View source for Las Tinajas de Los Indios

{{Infobox mountain
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| name = Las Tinajas de Los Indios
| native_name =
| other_name = Indian Tanks
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| etymology = Spanish
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| photo =
| photo_caption =
<!-- *** Country *** -->
| country = United States
| state = California
| region =
| district = [[Kern County, California|Kern County]]
| topo_map = Emigrant Hill
| topo_maker = [[USGS]]
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| range_coordinates = {{coord|35.68457|N|120.00210|W|type:mountain_scale:300000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| highest =
| elevation_m = 780
| coordinates =
| length_mi = | length_orientation =
| width_mi = | width_orientation =
| area_mi2 =
<!-- *** Features *** -->
| type = [[Tinaja]]s
| geology =
| orogeny =
| period =
| biome =
<!-- *** Maps *** -->
| map = California
| map_relief = yes
| map_size = 220
| map_caption = Location of Las Tinajas de Los Indios in [[California]].<ref name="hoover">Mildred Brooke Hoover, ''Historic spots in California'', Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1990, p.124</ref>
}}
'''Las Tinajas de Los Indios''', or "Indian Tanks", are [[tinaja]]s located in the [[sandstone]] heights of the [[Point of Rocks (Kern County, California)|Point of Rocks]] on the north side of [[Antelope Valley (Kern County)|Antelope Valley]] in [[Kern County]], [[California]].<ref name="Latta">Frank F. Latta, ''El Camino Viejo á Los Angeles - The Oldest Road of the San Joaquin Valley''; Bear State Books, Exeter, 2006, pp. 10-11; Reprint of the 1936 work by Frank F. Latta, of an address he delivered before the Kern County Historical Society, February 20, 1933, and published by it as its second annual publication, in 1936.</ref>
== History ==
''Las Tinajas de Los Indios'' (The Jars of the Indians), later called "Indian Tanks", was as its name suggests, the site of an Indian encampment.  The tops of the Point of Rocks, sandstone rock formations, have ''tinajas'', (''jars'' in Spanish), natural basins that acted as reservoirs or cisterns to hold the water that collected during the winter rains and held it throughout the summer.<ref name="Latta" />
These tinajas bear evidence of having been improved by the Indians. Deeply worn steps have been cut into the rock leading down to the water. Indian mortars, rock writings, and other evidence have been found about the rocks that show this was a prehistoric encampment. Later it was a watering place on [[El Camino Viejo]], between [[Salt Spring|Aquaja de la Brea]] to the north and seven miles from ''Corral de Matarano'' at [[Bitterwater Creek|Arroyo de Matarano]] to the south.<ref name="hoover" /><ref name="Latta" />
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Landforms of Kern County, California]]
[[Category:Geography of the San Joaquin Valley]]
[[Category:El Camino Viejo]]
{{KernCountyCA-geo-stub}}