Rock art carved on limestone boulders in Winnemucca Lake, a dried lake bed in northwest Nevada, have been proven to be the oldest rock art in North America. 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.
The petroglyphs range from simple lines, pits, and swirls to more complex
and ambiguous shapes that resemble diamonds, trees, flowers, and veins
in a leaf. They range from about 8 inches up to about 3
feet in width.
In a new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, geochemist Larry Benson
and his team concluded that the petroglyphs are at least 10,500
years old, and perhaps as much as 14,800 years old.
Whether they turn out to be as old as 14,800 years ago, they are still the oldest petroglyphs
that have been dated in North America.
