One image may represent a long-horned buffalo and, if so, probably dates to the end of the ice age, nearly 10,000 years ago. Rock art is very difficult to date. Drawings and paintings can sometimes be dated using the Carbon-14 method, but this requires removal of some of the pigments. Sometimes carbon contamination from later fires and smoke interfere with the test results. Carvings are particularly difficult to date, since they have no organic material.
Archaeologists generally try to estimate the age by cross dating with other styles or artifacts.
The deer in the same panel have forked ears with distinct tails, and these are similar to nearby effigy mounds, which are known to have been constructed around A.D. 700-1000. Therefore, this panel likely dates to the period between A.D. 500 and 1000, and probably between A.D. 700 and 1000. Sometimes the rock shelter floors located beneath rock art panels are excavated, and contain artifacts which can be dated. However, the people who lived in the cave may not have actually made the rock art. In some cases, rock art was placed over earlier work, making it even more difficult to determine the age.