Sandy Valley Ranch - Early Sandy Valley

The Paleolithic Peoples

As long ago as 12,000BCE, small family clans of hunter -gatherers inhabited the Sandy Valley. The valley was then a lush and fertile zone at the southern edge of the prehistoric Lake Lahotian, an ancient freshwater sea that covered much of what is today Nevada and Utah. Just over the ridges to the west of the Ranch was Lake Manly, which covered much of what is now Death Valley. These lakes, and other smaller lakes and rivers in the area, provided abundant fish; and the region was rich in woolly mammoth, giant bison and equally giant ground sloths, and other now extinct ice age game animals.

Small clans of cave men left their mark in Sandy Valley, Nevada many, many years ago. These first settlers left behind few clues as to their lives. We are fortunate, however, to have numerous petroglyphs ("rock etchings") in the area. Some of the best of these are found the Valley of Fire State Park just outside of Las Vegas. And projectile points ("arrowheads") are relatively common in the Sandy Valley. When you visit you might well find a few. Do take a look and consider the remarkable skill many reveal. But do please leave them "in-situ" -- which is to say exactly where you found them. For we at the ranch cherish our history, and work hard to see that any historical relics are available unscathed to the many archaeologists and other researchers who come to the Ranch and the valley for their studies.

On that note, those new to aboriginal archaeology are often surprised to learn that while most of us associate improvements in technology and craftsmanship with more recent works, the most technically advanced and skillfully crafted (as well as beautiful) projectile points in the American West usually prove to be the most ancient The reason is interesting: Paleolithic hunters had not yet developed the bow and arrow or the atlatl (pronounced ‘at-ah-lyle’ -- a stick used to propel a small spear) but still had to contend with some very large and very dangerous prey. As such they needed large points for their spears, ones that were large enough to mortally wound, say, a woolly mammoth, sharp enough to pierce their extremely thick hide and hair, and durable enough not to shatter while doing so.

The detail seen in their drawings is amazing. After the ice age, and with it the extinction of such huge creatures as the saber-toothed tiger, giant ground sloth, and mastodon, aboriginal peoples survived by hunting the same game animals seen in the Sandy Valley today -- animals such as Blacktail and Mule Deer, Pronghorn Antelope, and Desert Bighorn Sheep. These species are both smaller and faster then the mammoths, mastodons, and giant sloths hunted before and during the ice age, and the tribal people of the area quickly and successfully adapted to hunting them. First, around 8000 BCE, they developed the atlatl -- essentially a three or four foot stick carved like a large crochet needle that enabled a hunter to place a small spear in the hook at the far end and then throw the spear with the markedly increased speed gained by the lever action of this device. Later still, at around 6000 BCE, these tribal people developed the bow, which allowed them the launch and even smaller spear (i.e., an arrow) at still greater speeds and over greater distances.

So while hunting mammoths and the like required spears of enormous strength (likely the size of 2x4" boards) with very large, very sharp, and very strong stone points, later hunting of game animals like those we see today required smaller spears or arrows thrown at greater distances. As such atlatl spear points are smaller and, as modern prey required, less robust and sharp. And the enormous increase in projectile velocity offered by the bow required still less of the projectile point. For this reason, arrowheads are the smallest and least crafted aboriginal projectile point found in the Great Basin of the American west. All that is required of an arrowhead is that it keep the wooden shaft of the arrow from splitting. And the tribal people of North America are nothing if not efficient, for their very existence depends on it. They don't waste time crafting "artistic" projectile points when any-ole' sharp rock will do. You'd be surprised how many arrowheads "airheads" often scoop out of the way as they root for "arrowheads".

We hope you will enjoy considering this, as we do, when you come upon projectile points here on the Ranch; and in that better appreciate and enjoy any you might see. And, we hope, better recognize the importance of leaving these remarkable artifacts where you find them and in the condition you find them.

The Modern Native American Tribes

This is what remaings of the Great Lake Lahotian.

With the end of the last ice age, about 8500 years ago, the land of the Great Basin became drier -- drastically so. Over thousands of years the water level of the Lake Lahotian dropped dramatically as weather patterns changed and little rain or snow fell to replenish it. Over time the once enormous Lake Lahotian essentially just evaporated -- leaving behind large flats of silt and salt carried centuries before when rain and snow melt scoured the surrounding granite ranges of the Sierras Nevadas to the west and the Rocky Mountains to the east. That, and a handful of far smaller lakes. The Bonneville Flats just west of Salt Lake City and the Black Rock Playa in north-western Nevada are the largest of these salt flats. Pyramid and Walker lakes in Nevada, and the Great Salt Lake in Utah are the largest and best known of these Lake Lahotian relics. As Lake Lahotian essentially evaporated, all of the salts and minerals in what had been a freshwater lake concentrated dramatically. As a result, the relic lakes of the Great Basin region once covered by Lake Lahotian have extremely high levels of salt and minerals -- the Great Salt Lake is saltier than ocean water. And while Utah's Great Salt Lake has no extent fish, the less saline Walker and Pyramid lakes, along with a few scattered smaller lakes, are inhabited by a hardy and beautiful species of trout known as Lahotian Cutthroats. These extremely specialized trout have adapted to live in the highly alkaline (‘salty’) broth left behind as Lake Lahotian evaporated into memory, and have rightly been named the Nevada state fish.

Paiute Indians were amongst the earliest settlers of Sandy Valley, Nevada. In order to best adapt to the changing environment, the hunter gatherer clans collected into larger groups after the close of the last ice age, forming the basis of what are today's Native American tribal groups. The larger Las Vegas valley was the home of the Paiute (pronounced ‘pie-hute’) tribal group. The Sandy Valley area to the west of the Las Vegas valley is especially interesting as it formed a common border area between the Paiutes who became skilled specialists at surviving in the desert environment, and the Shoshone (pronounced ‘show-show-nee’) tribe, a tribe that became specialized in the demands of living in foothills of the high alpine mountains to the west and north. Many tribal people, especially Paiutes, still reside in and near the Sandy Valley.