CHINA LAKE, CALIFORNIA—Renegade Canyon in southern California has a striking juxtaposition of old and new—15,000 years of human habitation recorded on the canyon’s walls in some of the country’s most spectacular rock art at the heart of the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station where the Navy tests advanced bomb and missile systems. Next year, reports the Los Angeles Times, the Navy will begin the first systematic efforts to document the images of hunters, animals, reptiles, and spirit deities that cover the canyon’s walls, a daunting task considering that there are more than one million known examples, and that archaeologists are always finding more. The Navy has taken its stewardship of the canyon’s artwork seriously since the base was established in 1943, protecting the petroglyphs from both weapons tests and vandalism, but this new program to document the works is a large step towards their continued preservation and survival.
