The Blythe Intaglios: Giants in the Desert Floor

About fifteen miles north of Blythe, California, on a series of low desert terraces above the Colorado River, someone carved enormous figures into the ground. The Blythe Intaglios are geoglyphs, designs made by scraping away the dark desert pavement to expose the lighter earth beneath. The largest human figure stretches one hundred seventy-one feet from head to foot. There are six figures in all, including three humans, two four-legged animals, and a spiral.

They were largely unknown outside the region until a pilot spotted them from the air in nineteen thirty-two. Their makers are not definitively known, and radiocarbon dates suggest ages ranging from roughly eight hundred to nearly three thousand years. Their exact ceremonial purpose remains a matter of ongoing discussion among tribal communities and scholars. The figures are protected by the Bureau of Land Management and enclosed by low fencing. They are best understood, as they were first seen, from above.