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Grimes Point Petroglyph Site (Churchill County)

NRAF has scheduled the next fieldwork for this recordation training project for April 28 and 29, 2012. The project is open to volunteers who have been trained in rock art recording methods and to prospective volunteers wishing to receive recordation training. All training will be done in the field. The size of the field crew will be limited so interested volunteers are encouraged to register early. For more information about this fieldwork training session or to register, email info@nvrockart.org.

The Gathering/Gallery of the Ancients Petroglyph Site (Lincoln Co.)

NRAF has received an award from the Lincoln County Archaeological Initiative Rd 4 to record the Gathering Petroglyph Site, Lincoln County. Once the necessary permits are in place we will be able to schedule dates for this project. Provisionally, we are planning to carry out this project in October 2012, pending final approval of fieldwork permits. More information about this project will be posted as it becomes available and a call for volunteers will be made once final dates are scheduled.

Lincoln County Rock Art Inventory Project

In October 2011, a further 15 sites were recorded as part of the Lincoln County Inventory Project, supported financially by the Lincoln County Archaeological Initiative. The purpose of this multiyear recordation project is to gather baseline data on known sites in the county to assess their management needs, research potential, and suitability for public interpretation. Since fall 2009, a total of 127 sites and approximately 2,000 rock art panels have been inventoried. To date, NRAF volunteers have contributed over 2,500 hours to this project, accounting for its impressive progress and the quality of the data gathered.

With such a large sample of sites recorded, the project now switches to reporting its results. This includes preparing site records and a narrative report that describes the heritage and research significance of recorded sites. The latter is particularly important for evaluating the significance of individual sites as historic properties and how rock art can contribute to better understanding prehistoric lifeways in eastern Nevada. The data gathered will refine knowledge of the spatial distribution of Lincoln County rock art styles, and provide more detailed information about its associated archaeological and environmental contexts. Given the character of Lincoln County’s rock art, this region is particularly important for exploring broad themes in Great Basin archaeology. In particular, can stylistic variation in the county’s rock art be used to identify prehistoric cultural affiliation, time-sensitive social practices, and whether stylistic attributes exhibit patterned distribution in the landscape? These questions are important for building chronological sequences, identifying culture change, and exploring changes in social and settlement practices accompanying changes in adaptive strategies.

During the project, a number of sites were recorded that contain anthropomorph types associated with the Fremont cultural adaptation. Knowledge of the stylistic properties of Fremont rock art and its archaeological signature in eastern Nevada can be refined based on the data collected. Likewise, the properties of the regionally distinctive Pahranagat Representational Style can also now be better understood and its relationship to other Great Basin rock art styles clarified. Resolving the relative chronology of this style and clarifying its spatial distribution will help determine whether this style is the product of a distinct culture, or reflects shared practices and institutions that developed in specific social contexts. More broadly, can variations in style, site size, setting, and associated archaeology be used to identify different rock art site-types in Lincoln County that help clarify the chronology and functions of Great Basin rock art.

Regional studies of rock art data offer the prospect of comprehensive, quantifiable approaches that can scientifically explore the archaeological significance of rock art, going beyond the generalizing and subjective approaches that have tended to characterize the discipline because of the lack of systematic data collection. The work completed for the Lincoln County Inventory Project provides a detailed regional rock art record that can be the subject of methodical research, producing a more nuanced archaeological understanding of the rock art of eastern Nevada.

Court of Antiquity Interpretive Area

During 2011 NRAF, in partnership with Washoe County Regional Parks and Open Space, and Nevada Department of Transportation, worked on the Court of Antiquity Petroglyph Site in Sparks NV. Funding for the project wais provided by a Nevada State Question One Truckee River Grant. The project focused on a full documentation of the rock art at the site, including field drawings, photographs and IMACS data, mitigating select graffiti vandalism, and took the first steps towards a restoration of the site's natural setting. The project also included the preparation of a Master Plan by landscape architects Lumos & Associated that will be used to guide future public interpretation and conservation work at the site.

Meadow Lake Petroglyph Site

In August 2011 the Tahoe National Forest partnered with NRAF to fully document the Meadow Lake Petrogylph site (California) to assist the Forest Service’s culture resource management and public interpretation programs at Meadow Lake. During the project, nraf staff and volunteers documented the site through extensive photography, line drawings, mapping, and archaeological observations. Located at an elevation of approximately 7300 ft in the Sierra Nevada, Meadow Lake is one of the highest rock art sites recorded by NRAF to date. Snow makes the site accessible for only a few months during the year, at the height of summer, and so nraf was very much at the mercy of the weather when scheduling this project. nraf staff was very thankful to have a volunteer crew who was willing to be flexible, as well as one willing to brave teeming mosquitoes and exploding Coleman stoves.

The Meadow Lake site was summarily described by Julian Steward in 1929 before being studied more thoroughly by Louis Payen in the 1960s for a Master’s thesis. Payen classed the site’s rock art to “Style 7” or “High Sierra Abstract-Representational,” a style characterized by its emphasis on circles, lines, wavy lines, and track motifs. Sites that are representative of this style are also characterized by their large, complex designs and the large number of motifs they contain. This style is generally found at high elevation sites (over 5000 feet) in the Sierra Nevada and is traditionally associated with the Martis Culture (ca. 4000-1500 BP).
nraf recorded 159 petroglyph panels in the area, which are primarily distinguished by their placement on the horizontal surfaces of exposed granite bedrock. Many of the panels extend for several meters, composed of densely arranged abstract design elements dominated by circular forms and complex curvilinear meanders. There were 7 panels represented only by graffiti, as well as several areas containing historic inscriptions that date to the early 1900s.

Due to the low contrast between the granite’s patina and exposed natural surface, the site’s rock art is difficult to discern except under optimal light conditions. Participants on this project camped only a 10 minute walk from the site, and so were able to access the site at different times of day and under varying light conditions to determine the best time for photographs, field drawings, and IMACS data collection.

Past Projects

Since its founding in 2002, the Nevada Rock Art Foundation has worked state-wide recording rock art sites in partnership with federal and state land managing agencies. In 2007 the Foundation recorded 643 rock art panels at 16 sites, ranging from White Pine County in the northeast of the state to Esmeralda County.

In 2008, fieldwork focused on completing documentation work at Lagomarsino, one of the largest and most significant sites in the state, with over 1,000 panels recorded in 3 months of fieldwork.

In 2009 the Foundation recorded 7 sites at the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, Lincoln County; assisted the National Park Service Lake Mead Recreational Area in producing the first full documentation of the Grapevine Canyon site, one of the most important rock art sites in southern Nevada; and started work on the multiyear Lincoln County Rock Art Inventory Project, recording 35 sites. The Foundation also completed its descriptive report and condition assessment of the Lagomarsino Canyon Petroglyph site.

Narrative summaries of these and other projects will be added to this page over the coming months. The work we have accomplished to date has been made possible by the dedication and commitment of NRAF's volunteers. Highlights include:

2009-2011- Lincoln County
2010- Bridge Canyon and Tinaja Trail
2010- Arrow Canyon 2009-- Grapevine Canyon
2009--Pahranagat
2003-2008--Lagomarsino
2003-2007--High Basins Project Basins Project
2006--Little Red Rocks Project
2006--Sloan Canyon
2005--Mt Irish Archaeological District

Select Project Reports (updated periodically)

Grapevine CanyonLagomarsino
PahranagatSerendipity ShelterSloan Canyon NCA