How Did Ancient Peoples Create These Odd Geoglyphs In The California Desert?

[@rdklkje13]

Thanks Shawn! To commeters asking about their specific age, this is what the BLM writes about them: "There are a total of six distinct figures in three locations, including a human figure at each location and an animal figure at two locations. The largest human figure measures 171 feet from head to toe. Their age is in between 450 and 2,000 years old. According to the Mohave and Quechans, natives to the lower Colorado River area, the human figures represent Mastamho, the Creator of all life. The animal figures represent Hatakulya, one of two mountain lions/persons who helped in the Creation."

[@jersey63]

My 2 favorite interests - geology and archeology. Thank you!

[@shawnwillsey]

Please be sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE. You can support my educational videos by clicking on the "Thanks" button just above (right of Like button) or by going here: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EWUSLG3GBS5W8

[@runninonempty820]

I've seen pictures of these glyphs before but never really knew how they were made. So thanks Shawn!

[@WayneTheSeine]

Amazing. Thank goodness they have fenced off these works. I was stationed in Yuma in 1968-69 and loved driving north to Blythe, grab a meal at a restaurant that I loved but can't remember the name of, then drive back. I did that many times just for something to do. I never knew these existed. I have only heard of the Nazca Lines in Peru. Thanks for sharing.

[@Selah-dl3ef]

Thanks Shawn.Hope you are having a great time.🌹

[@elizaonthemountain3464]

Fantastic! I've spent a lot of time in that area and never knew those were there. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Love your channel.

[@gailgreen5012]

Amazing! Thanks Shaun 😊

[@gsbealer]

Most likely the lines are ritual or religious or astrological.

[@YewtBoot]

This was fun to see and learn from. Thanks.

[@brucedymock6635]

Fantastic and great explanation thanks again for sharing your insights and knowledge

[@oldtimer1102]

I watched a program an hour ago on the Nazca Lines in Peru. What a coincidence. Thanks for the timely video.

[@DyreStraits]

Not a coincidence -- YT steers similar content at you based on their ever evolving profile they've worked up on you.

[@Raptorman0909]

I was there in 2017 and used my drone to capture the figures. During WWII, General George S. Patton trained his soldiers around here and from the air you can see swirl marks over some of the figures that were from tanks and other vehicles driving over them. I'm not sure what they knew about them at the time and fortunately it didn't completely destroy the figures. Also of not is that the higher areas where this desert pavement is located are about 8m higher than the stream channels and that on one of the figures, listed in Google Maps as Blythe Intaglios #2, the raised platform where the figure is carved is very close to where running water is cutting into the platform and unless something is done soon the flash floods might begin to cut into the figure. I think they could shore up the platform with a mix of smaller and larger riprap.

[@susanwymer6912]

Great video explaining how the desert pavement formed. I had no idea those geoglyphs were in that region. Thank you!

[@causewaykayak]

Interesting. Bit like the Nazca Lines.

[@nothanks3236]

Exactly like the Nazca lines, they were made in similar fashion by removing rocks and darker topsoil to reveal lighter colored sediment beneath.

[@sueellens]

Wow! I never knew these existed. Thank you. I hope you’re having a great vacation. 😊

[@sonjo2419]

Hey Shawn.. I did not know the figures were in north America. Thanks. Very interesting. Hope you’re having a great time in Europe😎

[@LizWCraftAdd1ct]

Not an episode of Ancient Aliens then. I'd never heard of desert varnish, something else for my dictionary, thanks Shawn.

[@joannekellam191]

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing this intriguing information.

[@darylemurphy9478]

Thanks Shawn. I recently discovered your channel and it has been so great to reacquaint myself with basic geology many years after college. Having lived my life in the rocky mountain west I love seeing so many familiar places. Daryle in Wyoming.

[@seekingthetruth304]

Makes a lot of sense how the thin layer of sand is blown away and now the desert pavement protects more silt and sand underneath ! 👍👍

[@kateclover874]

Never seen these up close, but removing some of the coarser gravel on the desert pavement makes total sense. Thanks for the up-close view and explaining.

[@tombakewell2007]

Thanks!

[@markforeman7082]

Nice explanation and demonstration. More informative in seven minutes than plowing thru the writings of Erich von Daniken. Thank you

[@oliveinpeace9627]

I really enjoy your simple explanations for people like me who are interested but don't have any background knowledge about geology.

[@blakedurrant9399]

Late night surprise, thanks Shawn!

[@margaretgorski7947]

That was amazing. I am so fortunate to live in AZ. There are beautiful petroglyphs along some of the hiking trail i use. They never grow old. i hope i cn visit the geoglyphs some day.

[@sandrine.t]

@shawnwillsey thanks for this cool video! Thanks for telling us the story behind these geoglyphs, they are really impressive and also very intriguing... Enjoy your vacation :)

[@kevindorland738]

Thank you Professor.

[@parksto]

Thank you!

[@gregskolozdra]

Great video! Very enjoyable and informative. I wonder how old the geoglyphs are? Thanks for sharing!

[@scottsluggosrule4670]

These always facinated me. Hope vacation is going well😎

[@remorrey]

Very helpful explanation Shawn.

[@phlogistanjones2722]

Thank you for the video. Good to learn and good of you to teach us. Peaceful Skies.

[@jeanbloom7513]

I didn't know these existed here in the US. I've only known of the ones at Nazca Lines in Peru.

[@williamlloyd3769]

Wow, I’ve been there! After reading National Geographic articles on the Nasca lines / glyphs I was surprised that California had its own examples. PS - Thank you for posting the video and further explaining the process

[@rodparker6530]

Cheers from West Australia. Can see if someone has been metal detecting through a patch of ground. That top gravel never goes back the same. 🤙🏼

[@dianespears6057]

So cool. Lots of geology talk. Thank you.

[@davec9244]

Nice, I have seen them, thank you stay safe ALL!

[@annabee1984]

Wow fascinating. Thank you! 😊

[@Barley150]

What is the varnish made of? I've really been enjoying your videos and am looking forward to seeing more about the Iceland eruptions. -- charlie, sacramento CA

[@causewaykayak]

Good question. Be nice to have an answer from someone (chemist perhaps ? please😊)

[@Barley150]

I googled it, did a Wikipedia search, and it seems there is no settled theory yet. @@causewaykayak

[@causewaykayak]

@@Barley150 That was good and enterprising of you. Even a negative is a useful answer !👍🏼

[@jamesclyman2615]

The black color is from manganese oxides, that is known. The process of how the coatings get on the rocks is not fully known. Typically the gravels are black on top (manganese oxides) and red underneath (iron oxides).

[@causewaykayak]

​@@jamesclyman2615 Great reply. Many Thanks 👍🏼

[@J0hnC0ltrane]

This is new to me having never known of these geoglyphs in the U.S. and I'm glad they are protected. I've seen desert varnish on rocks from Antarctica. Thanks for the video.

[@toughenupfluffy7294]

There are over 200 geoglyphs in the Colorado Desert, a portion of the Sonora Desert of California and Baja Mexco.

[@johnwelbourn3811]

Excellent video. How does the varnish form on the exposed rocks in the pavement Shawn?

[@nothanks3236]

We have a few petroglyphs in Georgia, not many, they were made by natives using tools to scratch darker rocks to reveal lighter coloring beneath (look up Track Rock in Union County, GA). No geoglyphs per se, though we do have some effigy mounds which perform a similar function one would think. Look up "Rock Eagle mound" in Georgia to see it (there are two, Rock Eagle is the largest. Another, called "Rock Hawk" is about 13 miles from Rock Eagle, presumably made by the same peoples). They were created by natives who piled up small stones and gravel into low mounds shaped like giant birds. In the areas they were made (Putnam County) there is lighter colored granite (the same granite unit that formed Stone Mountain closer to Atlanta, I think it's called the Ben Hill Granite formation) exposed at the surface, and these mounds were made from that lighter colored material so they stand out against the green landscape.

[@mkelly4617]

We've been there a few times. We went there about 30 years ago and they weren't as torn up as they are now. Thank god they put the fence up! We didnt stay long because it was kind of spooky. Used to live in Blythe and went to Palo Verde College.

[@plumbbob2184]

Why hasn't the wind removed the exposed silt and sand of the geoglyphs? Wouldn't the wind create more desert pavement effectively erasing the geoglyphs over time?

[@charleshash4919]

It takes a lot of time

[@TheDanEdwards]

The exposed sand and clay particles in the glyphs are just a tiny bit lower than the gravel. Also, if you look closely you can see that the edges of the etchings are fuzzy, as indeed the wind is slow shifting around the smaller particles.

[@bjorndebakker]

interesting to get knowledge through this kind of way of the US geology and history

[@jamesclyman2615]

Research beginning in the 1980s has shown that desert pavement forms not by erosion of fine material, but by dust that blows in and gets trapped by the gravel and stones. Over thousands of years, the dust works its way under the rock fragments and lifts them up, building a silt-rich layer under the single layer of rocks on the surface.

[@katesommerville7217]

I’ve seen these before I’m sure, fascinating.

[@MarthaJamsa]

Geoglyphs are so cool! I had never heard of these ones in California. I’ve seen *desert varnish* in the SW, and on video from Mars! Scientists think there’s a microbiologic component that lives in desert varnish on Earth, so when it was found on Mars rocks recently scientists were pretty excited. I’m learning so much from this channel because, for one thing, Minnesota is so different from the western desert that it almost seems like a different planet.

[@honorab6220]

I had no idea we had anything like that in the US. So interesting to learn how the geology provided the "canvas" for these artworks. I would've loved to hear any theories as to why they created these images that are best appreciated from the air.

[@man_at_the_end_of_time]

I see an application of this as a technology. In areas with seasonal grass fires, the of having of barren gravel areas around the house would the help prevent the house from burning down. The gravel area could be blown off to prevent soil formation and even coated white to reduce summer heat. And for fun, the yard could images of animals like we see here.

[@cattislsl]

Hello, the ground is so stable that these figures can stay like that for soo many years?? That is amazing!! 👍

[@alainaaugust1932]

Extremely cool. I can hear the UFO fans cheering “I told you so.” My long study tribe by tribe of Native American culture left me with enormous respect for their spiritual beliefs. They honored Creator Father, the sky god. They deeply respected Earth Mother, the earth goddess, called Gaia and many other names in diverse cultures and times. Native Americans taught their children that if they took from Earth Mother, they had to give her something back, even if it were as simple as spit deposited at the base of the berry bush you ate from. Some tribes refused to use blue paint though they had blueberries and later could obtain blue paint and blue thread. Not all tribes, but some saw using blue as a sacrilege as it was obviously the color of the sky, of Creator Father, the sky god. To the southwestern tribes, having a blue stone, the turquoise, originally was special, a gift from god, not jewelry-from both Creator Father because it is blue and from Earth Mother because it is a rock. These large glyphs may be meant in two ways: as an offering to Creator Father who can see them from above, and/or as a kind of tattooing what is meaningful to us as mere humans upon the breast of Mother Earth. They would have seen the place as sacred precisely, Shawn, for the changelessness you noted. They certainly knew which parts of their environment changed and which did not. I’m glad to see the fences. The area is like a desert cathedral. Thank you, Shawn, for remembering us during your trip with something so beautiful..

[@singlespeedcrossbike]

Harry Casey and Anne Morgan authored a book called Geoglyphs of the Desert Southwest with some excellent pictures and information. The book is published by Sunbelt Publication. Highly recommended.

[@alexreifschneider4332]

So what is the desert varnish ? I have been out there and seen it, but have no clue what makes it.

[@Jester62D]

How about explaining the massive conglomerate walls near Hennifer, UT. How did that much rounded river rock ever get deposited. Another interesting rock formation are the river rock inclusions in the sedimentary rocks found on Little Mountain, west of Ogden UT. My largest curiosity is: how thick (deep) is the sediment below the Great Salt Lake/Great Basin. I've never been able to find out the sediment depth.

[@alpineflauge909]

have to go check it out, thanks

[@toughenupfluffy7294]

Those coalesced alluvial fans are known as a bajada, a word that comes from the Spanish 'baja,' translated to 'low.' (Fun fact: these geoglyphs are featured in a 1961 Hardy Boys Mystery novel, _Mystery of the Desert Giant_ .)

[@InSurrealtime]

I almost forgot about that place, I went there in the 80's.

[@Grateful_Dad_54]

Thanks for answering the 'How' question, Shawn! But, why? Makes me think of the Nazca Lines. Again, why? For what purpose?

[@alpineflauge909]

world class content

[@Rob2]

What surprises me most is the longevity of these drawings. We can all make drawings like that, but will they be visible hundreds of years later?

[@mamasquatch]

Awesome video!

[@zimtt1276]

Wow, so a big stick and a belief in celestial gods to behold.

[@edwardhanson3664]

I've know about these since I studied geology in college in the 70s.. I wish you had said something about why they are fenced. This was done a couple of decades ago because some irresponsible morons were riding their quadra tracks over them deliberately.

[@bomaite1]

How can you determine how old these glyphs are? Is it possible to accurately pinpoint that? And why has the sand and finer particles not blown away by now from between the stones in the glyphs? Wouldn't that happen fairly quickly? I seem to remember hearing something in one of the parks in the southwest about biocrust, or cryptobiotic soil. It is easily disturbed and takes a very, very long time to regenerate. Biocrusts are composed of combinations of cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, fungi etc. I wonder if that might be what is going on there. Along with moving the stones, the biocrust may have been damaged, as it appears to have been damaged around the perimeter of those fences that have been erected around the glyphs. You can definitely see that the surface outside the fence is lighter in color than the background immediately around the glyphs themselves. It would be interesting to take some samples. I can remember looking out from an observation area at the Grand Canyon, and there were clear tracks visible where one of the rangers said uranium prospectors had driven in the 1950s just one time with heavy equipment. The terrain looks indestructible, but in reality it is very delicate.

[@richardarmida8151]

Pablo Verde grad I’m guessing. The Colorado river has attracted peoples for millennia. Wonder how old they are?

[@zenseed75]

Had zero clue these existed in the US.

[@3xHermes]

👍 1 unavailable video is hidden?

[@veratrabold964]

Awesome.

[@celticmugwump]

What created the desert varnish ?

[@101rotarypower]

Can "Surface exposure dating" be used to date when these geoglyphs were physically made?

[@Jesilda-e6y]

Eu tenho bastante fragmentos de diversos tamanho de um meteoro explodindo em SP inteiro faz tempo foi magestoso parecia uma coisa inesquecível sei aonde caiu e tem muitos pedaços espalhando nas ruas do bairro aqui em Arujá interior de São Paulo faz três anos atrás tenho até provas suficiente

[@maryt2887]

I left a comment on the original post from a couple of weeks ago . Wondering why no one else saw that one?

[@1607rosie]

I was hoping you’d have some insight on the aliens that placed geoglyphs there.

[@philipApart]

Nice, interesting that is so stable over a long period. Does one know an origine data, Ancient is not so strict date 😊

[@wmason1961]

How do we know that these were made by ancient people and not much more recently? How do we know these were not made by settlers in the 1800s?

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

This was pretty interesting! But I had always pictured those being much bigger in my mind. Now I have even more to argue with when some crackpot starts the whole ancient aliens baloney. These are completely doable, no high tech needed at all, just imagination and some elbow grease. 😊 That makes me happy! Thanks for the video; now to see how many more I'm behind, LOL!

[@KellyClowers]

huh, had no idea those were there...

[@karin7765]

No aliens here😜Interesting, thank you!

[@grandparocky]

Did you know there are geoglyphs in Twin Falls area?

[@robbirobin9657]

I wonder what the geoglyph artist would say, if they knew they were still there?

[@frinoffrobis]

in California? wow!!

[@montejarvis]

how do we know how long those geogliphs were formed? how are they dated? how did no. one destroy them on the past?

[@judierickson7166]

Im happy you didnot give exact locations, there are really dumb and destructive people out there. Here in Nevada theyve had to put up really high fences around several sites, because someone thought it was cool to write their name (or an expletive) on them.

[@ruedifreuler9769]

Interresting. Did you ever ask yourself why these ancient folks carved these pictures into the ground when they can only be seen from the sky? Why would they do that? I know, this has nothing to do with geology ;-) - and I am not into this UFO-stuff. But still the question remains.

[@jw1548]

How? Carefully.

[@armoredsaint6639]

I’m just curious how do we know it was created hundreds of thousands of years ago and not the summer of 1967 after too much tequila or whatever else was brought along!😮

[@sayeager5559]

The History Channel taught me these were created by ancient aliens.

[@causewaykayak]

Is that a joke ???

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

One would certainly hope so,​@@causewaykayak!

[@mkelly4617]

😂

[@man_at_the_end_of_time]

​@@causewaykayakThe History Channel says a lot of wild things. It really is the chariots of the gods channel.

[@rerolley]

Came here looking for this comment. Found it.

[@gsbealer]

Sure would like to know why these huge designs were made where their true appreciation is from above. Well, why don’t you research it Greg? Ok. I will.

[@guepar58]

Maybe in these ancient times there where big birds capable of transporting humans... ???