyne to enclose the drawings in glass
. Rocketdyne officials fenced off the area, which was still being used to test rocket engines, and tribal leaders next petitioned to have the site declared a state or national historic monument. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1976. In 1978, the pictographs were the subject of the documentary film, "Cave Paintings of the Chumash Indians." The Santa Susana Field Laboratory
is now closed and undergoing a complex toxic-radionuclide pollution analysis for a subsequent cleanup. Historical Resource studies and protection are part of the process. The land is to become a park when the cleanup is done.
Rocketdyne occasionally allowed Chumash descendants to visit the site. In 1995, a Chumash holy man, Mati Waiya of Newbury Park
, visited the site along with a group that included a Los Angeles Times reporter. Waiya performed a ceremony
involving eagle feathers, dried tobacco leaves, shaking a wooden rattle in front of the paintings, and chanting. At the time, the Chumash tribe renewed its request for Rocketdyne to return the site back to the tribe or grant access to the state parks department for better security and public access. Since the passing over of the complex from Rocketdyne to Boeing
, access to site, at least for tribe members, has become ameliorated.
In order to guard the pictographs, the exact location of the cave is kept secret, its location not marked even on Boeing company map
s. Archeologists are not allowed to view it without special permission. After concerns were raised again in the 1990s about the security of the cave paintings, Rocketdyne officials declined to discuss its specific security and surveillance measures, but noted that the location was restricted to prevent trespassers and vandals. A company official noted, "Those are probably the most protected of any pictographs in Southern California, and the fact they're the only ones that haven't been desecrated
I think is proof of that."
Simi Hills
The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges, located in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, of southern California, United States.-Geography:...
, located between the Simi Valley
Simi Valley, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Simi Valley had a population of 124,237. The population density was 2,940.8 people per square mile...
, and West Hills
West Hills, Los Angeles, California
West Hills is an affluent community and district in the western San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California, United States.West Hills is bordered by Chatsworth and the Chatsworth Reservoir to the north, Canoga Park to the east, Woodland Hills to the south, Hidden Hills to the southwest,...
and Bell Canyon
Bell Canyon, California
Bell Canyon is a census-designated place in Ventura County, California. Bell Canyon is a residential unincorporated community located near West Hills and the western San Fernando Valley in the Simi Hills. Although only minutes from the Los Angeles city limits, Bell Canyon is a Horse Community. ...
, in Ventura County
Ventura County, California
Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country...
of Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is a Cave
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
containing Chumash Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
pictographs. The cave is near the historic Chumash settlement of Hu'wam
Bell Canyon Park
Bell Canyon Park is a large open-space regional park located in the Simi Hills at the western end of the San Fernando Valley in West Hills and Bell Canyon, California. Bell Creek, a primary tributary to the Los Angeles River, flows through the park with riparian zone vegetation along its natural...
, along upper Bell Creek
Bell Creek (Southern California)
Bell Creek is a tributary of the Los Angeles River, in the Simi Hills of Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County and City, in Southern California.-Route:...
, and Tongva/Fernandeño settlement Jucjauynga The cave is located in present day Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory
Santa Susana Field Laboratory
The Santa Susana Field Laboratory is a complex of industrial research and development facilities located on a 2,668 acre portion of the Southern California Simi Hills in Simi Valley, California, used mainly for the testing and development of Liquid-propellant rocket engines for the United States...
on private land
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
owned by Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
-Rocketdyne, formerly operated by Rocketdyne
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United States company that designs and produces rocket engines that use liquid propellants. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, headquartered in Canoga Park, California, is a division of Pratt & Whitney, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation...
for testing rocket engines and nuclear research. The Burro Flats Painted Cave is not accessible to the public.
Pictographs
Among the pictographs at Burro Flats are two human stick figures wearing headdresses with lines radiating from the heads. There are also stick-figure animals with four fingers, a circle with a star inside, a plant resembling a cornstalk, and more abstract groupings of circles and trigrams. The cave is a small, hollowed-out portion of a long, low rock set into a grassy slope. The Burro Flats pictographs have been termed "the best preserved Indian pictograph in Southern California." Archaeologists estimate the drawings are several hundred years old. There is a replica of the pictographs at the Southwest MuseumSouthwest Museum
The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington area of Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Autry National Center. Its collections deal mainly with the American Indian...
in Highland Park, Los Angeles.
In 1971, the Los Angeles Times reported that some have suggested "that the cave's drawings were made by Indian maidens who slept here and drew what they saw in their dreams, perhaps as part of puberty rites." Others have suggested that it was used as an astronomical observatory and to celebrate the winter solstice. The Chumash celebrated the "return of the sun" as their civilization depended on the sun for life. Anthropologist Al Knight has described the importance of the winter solstice to the local Chumash as follows: "The entire local Native American Indian religious ritual cycle is centered on the moment of winter solstice. It's like rolling together our Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's celebration in one event." Another theory is that the drawings were a cooperative effort between the Chumash and Gabrielino tribes in the 15th century to celebrate the solstice and friendship between the two tribes. One anthropology professor has opined that the Burro Flats pictographs were painted between 500 A.D. and the arrival of the Spanish settlers. He noted, "They've had very little vandalism, one of the least molested sites I know of."
Preservation
The cave is located near the historic Chumash settlement of Hu'wamBell Canyon Park
Bell Canyon Park is a large open-space regional park located in the Simi Hills at the western end of the San Fernando Valley in West Hills and Bell Canyon, California. Bell Creek, a primary tributary to the Los Angeles River, flows through the park with riparian zone vegetation along its natural...
, along upper Bell Creek
Bell Creek (Southern California)
Bell Creek is a tributary of the Los Angeles River, in the Simi Hills of Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County and City, in Southern California.-Route:...
, and Fernandeño settlement Jucjauynga. In 1971, Chumash Indians asked Rocketdyne to safeguard the cave drawings. At the time, Fernandeño tribal leader Rudy Ortega, Sr. said, "We really know very little of our heritage. ... The paintings are one of the few physical links to our heritage. We hope one day to interpret their stories for our people." Tribal leaders expressed concern about damage that could result from vandals or weather and asked Rocketdyne to enclose the drawings in glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
. Rocketdyne officials fenced off the area, which was still being used to test rocket engines, and tribal leaders next petitioned to have the site declared a state or national historic monument. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1976. In 1978, the pictographs were the subject of the documentary film, "Cave Paintings of the Chumash Indians." The Santa Susana Field Laboratory
Santa Susana Field Laboratory
The Santa Susana Field Laboratory is a complex of industrial research and development facilities located on a 2,668 acre portion of the Southern California Simi Hills in Simi Valley, California, used mainly for the testing and development of Liquid-propellant rocket engines for the United States...
is now closed and undergoing a complex toxic-radionuclide pollution analysis for a subsequent cleanup. Historical Resource studies and protection are part of the process. The land is to become a park when the cleanup is done.
Rocketdyne occasionally allowed Chumash descendants to visit the site. In 1995, a Chumash holy man, Mati Waiya of Newbury Park
Newbury Park, California
The community of Newbury Park, California is located in the western portion of the city of Thousand Oaks and Casa Conejo, an unincorporated area of southeastern Ventura County's Conejo Valley, which is also in the northwestern Greater Los Angeles Area...
, visited the site along with a group that included a Los Angeles Times reporter. Waiya performed a ceremony
Ceremony
A ceremony is an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin.-Ceremonial occasions:A ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a human life, marking the significance of, for example:* birth...
involving eagle feathers, dried tobacco leaves, shaking a wooden rattle in front of the paintings, and chanting. At the time, the Chumash tribe renewed its request for Rocketdyne to return the site back to the tribe or grant access to the state parks department for better security and public access. Since the passing over of the complex from Rocketdyne to Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
, access to site, at least for tribe members, has become ameliorated.
In order to guard the pictographs, the exact location of the cave is kept secret, its location not marked even on Boeing company map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
s. Archeologists are not allowed to view it without special permission. After concerns were raised again in the 1990s about the security of the cave paintings, Rocketdyne officials declined to discuss its specific security and surveillance measures, but noted that the location was restricted to prevent trespassers and vandals. A company official noted, "Those are probably the most protected of any pictographs in Southern California, and the fact they're the only ones that haven't been desecrated
Desecration
Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual.-Detail:...
I think is proof of that."
See also
- Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park, CaliforniaChumash Painted Cave State Historic Park, CaliforniaChumash Painted Cave State Historic Park is a unit in the state park system of California, USA, preserving a small sandstone cave adorned with rock art attributed to the Chumash people. Adjoining the small community of Painted Cave, the site is located about north of California State Route 154...
- History of the San Fernando Valley to 1915History of the San Fernando Valley to 1915The history of the San Fernando Valley from its exploration by the 1769 Portola expedition to the annexation of much of it by the City of Los Angeles in 1915 is a story of booms and busts, as cattle ranching, sheep ranching, large-scale wheat farming, and fruit orchards flourished and faded...
- List of Registered Historic Places in Ventura County, California
- Painted Rock (San Luis Obispo County, California)
- Rock art of the Chumash peopleRock art of the Chumash peopleChumash rock art is a genre of paintings on caves, mountains, cliffs, or other living rock surfaces, created by the Chumash people of southern California. Pictographs and petroglyphs are common through interior California, the rock painting tradition thrived until the 19th century...
External links
- America's Suburb - Article and photographs on Burro Flats
- Vintage Burro Flats Photos: movie location era.
- History of Simi Valley - Chumash Period
- Slides of Burro Flats by Clive Ruggles, University of Leicester
- "Echoes of the Ancient Skies," By Edwin C. Krupp (Courier Dover Publications, 2003), pp. 130-131