![]() In between the two time periods, the boulders were submerged, the scientists say. The carbonate ages, combined with an analysis of sediment cores taken from neighboring Pyramid Lake, suggest that the boulders were exposed to air-and thus accessible for carving by humans-between about 14,800 to 13,100 years ago, and again from about 11,300 to 10,500 years ago. Radiocarbon testing of these carbonate layers revealed them to range in age from about 14,800 to 10,300 years old. Though Winnemucca Lake is dried up now, it was once so full of water that the boulders upon which the petroglyphs are etched were submerged.Īs the water levels slowly dropped, crusts of a mineral called carbonate formed on the boulders. To date the petroglyphs, Benson and his colleagues began by figuring out just when they could have been made. "Whether they turn out to be as old as 14,800 years ago or as recent as 10,500 years ago, they are still the oldest petroglyphs that have been dated in North America," Benson, who is at the University of Colorado Natural History Museum in Boulder, said in a statement. ![]() In a new study, published in this month's issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, geochemist Larry Benson and his team concluded that the petroglyphs, located about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northeast of Reno at Winnemucca Lake, are at least 10,500 years old, and perhaps as much as 14,800 years old. They range from about 8 inches (20 centimeters) up to about 3 feet (1 meter) in width. The so-called petroglyphs, carved in soft limestone millennia ago, range from simple lines, pits, and swirls to more complex and ambiguous shapes that resemble diamonds, trees, flowers, and veins in a leaf. ![]() Ancient symbols etched onto the sides of boulders lying along the western edge of a desiccated lake in Nevada are the oldest confirmed rock carvings in North America-possibly dating back to the first peopling of the New World, scientists say. ![]()
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