Anza-Borrego Central: Native-American Sites

Photo of a large granite boulder with several bowl-shaped recesses called morteros. Indian women ground mesquite and other seeds in the morteros.
Morteros in Mine Wash

In central Anza-Borrego, the land of the Shoshonean-speaking Cahuilla and Cupeño people of the north met the Yuman-speaking Northern Diegueño and Kumeyaay people of the south.

Cupeño territory came down to Hot Springs Mountain and Warner Springs. Northern Diegueño territory stretched from Lake Henshaw, down San Felipe Creek and beyond to Blair Valley. Kumeyaay territory came from Laguna Salada in Mexico to the Imperial Valley and up to Fish Creek, Bow Willow, Vallecito, and Mason Valley.

In central Anza-Borrego, you can find Native-American sites in:

Mine Wash — Morteros

Harper Flat — Petroglyphs, morteros, and more on the site of a large former village

Blair Valley — Morteros Trail, Smuggler's Canyon Pictographs