During the Late Pleistocene and into the early post-glacial period, much of what is now Nevada was covered by a vast system of lakes and wetlands fed by meltwater from the retreating glaciers of the Sierra Nevada and other mountain ranges.

The largest of these ancient water bodies, Lake Lahontan, covered an enormous area of northwestern Nevada — at its maximum extent, an estimated 8,500 square miles of open water and associated wetlands.

At its peak, the lake reached depths of hundreds of feet in places.

Lake Lahontan began to contract as the climate warmed after the Last Glacial Maximum.

By the early Holocene, it had fragmented into a series of smaller, shallower lakes and extensive marshland systems.

These wetlands — rich with fish, waterfowl, aquatic plants, and the game animals that the surrounding uplands supported — made the Great Basin one of the most productive regions in North America for human habitation during the early post-glacial period.