Mt. Irish Petroglyphs

The petroglyphs at Mt. Irish are one of the few indigenous sites found in Nevada that give visitors an important look into the people that lived in the region since roughly 1000 B.C.

The petroglyphs, pottery shards, and other items found at the site are believed to date back to between 1 and 1500. The petroglyphs are carved into the rocks, where the so-called desert varnish is removed from the stone to reveal brighter colored rock beneath. Most of the drawings are of bighorn sheep, which are thought to have been a staple food for the indigenous cultures. There are also drawings of people and abstract symbols such as water and spirals.

In many ways, the site is similar to the Yerbas Buenas petroglyph site in northern Chile. This site, which is over 4,000 miles away is situated in a similar low-lying rock formation and is covered with petroglyphs of llamas and people. This suggests that not only these people were distantly related, but also that their culture remained mostly the same during their long migration southward.