High Sierra Topix

I just returned from a trip into the Golden Trout Wilderness in the Monache Meadows area. Laying on the bank of the South Fork of the Kern I spotted an abalone shell. The shell was 8" across, fairly fragile and seemed that it would crumble with a good wack.

So, how did this shell end up in the Golden Trout Wilderness? I know that California coastal indigenous people used obsidian from the Coso range which is about due east of where I found this shell. Was this shell an item of trade? Or did someone 'recently' bring it up to the mountains for some odd reason?

-Bill

If you collected it, I recommend you surrender it to the proper authorities and let the professionals decide. A Mammoth doctor is in hot water over collecting.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html

I did not say anything about collecting it. I like to come across artifacts out in the wilderness and fully understand that this won't happen if people collect these items.

Anyways...

Billybobburro, I apologize for even suggesting that you did. I also enjoy seeing these things, and collecting can be such a temptation! Not even sure that the shell is an artifact, but could have been an item used as payment from the coastal tribes. Abalone would not be fossil in that area.

Jeez I had no idea Jonathan was in such legal trouble. I met him back in 2013 at Tunemah Lake and then again this summer with an SPS group on top of Lion Rock. He is a hiking machine. If you see old pennies in the summit registers he is the one who leaves them.

I'm guessing there is no picture of the shell?

My guess is historical artifact. Bling fodder.

My guess would be artifact. I would have photographed it, denoted the location very carefully, left it in situ, then reported it to one of the universities with a Native American archeological program.

My opinion, and it is only opinion, is that these kinds of things should not be left there to decay. They belong in museums, but only authorized archaeologists should be allowed to remove them following strict protocol.

My opinion, and it is only opinion, is that these kinds of things should not be left there to decay. They belong in museums

It's like I said awhile back in a thread. It's one thing when you have a location of many artifacts and you want to preserve the site for people to enjoy but when you find a random piece in the middle of no where like a bow thawing out of an ice field why is it some horrible heinous crime to remove it? Especially in a case where if you had left it then it likely would never be seen by another ever again and lost forever.

I did not get a picture of it. I take pictures of obsidian tools I spot but as a person who grew up in SoCal, abalone is rather common adornment from the era of over fishing them. I guess abalone in the high sierra is a bit less common.

Hopefully this item survives the high run-off from the much anticipated El Nino.

Regarding artifacts spotted in very remote locations. I vote to leave them be since increasingly these are the only artifacts we ever find these days and I have learned that my 'remote' is not always that remote.