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OBJECTIVES
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There are approximately eighty-seven Loring recorded rock art sites in Lake County. Additionally we have learned of at least 50 more sites in the Lake county area that have been discovered. It is our intent to visit as many of those as possible, as well as some of the Loring sites we have not visited thus far.
These sites range from a few scattered petroglyphs at some sites to several miles of stone out crops that almost literally have been engraved with images for as far as the eye can see. Since these images are subject to natural and human forces, while enduring, they are not “permanent”. It is therefore imperative that a comprehensive photographic record of these sites be created. As they exist on the northern edge of the Great Basin and greatly contribute to the record for that larger geographical area and quite likely in part predate the eruption of Mt. Mazama, recording and preservation is all the more imperative. Their proximity to very early and important archaeological sites such as the Ft. Rock complex and Paisley Cave potentially gives added weight to their importance, particularly in light of Jenkins' 2009 discoveries at the latter.
We have visited and photographically recorded over a hundred Loring recorded rock art sites and it is our intention to locate and visit as many more of them as possible. We will continue to record and document them as described above. A report consisting of locations (including maps and correlation with Cressman and Loring and Loring site numbers), assessment of condition, photos of visually exciting panels will be prepared. In addition, a VHS and/or video CD will be prepared as a complete record or our explorations and observations. I have acquired software that will move me in the direction of being able to make our observations and photos available in the more modern CD/DVD formats. In 2007 LeeAnn converted to digital photography, enabling her to capture more views of what we see. We will acquire more digital camera chips so that our recording of the sites will be more complete. I will continue to submit articles with photos to
Screenings.
LeeAnn will continue to add photos, dates and other information to her albums and add new pages of the sites we visit in 2011. We have devised a method of taking acceptable digital photos of her efforts and those were presented to the OAS and archived in the OAS library in 2008. LeeAnn has integrated many of the Lorings' original photos into her albums and into this digital album. This will make our work available to a much broader audience and serve as a record of encroachment of natural destructive elements, such as lichen, spalling and calcification and human caused influences at the sites.
We have published a couple of photo books through a .com concern and continue to entertain this avenue as a way of preserving and promulgating our efforts. We feel the publication committee of the OAS should consider printing some of our research, especially that of non Loring recorded sites that we record. I wrote a paper following those guidelines in 2009 and it was published by OAS in 2010. We also self published a guidebook for visiting publically controlled rock art in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Such books aid in preservation efforts through public education. I continue to maintain and add photographs, links etc. to our website
www.oregonrockart.com.
We intend to make further attempts to reach and record Loring recorded sites that high water has prevented us from reaching in previous years. And to continue locating, visiting and recording sites that are not contained in the Loring inventory, particularly in Lake County.
In addition we will be concentrating considerable effort to reach as many Loring and nonLoring sites in the Owyhee River drainage as possible since they are part of the Great Basin tradition. Due to weather and road conditions this area presents considerable challenges. After a spring expedition ended with a stuck truck in the middle of a snow storm and a fall expedition that I canceled due to impending inclement weather, the wisest course seems to be to attempt this in mid Summer. This was accomplished with much success in July 2010 and one other OAS member accompanied us.
As in past years, we anticipate making several week plus long expeditions during the summer of 2011. These are camping trips (necessitated by the remoteness and difficulty of access), bracketed by motel stays. During the fall and winter of 2011-2012 we will prepare the material as described above for presentation to OAS during 2012. A copy of our photos, maps, commentary and video will be archived in the OAS library. We will make a presentation to the OAS if it can be scheduled and LeeAnn will make her albums available for viewing during an OAS meeting.
