Coso Rock Art District
Attributed to the Coso people by PBS SoCal · Coso Range, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Inyo County, California
Photo: Craig Baker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), as also published on Street Art Utopia.
The U.S. Navy says the canyons of the Coso Range contain the highest concentration of rock art in the Northern Hemisphere, inside Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. Source Checked More than 6,000 images have been pecked, engraved or abraded into the desert varnish of the Coso Range canyons, the Navy says; the same page puts Little Petroglyph Canyon alone at 20,000 documented images. Source Checked
Seen Sep 2023: on 22 September 2023 the Navy said petroglyph tours were closed because Tropical Storm Hilary had damaged the roads. We found no newer update. Source Checked
💡 5 things to know
- A landmark twice overLittle Petroglyph Canyon’s rock art was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964; the wider Coso Rock Art District was listed on the National Register in 1999. Source Source Checked
- 36,000 acres on a Navy basePBS SoCal, citing the Maturango Museum, reports that the landmark district covers 36,000 acres within the naval air weapons station. Source Reported
- Nobody knows how oldThe Navy says no one knows for sure how old the petroglyphs are, but some may be as old as 16,000 years; PBS SoCal says some are as old as 12,000 years. Source Source Conflicting
- Walls of imagesLittle Petroglyph Canyon is 1.2 miles long, with walls of rock art 20 to 40 feet high. Source Checked
- Navy-approved guidesPBS SoCal reports that public access has been limited to tours with Navy-approved guides. Source Reported
📍 Where it is
In the Coso Range of the Mojave Desert, Inyo County, California, on Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake near Ridgecrest. The National Register lists its address as restricted. Source Source Checked
Opens Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake on Google Maps. The district’s own address is restricted and it is not open without a Navy tour.
🗓️ Sightings
- 1964
National Historic Landmark · Navy
- 19998 Oct
National Register listing
- c. 2002
Tours restart · NAVAIR
- 201811 Apr
Feature · PBS SoCal
- 202322 Sep
Tours closed after storm · Navy
All stamps are amber: they mark records and reports, not dated photographs.
🗞️ In the sources
“Public access is permitted to many of these petroglyphs but is limited to tours with Navy-approved guides.”
“More than 6,000 images have been pecked, engraved, or abraded into the desert varnish or patina”
✅ The facts
- Date
- Unknown; up to 16,000 years (Navy) or 12,000 years (PBS SoCal) Source Source Conflicting
- Count
- More than 6,000 images (Coso Range canyons) and 20,000 documented images in Little Petroglyph Canyon, both on the Navy page; Wikipedia gives over 100,000 for the district Source Source Conflicting
🔗 Related
All sources & image credits
- U.S. Navy, NAWS China Lake: Petroglyphs
- Wikipedia: Coso Rock Art District
- National Register record 99001178: Coso Rock Art District
- PBS SoCal Artbound: The protected petroglyphs of China Lake Naval Base (11 April 2018)
- NAVAIR: China Lake petroglyph tours restart (undated, c. 2002)
- Wikipedia: Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons
- Image: Craig Baker / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (file page), as also published on Street Art Utopia; a 16:9 share image was made from it. No More photos row: the free-licence photos named in our research could not be checked against their Commons pages in this run.
Last checked: 3 November 2026. How we verify art