Rock Paintings of the Chumash (Modified Reprint Series)

This is a serious, comprehensive and yet concise book on the rock paintings at Santa Barbara by the Chumash. He gave a good background information on the people, settlement, society, technology, language, religion and shamanism, food gathering and preparation and inter-tribal relationships so that reader has an understanding on this tribe. He then elaborated on the painting on the location, subject mater, size, pigments, techniques and styles with pictures. It is a labor intensive job in visiting, documenting, photographing and researching. He raised the questions of what do they mean, how old are they. He showed the cataloging of the sites with detail. It is an arm chair pleasure journey to study with him. Over time, erosion and vandalism are the destroying factors. These rock paintings are by no means the ancient graffiti. They are the Chumash ancient motifs of man and nature. This is an enjoyable book and we need to treasure and protect this important California history of Native Americans.