Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park
Encyclopedia
Chaw'se Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park is a historical state park
located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California
, eight miles east of Jackson
. The park is named after a great outcropping of marbleized limestone
with some 1,185 mortar
holes — the largest collection of bedrock mortars in North America
.
The park is nestled in a little valley 2,400 feet above sea level with open meadows and large specimens of Valley oak
(Quercus lobata) that once provided the Miwok
peoples of this area with an ample supply of acorn
s.
Chaw’se is the Miwok word for grinding rock. Upon this rock, they ground the acorn
s and other seeds into meal, slowly forming the cup shaped depressions in the stone that can still be seen today. Along with the mortar holes, the main grinding rock within the park also features a number of decorative carvings (petroglyph
s): circles, spoked wheels, animal and human tracks, wavy lines, etc. Some of these carvings are thought to as much as two or even three thousand years old and are now becoming difficult to see. This association of rock art and bedrock mortar pits is unique in California. Except for one other small site, Chaw'se has the only known occurrence of mortars intentionally decorated with petroglyphs.
village complete with a ceremonial roundhouse has been reconstructed in the middle of the small valley (the roundhouse is registered as California Historical Landmark
#1001). The Museum has been designed to reflect the architecture of the traditional roundhouse. Exhibited in this two-story museum are examples of the technology and crafts of the Miwok and other Sierra Nevada Native American groups. As a regional Indian museum, the collection at Chaw'se includes exhibits on the Northern, Central and Southern Miwok
, Maidu
, Konkow, Monache, Nisenan
, Tubatulabal
, Washoe
, and Foothill Yokuts.
s, Western scrub
and Steller's
jay
s, California quail
, acorn
and hairy
woodpecker
s, northern flicker
s, hermit thrush
es, wild turkey
s (non-native), and California thrasher
s. In summer, the bright colors of the western tanager
, northern oriole, calliope
and Anna's
hummingbird
s can be seen in the woods around the meadow.
Animal life in and around the park includes deer
, fox
, gray
and California ground
squirrel
s, black-tailed jackrabbit
s, bobcat
s, bat
s, and occasionally a mountain lion or black bear
. Coyote
calls can be heard on quiet summer nights.
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, eight miles east of Jackson
Jackson, California
Jackson is the county seat of Amador County, California. The population was 4,651 at the 2010 census, up from 3,989 at the 2000 census...
. The park is named after a great outcropping of marbleized limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
with some 1,185 mortar
Mortar and pestle
A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix solid substances . The pestle is a heavy bat-shaped object, the end of which is used for crushing and grinding. The mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, ceramic or stone...
holes — the largest collection of bedrock mortars in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
The park is nestled in a little valley 2,400 feet above sea level with open meadows and large specimens of Valley oak
Valley Oak
Quercus lobata, commonly called the Valley oak, grows into the largest of North American oaks. It is endemic to California, growing in the interior valleys and foothills. Mature specimens may attain an age of up to 600 years. This deciduous oak requires year-round access to groundwater.Its thick,...
(Quercus lobata) that once provided the Miwok
Miwok
Miwok can refer to any one of four linguistically related groups of Native Americans, native to Northern California, who spoke one of the Miwokan languages in the Utian family...
peoples of this area with an ample supply of acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s.
Chaw’se is the Miwok word for grinding rock. Upon this rock, they ground the acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s and other seeds into meal, slowly forming the cup shaped depressions in the stone that can still be seen today. Along with the mortar holes, the main grinding rock within the park also features a number of decorative carvings (petroglyph
Petroglyph
Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
s): circles, spoked wheels, animal and human tracks, wavy lines, etc. Some of these carvings are thought to as much as two or even three thousand years old and are now becoming difficult to see. This association of rock art and bedrock mortar pits is unique in California. Except for one other small site, Chaw'se has the only known occurrence of mortars intentionally decorated with petroglyphs.
Chaw'se Regional Indian Museum
This museum, within the park grounds, features a variety of exhibits and a vast collection of Sierra Nevada Indian artifacts. A MiwokMiwok
Miwok can refer to any one of four linguistically related groups of Native Americans, native to Northern California, who spoke one of the Miwokan languages in the Utian family...
village complete with a ceremonial roundhouse has been reconstructed in the middle of the small valley (the roundhouse is registered as California Historical Landmark
California Historical Landmark
California Historical Landmarks are buildings, structures, sites, or places in the state of California that have been determined to have statewide historical significance by meeting at least one of the criteria listed below:...
#1001). The Museum has been designed to reflect the architecture of the traditional roundhouse. Exhibited in this two-story museum are examples of the technology and crafts of the Miwok and other Sierra Nevada Native American groups. As a regional Indian museum, the collection at Chaw'se includes exhibits on the Northern, Central and Southern Miwok
Miwok
Miwok can refer to any one of four linguistically related groups of Native Americans, native to Northern California, who spoke one of the Miwokan languages in the Utian family...
, Maidu
Maidu
The Maidu are a group of Native Americans who live in Northern California. They reside in the central Sierra Nevada, in the drainage area of the Feather and American Rivers...
, Konkow, Monache, Nisenan
Nisenan
The Nisenan, also known as the Southern Maidu and Valley Maidu, are one of many native groups of the Central Valley. The name Nisenan, derives from the ablative plural pronoun nisena·n, "from among us"...
, Tubatulabal
Tübatulabal
Tübatulabal may refer to:*Tübatulabal people, Native Americans whose ancestral home was in the Kern River basin*Tübatulabal language, a Uto-Aztecan language...
, Washoe
Washoe
Washoe or washo could refer to:*Washoe -- a chimpanzee that was taught by humans to speak in American Sign Language*Before it was made a Territory, Nevada was popularly known as Washoe*Washoe County, Nevada*Washoe Lake - lake in Nevada...
, and Foothill Yokuts.
Wildlife
Bird life varies depending on the season, but many species are seen year round, including turkey vultureTurkey Vulture
The Turkey Vulture is a bird found throughout most of the Americas. It is also known in some North American regions as the Turkey Buzzard , and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John Crow or Carrion Crow...
s, Western scrub
Western Scrub Jay
The Western Scrub-Jay , is a species of scrub-jay native to western North America. It ranges from southern Washington to central Texas and central Mexico. It comprises three distinct subspecies groups, all of which may be separate species...
and Steller's
Steller's Jay
The Steller's Jay is a jay native to western North America, closely related to the Blue Jay found in the rest of the continent, but with a black head and upper body. It is also known as the Long-crested Jay, Mountain Jay, and Pine Jay...
jay
Jay
The jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family Corvidae. The names jay and magpie are somewhat interchangeable, and the evolutionary relationships are rather complex...
s, California quail
California Quail
The California Quail, Callipepla californica, also known as the California Valley Quail or Valley Quail, is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family...
, acorn
Acorn Woodpecker
The Acorn woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker, 21 cm long with an average weight of 85 g.-Description:...
and hairy
Hairy Woodpecker
The Hairy Woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker, averaging approximately 250 mm in length with a 380 mm wingspan...
woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
s, northern flicker
Northern Flicker
The Northern Flicker is a medium-sized member of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate. There are over 100 common names for the Northern Flicker...
s, hermit thrush
Hermit Thrush
The Hermit Thrush is a medium-sized North American thrush. It is not very closely related to the other North American migrant species of Catharus, but rather to the Mexican Russet Nightingale-thrush.-Description:...
es, wild turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
s (non-native), and California thrasher
California Thrasher
The California Thrasher is a large thrasher found primarily in chaparral habitat in California and Baja California. Similar to the Crissal and Le Conte's Thrashers in habit, the California Thrasher is the only species of Toxostoma throughout most of its limited range...
s. In summer, the bright colors of the western tanager
Western Tanager
The Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family , it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family...
, northern oriole, calliope
Calliope Hummingbird
The Calliope Hummingbird is a very small hummingbird and the smallest bird found in Canada and the United States. It is the only member of the Stellula genus....
and Anna's
Anna's Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird is a medium-sized hummingbird native to the west coast of North America. This bird was named after Anna Masséna, Duchess of Rivoli.-Description:...
hummingbird
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...
s can be seen in the woods around the meadow.
Animal life in and around the park includes deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
, gray
Western Gray Squirrel
The Western Gray Squirrel is an arboreal rodent found along the western coast of the United States and Canada.In some places, this species has also been known as the Silver-gray Squirrel, the California Gray Squirrel, the Oregon Gray Squirrel, the Columbian Gray Squirrel and the Banner-tail...
and California ground
California Ground Squirrel
The California ground squirrel , is a common and easily observed ground squirrel of the western United States and the Baja California peninsula; it is common in Oregon and California and its range has relatively recently extended into Washington and northwestern Nevada...
squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s, black-tailed jackrabbit
Black-tailed Jackrabbit
The black-tailed jackrabbit , also known as the american desert hare, is a common hare of the western United States and Mexico, where it is found at elevations from sea level to up to...
s, bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
s, bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, and occasionally a mountain lion or black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
. Coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
calls can be heard on quiet summer nights.