The House of the Sun sandstone formation. The cave overlooks the large rounded bolder left of the small tree.
On the eastern end of Montgomery Potrero a sandstone outcrop breaches the rolling grassland. The rock formation sits on the higher, northern edge of a field that slopes southward toward the Sisquoc River several miles away.
At the top of this gritty, well weathered lichen covered monolith, set above a small waterfall that flows during rainy weather, a painted cave known to the Chumash Indians as S’ap’aksi or House of the Sun faces southwest overlooking the sun baked potrero. The name is taken from the red circular design emblazoned on the ceiling of the cave, a photo of which is used at the top of this page as the featured image. A variety of other zoomorphic and abstract pictographs adorn the walls of the cave and numerous cupules have been bored into the floor. One relatively narrow and deep hole bored into the floor near the mouth of the shelter is thought to have possibly held a ceremonial sunstick.
At the base of the seasonal waterfall below the House of the Sun, a shallow but long cave-like overhang contains numerous rock art pictographs. It is much larger than the House of the Sun cave and its walls are still blackened in places from the countless years of Indian campfires. The nearby boulders are stained in places here and there with traces of faded rock art. One of the rocks in front of the overhang is riddled with bedrock mortars some of which are a foot deep.
The caves are located in the clump of trees on the lower left of the large grassy hill in the center of the photo.
On top of the outcrop overlooking the sunbaked potrero toward Forester's Leap Canyon and the Sisquoc River.
The House of the Sun cave.
The lower cave, dry waterfall and upper cave seen here as a dark spot on the rock near the top center of the image.
The lower shelter. The sooty black crust left from centuries of Indian campfires still stain the ceiling.
The remnants of the picotgraphs in the lower cave.
Bedrock mortars.
A scholarly review of the House of the Sun rock art site, which was originally published in the Journal of American Anthropology: “The Painted Rock Site (SBa-502 and SBa-526): Sapaksi, The House of the Sun” by Georgia Lee and Stephen Horne: Sapaksi (PDF)
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Chumash Pictographs at Condor Cave
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I love that area. There’s so much to explored up there. Lion Canyon is just incredible. There’s a bunch more rock art sites up too. Pretty much any rock formation near a creek is a good place to look. I’m really enjoying these posts, keep up the great job.
Take care,
Eric
Thanks Eric. Lion Canyon is indeed incredible. The first time I saw it I was astounded. Like you say, there is so much to explore in this area. I’m itching to get back there to tromp around some more. It wouldn’t be hard to burn through several days just exploring the rock formations and canyons.
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Hi Jack,
Would you be so kind as to contact me about the location of this site?
Thank you.
Rick
Nice photos and colorful pictographs….my husband and I would like to see it as well. Would you send us the location also? We only photograph….and ooohh and aaahh. Suzanne