A Tree Carving in California: Ancient Astronomers?

A Tree Carving in California: Ancient Astronomers?
TIME: By Matt Kettmann Tuesday, Feb. 09, 2010


Though local lore held that the so-called "scorpion tree" had been the work of cowboys, paleontologist Rex Saint Onge immediately knew that the tree was carved by Indians when he stumbled upon it in the fall of 2006. Located in a shady grove atop the Santa Lucia Mountains in San Luis Obispo County, the centuries-old gnarled oak had the image of a six-legged, lizard-like being meticulously scrawled into its trunk, the nearly three-foot-tall beast topped with a rectangular crown and two large spheres. "I was really the first one to come across it who understood that it was a Chumash motif," says Saint Onge, referring to the native people who painted similar designs on rock formations from San Luis Obispo south through Santa Barbara and into Malibu.

Amazingly, Saint Onge had just identified the West Coast's only known Native American arborglyph, .................

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1960661,00.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Fnation+%28TIME%3A+Top+Nation+Stories%29#ixzz0f5rZxx9F

Yup, I can just make out Ursa Major, Polaris, Cassiopeia, and one the flying saucers from the Asteroids video game.

Clearly the work of prehistoric nerds.

You need stars on water. And when they talk of reviving their culture they take to boats? I'm thinking these guys never walked across a land bridge.

Mainly dealing with the question of independent invention vs. diffusion of some types of artifacts and words.