Nevadans for Cultural Preservation

Nathan Harper - Archaeologist, Southern Nevada Water Authority

The Nuwu Pahsats, the newest offering from the Springs Preserve, is a garden celebrating traditional ecological knowledge of southern Nevada. The garden provides a snapshot of southern Nevada, including springs gardens, flood irrigated gardens, and an upland area with reconstructed bedrock mortars and several cultural reconstructions. As the Springs Preserve and its consultants developed the Nuwu Pahsats (Southern Paiute Peoples Garden) questions surrounding appropriate cultural features remained. We were encouraged by our partner consultants to include rock writings on six large, meta-quartzite sandstone boulders in the garden. This presentation focuses on methods and materials for reconstructing patina and rock writing in this new interpretive space.