Petroglyphs confirmed to be really old!
Have you seen petroglyphs in Zion National Park and elsewhere and
wondered how old they were? Their ages vary, of course, and some may be
of recent origin. Others, however are truly very old.
A new high-tech analysis led by a University of Colorado Boulder
researcher shows the oldest known petroglyphs in North America, which
are cut into several boulders in western Nevada, date to at least 10,500
years ago and perhaps even as far back as 14,800 years ago.
The petroglyphs located at the Winnemucca Lake petroglyph site 35 miles
northeast of Reno consist of large, deeply carved grooves and dots
forming complex designs on several large limestone boulders that have
been known about for decades, said CU-Boulder researcher Larry Benson,
who led the new effort. Although there are no people, animals or
handprint symbols depicted, the petroglyph designs include a series of
vertical, chain-like symbols and a number of smaller pits deeply incised
with a type of hard rock scraper.
Benson and his colleagues used several methods to date the petroglyphs,
including determining when the water level the Winnemucca Lake
subbasin—which back then was a single body of water connecting the
now-dry Winnemucca Lake and the existing Pyramid Lake—reached the
specific elevation of 3,960 feet.
The elevation was key to the study because it marked the maximum height the ancient lake system could have reached before it began spilling excess water over Emerson Pass to the north. When the lake level was at this height, the petroglyph-peppered boulders were submerged and therefore not accessible for carving, said Benson, an adjunct curator of anthropology at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.
A paper on the subject was published this month in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Co-authors on the study included Eugene Hattori of the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, Nev., John Southon of the University of California, Irvine and Benjamin Aleck of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Museum and Visitor’s Center in Nixon, Nev. The National Research Program of the U.S. Geological Survey funded the study.
Petroglyphs photo via Shutterstock.
Read more at University of Colorado.
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