14 DAY TRIAL // An investigation carried out by scientists led by University of Colorado Boulder researcher Larry Benson has revealed that petroglyphs visible on limestone boulders close to Pyramid Lake in western Nevada are at least 10,500 years old.
Judging by evidence at hand, it appears that these carvings could date back to 14,800 years ago.
As explained on the official website for the University of Colorado Boulder, these peculiar carvings do not depict people, animals or handprints.
On the contrary, they are basically a series of vertical symbols that many claim resemble chains. Several small but deep pits are also part and parcel of the carvings.
Needless to say, these symbols and pits look nothing like other rock carvings made by our ancestors thousands of years ago.
“We have no idea what they mean. But I think they are absolutely beautiful symbols. Some look like multiple connected sets of diamonds, and some look like trees, or veins in a leaf,” researcher Larry Benson said.
“There are few petroglyphs in the American Southwest that are as deeply carved as these, and few that have the same sense of size,” he went on to argue.
Despite the fact that the scientific community has been aware of the existence of these petroglyphs for several decades now, their age remained a mystery for a considerably long period.
Thanks to Larry Benson and his fellow researchers, it is now clear that these carvings are the oldest of their kind thus far discovered in North America.
“Prior to our study, archaeologists had suggested these petroglyphs were extremely old. 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,” Larry Benson wished to emphasize.
Presently, specialists are clueless about the identity of the people who created these carvings. Hopefully, future investigations will help shed more light on the matter at hand.