Address Restricted, Needles, California. County/parish: San Bernardino.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places October 05, 1978. NRIS 78000745.
1 contributing site.
Topock Maze is an archaeological site located south of Interstate 40 near Needles, California. The site consists of numerous rows and groups of parallel lines; while hypothesized to be a geoglyph, the purpose, age, and creators of the lines are disputed. A 1908 report by Edward M. Curtis suggested that the site was built as some sort of maze or labyrinth, inspiring its name; however, later research has concluded that this was not the site's purpose. A 1978 study by Arda M. Haenszel proposed that the lines were prehistoric and had some sort of religious or ceremonial significance to the native Mojave people; this conclusion was supported by a 2005 study. Archaeologist Ruth Arlene Musser-Lopez published a study in 2011 which concluded that the lines were created recently, likely by gravel scraping operations during railroad construction in the 1880s; however, they were built over a preexisting prehistoric art site.
The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 5, 1978.
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