Winnemucca Lake Petroglyphs
A line drawing, not a photograph of this site — generated artwork.
This text was written with AI. How this is made →
Deep-cut abstract motifs on tufa, dated as the oldest petroglyphs in North America
Deeply carved petroglyphs cover tufa boulders on the west side of the Winnemucca Lake basin, a dry lakebed in Nevada on Pyramid Lake Paiute tribal land. The abstract designs — chained diamonds, tree-like and leaf-vein forms — have grooves up to two centimetres deep. Radiocarbon dates on carbonate crusts beneath and over the carvings confine them to between roughly 14,800 and 10,500 years ago, the oldest dated petroglyphs in North America. The site is closed to the public.
The art
- ◦ Oldest dated petroglyphs in North America
- ◦ Deep-cut chained diamonds and tree-like forms
- ◦ Dated by the lake's carbonate crusts
How it was made
How we know its age
Rock art carries no signature and no date. These are the methods that put an age on this site. How these methods work →
Plan a Visit
Sources
- 1.Winnemucca Lake — Wikipedia
- 2.Dating North America's oldest petroglyphs, Winnemucca Lake subbasin, Nevada — Journal of Archaeological Science
Further reading
- Winnemucca Lake Petroglyphs — Don's Maps