Lovelock Caves - Lovelock, Nevada

Lovelock Caves - Lovelock, Nevada

This horseshoe shaped cave is just 20 miles from Lovelock.  The cave reaches about 35 feet wide and 150 ft long.  It probably was formed when the collapse of a limestone dome and wave action during the time it was under Lake Lahontan, a prehistoric lake that covered most of Western Nevada.

The interesting discovery of artifacts in the cave came when in 1911 a company began mining the bat guano in the cave for fertilizer.  It was 4 to 5 feet deep.  When they got down toward the bottom there they were.  Before the archaeologists were brought onto the site there were a number of the artifacts destroyed or damaged. The archaeologists found and logged 10,000 artifacts.  The cave has a history of over 4,000 years.  It is estimated that hunter-gatherer tribes visited as early as 4,600 years ago and the cave was intensively occupied about 3,500 years ago until just 150 years ago.  All the evidence helps to support the theory that the cave has been inhabited on and off for over 9,000 years!

The Piutes told stories about finding white giants with the red hair who were living in the area.  They say they ambushed and fought the white giants until they had killed all but a few who hid in the cave.  The Piutes piled sagebrush in the cave entrance and set it on fire.  The Piutes claimed they killed any who tried to escape and they kept the fire going until all the giants had been smothered.  When the cave was being mined, the red haired giants were indeed found.

What the miners found were the mummified remains, broken arrows that had been shot into the cave.  Among the many beautiful artifacts was a donut shaped stone that has 365 notches on the outside rim and 52 notches on the inside rim.  What does that tell you?  These giants had the same calendar timing as we do today?  The artifacts are now in the Winnemucca, Nevada museum.  There were also baskets, clothes, plant fiber sandals, nets, snares for small animals, fishing line with bone fish hooks and stone knives with wooden handles were all found in the cave.  Due to the fact that the cave had been in an earthquake the entrance got covered and the only things going in for years were bats and desert animals.  The arid environment helped to preserve the items that normally would have decayed quickly.