On the California side of the river are these fenced off areas that protect Native American sites that can be hundreds of years old. We never thought they looked like much just some worn areas in the dirt. We belong to the local Gem and Mineral Club here in Yuma and at our last meeting we had an interesting lecture given by an archeologist who works with the local Cocopah Indian tribe. She explained that these fenced off areas in the desert are where the local Indians had their camps set up and also you can see the trails they used. Once there are "worn areas" in the desert those areas stay that way for a very long time.
Most of her lecture was about warning us as rockhounds not to go off the roads with our vehicles so that we don't run over artifacts. Many pieces of pottery, etc. have been destroyed by off road vehicles. The archeologists don't like to move ancient pottery anymore. They want to keep it were it is found so that it can be studied were it lies. I think we were all surprised to hear that but she said they didn't want this stuff to end up in the basement of some museum where no one gets to enjoy it.
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