Grimes Point and Hickison Petroglyph Sites-HWY 50 (America's Longest Road)

After leaving Reno, NV, I headed south to check out the Grimes Point Archaeological Site where I met Leigh Marymor, an educator from Berkley, CA who maintains an online rock art studies database, here and his girlfriend, Ann. He was s very cool guy and we discussed some aspects of the petroglyphs that lay scattered on the hillside before us. He told me that he personally knew Dr. Carol Diaz-Granados, the researcher and educator that reviewed the paper that I sent to the American Rock Art Research Association. While we were walking around, his girlfriend, Ann, found an obsidian flake laying right on the trail. They informed me that the site was saved from total destruction because it was the location of the area's sanitation dump and through cultural resource work, the area was saved and restored to it's former glory in the 1970's. They also informed me of a place called the Hickison Petroglyph Site, about 50 miles east on HWY 50, so I stopped there as well. While at Grime's Point, I checked out the hills surrounding the petroglyphs and several caves that were used for occupation/storage when these people lived in the area. I also saw a really big lizard that was really cool. He was about 12" long, tail included, and seemed to be highly photogenic! :) Here's what I encountered...

These are regarded as "cupules" and no one really knows what they represent. In my research, I have encountered ethnographic accounts of geophagy and their possible relation to rock art sites such as these. Geophagy is the practice of eating earthen-like substances, but I have also read accounts of these sites bearing correlations to astronomical alignments. It was the first time I'd ever encountered a cupule site and I can't express my level of excitement!

Detail of the cupules. There were several of these rocks in the field. I was reading the information bulletin at the trailhead and they've dated some of these cupule petroglyphs to be about 8,000 years old.  

This was nice as well, though I have no idea what to call it :P

Leigh said this was representational of some kind of weapon.

You can see that the petroglyphs are almost as dark as the rock. This is one way to date rock art in such areas, by the rate of patination. New rock art will be white and very "fresh" looking, however, due to the climatic conditions, as the rock re-patinates, the images become darker. If you can figure out the rate of patination, then you can roughly date the images.

Goat head.

In the background is a large desert/dry lakebed. This was once a late pleistocene lake, teaming with wildlife. The rocks would've still been above water, and the indigenous people would've lived in the caves and hills you see in the distance. 

Nice big spiral. About a foot in diameter.

Anthropomorph.

This reminded me of a turtle.

We decided this rock was the most fascinating at the site. It was covered in cupules of all sizes on every side of the rock and even had a large channel in the middle. I have no idea of its purpose, but it was quite interesting, nonetheless.

Side-view of the cool rock. Check out the big cupules on top!

And the channel in the middle.

This is one of the caves probably used for habitation/storage.

I don't know how old these are. They don't match any of the other images in the area and the patination doesn't seem very old. It might simply be graffiti from a hiker, as the area is frequented by drunks. However, it could be a more historic print made my indians that were in the area later.

Again, the patination isn't very old on this one. Still a nice design, though!

Mr. Lizard Man.

He was a cool guy. :)

Another occupation/storage cave.

Nevada HWY 50, America's longest road.

Me standing in the middle of the road on HWY 50. :P

They indeed, do have cactuses in Nevada-and that excited me! :)

Panel at Hickison Petroglyph site.

These are often regarded as "female" images. I'll let you guess why.

It was a fun day in Nevada. Check back soon for more amazing stuff from Great Basin National Park (pictographs and natural beauty-I drove up to Wheeler's peak, which is 10,000ft and the views were amazing!) and central Utah. I will be posting some amazing pictures from Moab, UT in a couple of days, so be sure to keep checking for new material. I will be going to Mesa Verde National Park tomorrow, then I'll be making my way through the Rockies, so I'm sure there will be some more fun pictures to come soon. After that, I'm off on the long drive through Kansas and going to make a stop at Cahokia, a large prehistoric settlement just east of St. Louis.

Peace and love to all! :)