ARARA Conference – Hotel Registration (Discounted Rate for Attendees)
Conference attendees, hotel registration for the discounted ARARA rate ends May 10th.
Rooms are still available, but you need to act quickly to reserve one at the discounted rate. Rooms for two are $119, and include free parking and Internet along with refrigerators and microwaves in each room.
Reservations can be made by contacting the reservations department at 970-241-8888, or through the Hotel’s central reservations number at 800-222-8733.
Be sure and identify yourselves by the Group name (ARARA) to receive our special group rate.
ARARA Conference – Student Discount Rate and Assistance
ARARA supports students, and is offering special assistance to those attending the conference.
Student presenters (paper or poster), registered in a college/university level related program, will receive up to $500 to defray travel and accommodation costs, in addition to complimentary registration for the conference and a banquet ticket.
Students attending, but not presenting will receive complimentary registration and a banquet ticket.
Visit the ARARA web site for a special student information section.
ARARA Conference – Volunteers Needed!
Volunteers are needed during the conference! We need volunteers to help at the following areas:
-- Registration Table
-- Silent Auction
-- ARARA table
-- During the meeting (various needs and duties)
Please contact Teresa Saltzman at the following email teresa [dot] Saltzman [at] gmail [dot] com
to help out, or with any questions about the volunteer positions above.
ARARA Conference – Live and Silent Auctions – Donations Needed
Donations for both the Live and Silent auctions at the Conference are needed.
Items that are rock art-related and interesting, educational, exciting, or just plain funny that you can bring to add to the fun(d)raising are welcome.
For any questions or to send a donation (if you are not able to attend), contact Sharon Urban at 42purplestonez [at] gmail [dot] com Items can also be brought to the meeting. Sharon will be in hotel on evening of May 30th.
Auctioneer Dell Crandall had to step down this year as auctioneer, however Larry Evans will be reigning, explaining, and entertaining! Please join us and consider a donation!
Bear Gulch Pictographs – Forest Grove, Montana
A scenic ravine with an astounding collection of Plains Indian rock art.
URL: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bear-gulch-pictographs
Bear Gulch in central Montana is a treasure trove of ancient art, displaying more than 4,000 pictographs and petroglyphs that date back as early as 1000 CE. The 100-foot rock face has the largest known collection of Plains Indian rock art. The drawings depict different scenes from everyday life, such as warriors with shields and clubs and animals like elk and bison.
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Palaeolithic cave art from Crete, Greece
By: Thomas F.Strasser, Sarah C.Murray, Alexandravan der Geer, Christina Kolb, Louis A. Ruprecht Jr
Publication: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Publication Year: 2018 (April)
Volume: 18
Pages: 100 – 108
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.12.041
Type: PDF (open access) Downloadable
URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X17306259
Highlights:
• Limestone cave on Mediterranean island contains ancient petroglyphs (rock engraving).
• Recent photogrammetric tools are applied to these enigmatic petroglyphs published in the 1970s.
• A succession of engravings through time is identified and sequenced.
• Comparison with recent paleontological data demonstrates that the oldest engravings
represent an extinct Pleistocene deer.
• This is the earliest figural art found on Crete and in Greece.
Abstract:
The earliest figural art known from Greece is dated to the Neolithic period (ca. 8,5 to 5 thousand years ago). A recent study of the petroglyphs at Asphendou Cave on the island of Crete, however, suggests that such art has a much longer history in the Aegean basin. First published over forty years ago, the debate concerning the petroglyphs' age has lain dormant for decades. In light of technological advances in digital imaging and recent archaeological and paleontological discoveries on the island we re-assess the dating of the petroglyphs and prove that some were made in the Late Pleistocene, or Upper Paleolithic. Comparison of the iconography to fossil data demonstrates that an extinct endemic deer (Candiacervus) is represented at Asphendou Cave. This is the earliest figural art yet discovered in Greece.
Keywords: Paleolithic cave art, Petroglyphs, Photogrammetry, Extinct island fauna
Note: There is an option when downloading this PDF to obtain other articles (in PDF) from Vol 18. _____________________________________________
Genotypes of predomestic horses match phenotypes painted in Paleolithic works of cave art
By: Melanie Pruvost, Rebecca Bellone, Norbert Benecke, Edson Sandoval-Castellanos,
Michael Cieslak, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Arturo Morales-Muñiz, Terry O'Connor,
Monika Reissmann, Michael Hofreiter, and Arne Ludwig
Editor: Richard G. Klein, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Publication: PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
Publication Year: 2011 (15 Nov 2011)
Volume: 108 No: 46
Pages: 18626-18630
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1108982108
Pubmed: 22065780
Type: PDF (downloadable) Supplemental Information available in separate PDF
URL: http://www.pnas.org/content/108/46/18626.full
Abstract:
Archaeologists often argue whether Paleolithic works of art, cave paintings in particular, constitute reflections of the natural environment of humans at the time. They also debate the extent to which these paintings actually contain creative artistic expression, reflect the phenotypic variation of the surrounding environment, or focus on rare phenotypes. The famous paintings “The Dappled Horses of Pech-Merle,” depicting spotted horses on the walls of a cave in Pech-Merle, France, date back ∼25,000 y, but the coat pattern portrayed in these paintings is remarkably similar to a pattern known as “leopard” in modern horses. We have genotyped nine coat-color loci in 31 pre-domestic horses from Siberia, Eastern and Western Europe, and the Iberian Peninsula. Eighteen horses had bay coat color, seven were black, and six shared an allele associated with the leopard complex spotting (LP), representing the only spotted phenotype that has been discovered in wild, pre-domestic horses thus far. LP was detected in four Pleistocene and two Copper Age samples from Western and Eastern Europe, respectively. In contrast, this phenotype was absent from pre-domestic Siberian horses. Thus, all horse color phenotypes that seem to be distinguishable in cave paintings have now been found to exist in prehistoric horse populations, suggesting that cave paintings of this species represent remarkably realistic depictions of the animals shown. This finding lends support to hypotheses arguing that cave paintings might have contained less of a symbolic or transcendental connotation than often assumed.
Keywords: ancient DNA, transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily M1,
single nucleotide polymorphism, leopard complex spotting, Franco-Cantabrian region
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Underground awe in France: The caves of the Causses
By Callan Bentley 6 April 2018 EARTH Magazine
URL: https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/travels-geology-underground-awe-france-caves-causses
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Scientists Have Found Cave Art That May Be From Neanderthals
By: Christopher Joyce 22 February 2018 NPR
Tens of thousands of years ago, the first artists painted images on the walls of caves. They collected, painted and ground holes in shells, presumably to wear. It was the very first art, created by what we call "modern humans," or Homo sapiens. Except, it turns out that some of that cave art may have been created by Neanderthals — our ancient and, by evolutionary standards, failed cousins. At least, that's what a team of scientists is now claiming.
The painted caves were discovered in Spain. The walls were the canvasses, and the paintings are bold and clearly not some kind of smeary accident. The paint used was red ochre, from soil mixed with water.
Article continues at website.
URL: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/22/587662842/cave-art-may-have-been-handiwork-of-neanderthals
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Rock art activists are sitting on shooting sites to protect petroglyphs
By: Braley Dodson Date: 01 Apr 2018 Eagle Mountain News / Daily Herald (Extra)
URL:
https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/north/eagle-mountain/rock-art-activists-are-sitting-on-shooting-sites-to-protect/article_b3ba37ff-464b-59bb-83ae-737ad5707a52.html
Excerpt:
. . . Acerson, the president of the Utah Rock Art Research Association, is taking protecting the rock art on the west side of Utah Lake into his own hands. Along with a handful of association volunteers, he sat at a popular shooting site within sight of multiple petroglyphs over the Easter weekend to deter shooters from shooting at that location.
Rock Art Events & Meetings
California Rock Art Foundation – Rock Art Field Trips
Main URL: http://www.carockart.org/
Events URL: http://www.carockart.org/events.html
Please visit the website for further trips, dates, and registration details
Little Petroglyph Canyon - Ridgecrest, CA
Join Expert CRAF guides for a visit to the largest known concentration of petroglyphs in the western hemisphere. This tour typically takes most of the day.
Trip Dates Registration Deadline
Saturday, May 26 May 2
Sunday, May 27 May 2
Saturday, June 2 May 9
Little Lake - Approx. 30 minute drive north of Ridgecrest, CA
Located on private property, the Little Lake area encompasses 5,000 acres and contains several petroglyphs and pictographs dating to around 10,000 years ago, as well as the Stahl site exhibiting evidence of the Pinto Basin tradition dating between 5,000 and 2,000 years ago. Much of the rock art is in the Coso tradition.
This tour typically takes most of the day.
Rocky Hill Archaeological Preserve – Tulare Lake/County
Twenty acres set aside by the Archeological Consevancy in 1992, this is a permanent archeological preserve. The Yokuts people are still local active participants in the preservation of this and other area sites.
Please see events page for trip dates
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Monthly Meeting of the Southern Nevada Rock Art Association
Date: 28 May 2018 Time: 6:45 to 8:30 pm.
Location: The REI store -- 710 S Rampart Blvd, Las Vegas 89145
(in the Boca Park shopping center near the intersections of Rampart and Alta Drives)
Speaker: Jerry Dickey (topic to be announced)
The SNRAA event website is located at: http://snraa.org/snraa.org/EVENTS.html
Upcoming SNRAA Meetings:
Jun 25th — Edna Clem speaking on Cave Art of Europe
