Like creatures of the ark, Saddlerock Ranch's animals are here in pairs: llamas, emus, macaws, peacocks, camels and zebras. But these California immigrants are commonplace compared to the pictographs tucked amid the ranch's towering rock formations and grapevine-studded hills.
Archeologists say the drawings were made by Chumash Indians, the original settlers of the area, to depict a pivotal event in California history: Their encounter with Spanish explorers more than 200 years ago.
The rust-red artwork shows four men on horseback -- horses did not exist here until the Spanish brought them in the 18th century. One rider's headgear looks distinctly like the Spanish helmet that existed from the days of Hernando Cortes forward.
The images, protected from centuries of weather by an overhanging rock, are believed to represent the first meeting between Chumash Indians and a party of Spanish settlers who trekked from Mexico through California.
Historians think one of the four may be Juan Bautista de Anza, who led 240 men, women and children on a 1775 journey that ended with the founding of San Francisco.
One of the horsemen seems to hold a lantern. "That could have been a piece of metal that the Spaniards often brought on their travels, and referred to as 'sun dazzlers,' to impress the Native Americans who were unfamiliar with metal in their culture," said Gloria Ricci Lothrop, a Cal State Northridge emeritus professor of California history.
About 20,000 Chumash lived from north of Morro Bay to Malibu and on some of the Channel Islands. They produced some of the nation's most interesting and abundant rock art.
The drawings on this 982-acre property are pristine, unlike many pictographs in the state that have been defaced by vandals or obliterated by the elements. And they remain in private hands.
In the hills of Malibu, Saddlerock Ranch -- named for a striking stone landmark that looks like a saddle and can be seen from the U.S 101 and the Pacific Ocean -- was once part of the 8,000-acre Miguel Leonis ranch.
In the 1850s, Leonis was a Basque immigrant-turned-smuggler-turned-shepherd. He moved in with Espiritu Chijulla, daughter of a Chumash chief. Her family's 1,100-acre El Escorpion rancho belonged in part to her father, Odon, one of three Chumash Indians to whom the rancho was originally granted.
