BajaNomad

What is this?

elbeau - 3-17-2011 at 05:02 PM

Looking around other parts of Baja there's a couple of features that are way to big not to be noticed, but which I can't find in the almanac or described anywhere else. Can somebody please help me identify this site?

First is a place with Jesuit-style roads leading into a living or farming area that may have had a wall around it at some point. It has a modern dirt road going right through the center of it, so I'm sure this is a known site, but I just don't know what it is.

Notice the very straight, darker-colored older roads which fork in the west/center of the site. You can follow those roads into the site and see that this was once more than just roads during the same time period the roads were built.

Also notice the line that traces along the western side of the site. It connects three square foundations together and goes over the top of the older roads. It also has disturbed areas fairly consistently spaced along its route. Maybe this was a protective wall? If so, either it only protected one side of the site (unlikely, because that would just be stupid), or maybe the rest of the wall is just washed away or something. I dunno, maybe it's not a wall at all, but I can't figure out anything else for it.

Then, notice that the modern dirt road cutting through the site goes right over the old roads and the maybe-wall. I think this means that there are at least three distinct periods of building and/or habitation at the site.

The site may have been used fairly recently because you can still see a lot of straight lines where fields used to be planted (I suppose).

Anyways, does anybody know what this is and it's history?

It's in the desert North of the Three Virgins (that's the name of those mountains, right?).


Full-Sized Image

Edited to fix link

[Edited on 3-18-2011 by elbeau]

[Edited on 3-18-2011 by elbeau]

David K - 3-17-2011 at 10:04 PM

How about the location?

elbeau - 3-17-2011 at 11:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
How about the location?


27.64254 N 112.65113 W

elbeau - 3-18-2011 at 10:55 AM

Anybody?

I thought this would be an easy one.

mtgoat666 - 3-18-2011 at 11:27 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by elbeau
Anybody?

I thought this would be an easy one.


sorry. grading scars just aren't interesting enough to bother looking for your answer.

p.s. in the future, suggest you post link to google earth location (no one wants to spend time retyping coordinates), and if you post aerial photos or maps, add a scale bar and north arrow, otherwise the photos are almost not worth looking at.

castaway$ - 3-18-2011 at 11:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mtgoat666
Quote:
Originally posted by elbeau
Anybody?

I thought this would be an easy one.


sorry. grading scars just aren't interesting enough to bother looking for your answer.

p.s. in the future, suggest you post link to google earth location (no one wants to spend time retyping coordinates), and if you post aerial photos or maps, add a scale bar and north arrow, otherwise the photos are almost not worth looking at.

They aren't grading scars they are "goat" trails:lol:

elbeau - 3-18-2011 at 12:49 PM

...sigh...

KML File

Bajatripper - 3-18-2011 at 01:14 PM

Haven't you anything better to do than send our fellow Nomads on wild goose chases?:lol:

mcfez - 3-18-2011 at 03:17 PM

[Edited on 3-19-2011 by mcfez]

elbeau - 3-18-2011 at 04:02 PM

no, no, no mcfez...you've got it all wrong...the crashed spaceships are down the arroyo a ways from the mission site, and there's two of them...not in the desert near the three virgins.




...duh

David K - 3-18-2011 at 06:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by elbeau
Anybody?

I thought this would be an easy one.


27.64254, -112.65113 on Google Earth is just north of thr Tres Virgenes volcano system (north of Santa Rosalia).

This is a very rich mineral region with copper and manganese being common elements extracted.

The road from this mine at your GPS heads south to Highway One, about 15 miles east of San Ignacio.

[Edited on 3-19-2011 by David K]