The "Lost" Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs of Eel River California are a Sky Map ca. 3400 B.C. and Perhaps an Ancient Map of the Northern Pacific Northwest Including Alaska

This posting presents an astronomical decipherment of the once "lost" Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs ("Slakaiya Rock") of California.

The previously "lost" Slakaiya Rock petroglyphs are located near Eel River, Trinity County, in northern California and exist in two major "panels". Slakaiya Rock "was rediscovered by an archaeologically trained DF forester" a few miles north of the present Mendocino County line, two hours from Garberville in rough country and with the last 20 miles on private roads, near Moose Peak and only 1/2 mile from Little Moose Peak. The site had in fact already been found 80 years previously but-- as admitted in the various writings -- had been lost by the "archaeological system" in the interim.

The Slakaiya Rock of Northern California is pictured and analyzed in Daniel G. Foster and John W. Foster, Slakaiya Rock (CA-TRI-1): A Rediscovered Petroglyph Site Near the Eel River, Trinity County, California Essays in California Archaeology: A Memorial to Franklin Fenenga, editors Silliam J. Wallace and Francis A. Riddell, Number 60, Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility, Berkeley, 2002. For images see also:

• http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/arf060-001.pdf
• http://www.dstretch.com/Eel/others/Slakaiya.pdf
  (Jon Harman at DStretch)

The Slakaiya are one of the three major "tribelets" of the Wailaki tribe, who themselves were the northern-most of the so-called Athebascan peoples, also called "Ko'il" by the Yuki who referred to the Wailaki as the "north people". Indeed, Wailaki is a Wintun word meaning "north language".

Eel River is significant in reconstructing ancient California tribes and cultures. Alfred Louis Kroeber in his Handbook of the Indians of California writes that:

"The southern limit of the redwood canoe can therefore be set definitely at Cape Mendocino on the coast, and near the confluence of Eel River with its South Fork in the interior."

This is not only a boundary of cultural and tribal significance, but Cape Mendocino across from Sugarloaf Island is the geographically westernmost point of present California. This area was thus locationally significant to the ancients.

See on various related topics:

• CAL FIRE Archaeology Program: A Tribute to Mark Gary: Mark Gary obituary  
• Difference between the sequoia and the redwood

The Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs exist in two panels. As one can see from the decipherments of those panels below, the Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs are so clearly astronomical that it was a relatively easy task to decipher them.

The decipherment drawings below are of a different size than found in original sources and no warranty can thus be made for accuracy. See original drawings of the petroglyphs at the sources cited above.

All the colored elements and explanations have been added by the decipherer Andis Kaulins, who is unafilliated with the above authors and sources. Star positions are presented via Starry Night Pro astronomy software, see: http://astronomy.starrynight.com.

Panel 1  covers 3/4 of the sky and Panel 2 covers the other 1/4 of the sky, with Panel 1 extending from the Winter Solstice at the top left, to the Autumn Equinox at the bottom left and the Summer Solstice at the right. The position of the Vernal Equinox is empty, but is then covered in Panel 2, which is located across from Panel 1 at Slakaiya Rock.

Panel 1, Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs, Eel River, Trinity County, California

Winter Solstice, Autumn Equinox, Summer Solstice ca. 3400 B.C.

Panel 2, Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs, Eel River, Trinity County, California

Vernal Equinox ca. 3400 B.C.

Important: Note at the Panel 1 Slakaiya Rock decipherment image that the shape of all the petroglyphs taken together appears to be similar in some respects to a map of the northern Pacific Northwest, including Alaska, with e.g. the Alaskan Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands marked by Pegasus. Rightly or wrongly in terms of analysis, that similarity was instrumental in our decipherment of ancient sites in Alaska, upcoming soon in our postings, meaning that this map was a "localized" map independent of the larger survey of Native America by astronomy and thus surely predating it.

THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 121 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America

The "Lost" Slakaiya Rock Petroglyphs of Eel River California are a Sky Map ca. 3400 B.C. and Perhaps an Ancient Map of the Northern Pacific Northwest Including Alaska