Winnemucca Lake Petroglyphs (Washoe County, Nevada)

Recently, there was a story on CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/17/us/nevada-petroglyphs/index.html?iref=allsearch) and many other news outlets concerning the dating of some petroglyphs near Reno. In fact, these are thought to be the oldest petroglyphs ever found in North America according to the article (somewhere between 10,500 and 14,800 years old). With our shared interest in pictographs and petroglyphs, my friend, Nick, and I had to go hunting for them. The news reports only stated the rock art was on the western side of the now dry Winnemucca Lake, which is about an hour northeast of Reno. We got an early start and headed out towards the site.

 

Upon turning onto highway 447, just off of I-80, we continued north until we began seeing remnants of giant tufa formations that once littered the bed of the lake, but now appear as islands of stone in this dry and  desolate landscape. As the tufa is the only surface in the area capable of having petroglyphs scratched into it, this was an obvious starting place for our search. At first glance, the tufa islands appear like any other rock that you might see in the desert, but on examining the calcium carbonate formations, it is obvious that something more is at work. Much like the tufa at Mono Lake a few hours from here, this tufa was formed when gases seeped from under the lakebed and reacted with minerals in the ancient lake's water. The results are bizarre, almost organic, towers and what almost appear as spherical sponges of stone. Quite an amazing site to see.

 

While examining nearly all of the tufa formations on this end of the dry lake bed, we found a number of petroglyphs, but none that met the description given in the articles we had read. In the stories, they are described as being carved very deep into the stone. The ones we have found so far are pretty shallow, much like those at many other sites I have visited. With the heat starting to climb and our uncertainty as to whether or not these are the petroglyphs mentioned, we decide to move north, further up what would have been the western shore.

A few miles further, we find a tall outcropping that might have been interesting enough to the ancient Native Americans to have left their marks on it. We park and begin to climb up a very large hill apparently made of tufa encased volcanic stone - quite a striking contrast. We scramble around in the heat, but see no sign of man-made patterns scratched in the rock faces. On our way back to the car, we find a very poignant reminder of how hot and dry this area can get in the form of a horse skeleton, or at least the scattered remnants of it. Most likely a wild mustang who once roamed free on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation, where we currently are.

 

Nick suggests driving to the northern end of the dry lake bed and then possibly accepting that those glyphs we found on the tufa at the southern end are probably those described in the articles. However, after just another mile or two, we see what we have been looking for. Overlooking the road, is another hill made of ancient tufa, much like the one we climbed earlier, but this time, deep cuts are very visible in the rock faces. These cuts are in obvious patterns, such as diamonds, spirals, and what appear to be trees. The notching is probably an inch or so deep, much deeper than any I have ever seen. We have found the site. We wander around briefly and snap a few shots before heading back to the car.

This site really sparked my imagination, not only due to the age, but also the fact that the petroglyphs were carved into tufa, which is generally a pretty crumbly stone. Perhaps the climate has allowed this amazing rock art to survive the millennia. I also wonder about the meaning of the symbols. Spiral petroglyphs are thought by most to represent water, but seeing them carved into the overturned tufa makes me think about a correlation between the spiral and the interior structures of the spheres we saw early in the hunt. It fills the mind with awe to think about the people who left these marks for future generations to see. Who were they? What did they believe in? What was their world like? We may never get answers to these questions, but the more we research and learn about them, the closer we come to knowing them.