We were driving along a dirt road somewhere in the windswept heart of Nevada when I thought that a certain random clump of darkly varnished boulders looked promising, so I convinced my companion to pull over so we could have a look. We donned boots and hoisted cameras. It seemed like we were both down to a single pair of socks that weren’t studded with grass seeds, so this better pan out or we’d waste a good pair of socks on nothing!
I forded through the spiky grass and examined the first boulders. Well shoot. Nothing! Still, that barely means anything. As far as the eye could see, there were boulders lurking in the sea of golden grass, waiting to be examined. In this landscape you’d run out of patience, and the will to live, long before you ran out of boulders.
I clambered deeper into the pile of boulders, and soon enough I found something. The petroglyphs I found were simple Linear forms and very darkly revarnished, making them very hard to see and even harder to photograph. Desert varnish is reflective and this makes photography hard all by itself, but if there is a nice contrast between petroglyphs and the surrounding rocks you can make do. In this case there wasn’t much contrast so it was quite the job to get usable photos.
Not that I really cared! Finding these darkly revarnished petroglyphs is exciting. These are old, old petroglyphs, made at a time when ancient Lake Lahotan dominated the landscape of western Nevada. While I don’t know if this particular site has been dated by researchers, similar sites in the vicinity are believed to be around 6,000 years old. That is a long time ago!
We moved slowly between the boulders and it wasn’t long before we realized we had found a very, very nice site indeed. Boulder after boulder was covered with bold designs – thick, pecked lines. None of these boulders are very large – the largest are maybe six feet in height. This isn’t uncommon for petroglyph sites in this region – they often occur on very small boulders.
Now that I’ve given some background for this site, let’s have a look. Remember that this site was likely made when the shore of Lake Lahotan wasn’t too far from here, and when the area supported abundant wildlife – very different from what it looks like now. We drove clean through Nevada earlier this year, on our way to view the total solar eclipse, and after the bumper rainfall and snowfall of this winter a lot of normally bone dry land was marshy. It is easy to imagine this basin returning to its former state if the rainfall patterns of the region ever change.
Besides the boulder in the foreground, you can also see several boulders in the background bearing petroglyphs. This is towards the edge of the site. Most of the site is behind, or to the left of this view.
We’re now closer to the boulders we just saw. Most of the elements are simple Rectilinear or Linear shapes, though the design towards the left looks like an abstract Representational figure.
Here’s a closer look at that figure. It could be loping along right to left, with four digitate limbs and a large, rectangular head with two ears and a lolling tongue.
From another angle it looks completely different, though, an Abstract element with five digitate appendages and a foot.
This is the same view, just from a slightly different angle. Now you can see how the petroglyphs on the boulder in the center of the picture are nestled inside a hollow.
The petroglyphs in the hollow. At the top is a radiating rake element, and below a circle and other lines.
A panoramic view of these petroglyphs.
Most of the boulders are fairly small, and the petroglyphs are traced all over them.
Towards the edge of the site, a few sporadic petroglyphs cling to tiny boulders. There is a very nice spiral design on the boulder in front of and to the left of the tick mark in the middle of the picture, though. If you click to enlarge the picture you’d be able to see it better.
The little spiral petroglyph. The boulder hosting it is slightly concave.
A flat boulder with circles connected by squiggly meander lines.
A rather busy little boulder. That central figure looks like just the kind of thing conspiracy theorists who’ve been touched by the sun would tout as proof that aliens visited earth.
This petroglyph looks a little bit like a monkey swinging from a branch.
Behind the boulder with the large abstract design that takes up the foreground there is a second boulder with a spiral design on it.
A simple Abstract design.
A very faint, almost delicate petroglyph.
That is a pretty nice squiggle line – it looks almost like a snake!
These dumbbell-like designs are found all over, from as far away as the Mojave basin. In this case, there are quite a few connected together.
One side of this boulder has petroglyphs, the other is covered with a thick crust of lichen. Lichen needs specific conditions to grow, and a single boulder might have several microclimates, with only some supporting lichen.
This motif of a horizontal bar up top with squiggle lines coming down from it is not common, but I have seen it at several petroglyph and pictograph sites.
The petroglyph on this boulder looks a little bit like a dragon in flight.
A nice burst element embedded in meander lines also shows the challenges of photographing varnished boulders in bright sunshine.
It is easy to lose sight of the details at an extensive site like this. Look closely at the detail in this picture. You can see the individual pecks making up the petroglyph when you look at the edges, and the coarse texture of the rock.
Another burst element.
Even an element as simple as the Rectilinear one we saw earlier has a lot of detail when examined up close. There are some misdirected pecks visible around the edges, and it looks like the leftmost two bars have deliberate bulbs at the top.
This petroglyph was fiendishly difficult to photograph, but here it is: the eponymous element!
A short distance away is a figure that looks like an anthropomorph with large sheep horns.
Really hard to make out what you’re looking at, right? If you ever visit a petroglyph site like this I recommend a good pair of polarized sunglasses. Removing the glare is very helpful when you’re trying to examine these sites.
Another well-utilized boulder.
A closer look at the burst element we saw a while ago. It is at the end of a thick meander line and a small rake element can be seen underneath it.
The petroglyphs are all shallowly pecked. These boulders are pretty hard.
One more close-up look, to appreciate the detail and patience that went into making these designs.
And let’s have another look at our devil, just to make sure he hasn’t moved! You can see the other figure in the background.
I am delighted to report that there was no vandalism at this site, and no litter either. It is pristine, and a joy to visit. Should you visit, please make sure to leave it just as wonderful as you found it, so others can enjoy it in the years to come.