Peoples all across the Earth have long created rock art and the people who lived on the Colorado Plateau were no exception. The Museum of Northern Arizona has organized three final Saturday presentations in February that dovetail with its exhibit, Stories on Stone, open through May 28. Co-sponsored by MNA and the Northern Arizona University Anthropology Department, these lectures reveal the stories held in the intricate symbols and images of rock art. The presentations are at 2 p.m. in MNA’s Branigar Hall and are free with Museum admission.
Saturday, February 4
The Rocks Remember: Ancient Art of Snake Gulch
by Dr. John Hanson, Kaibab National Forest Archaeologist
This first-ever public viewing of “The Rocks Remember, the Art of Snake Gulch” documents the Kaibab National Forest Heritage Program’s efforts to record, protect and interpret the rock art of a wildly sinuous Grand Canyon tributary. Snake Gulch is in a remote wilderness area on the North Kaibab Ranger District and contains one of the finest collections of prehistoric rock paintings on the Colorado Plateau. This film, produced by Kaibab National Forest archaeologists, discusses the regional context of the stylistic elements of the Snake Gulch anthropomorphic rock art tradition and suggests that it fits into and complements the Anasazi and Fremont traditions of the surrounding areas. Kaibab National Forest Archaeologist Dr. John Hanson will show the 13-minute film and discuss what he has learned from his two decades of research and management of this mysterious canyon.
Dr. Hanson, who attained all his collegiate degrees at the University of Arizona, culminating with a PhD in 1978, has had a 30-year career in federal service, beginning with the BLM in 1976. Prior to becoming a “Fed,” he worked as an assistant to the late Paul S. Martin at the Field Museum and taught at the original Prescott College. He has served as the forest archaeologist on the Kaibab National Forest since 1986. Hanson’s primary responsibility is to ensure that Kaibab National Forest managers comply with federal laws to protect the nearly 9000 archaeological sites under his charge. In his 20 years on the Kaibab, Hanson has placed an emphasis on building a heritage team and encouraging that team’s participation in public archaeology, building relationships with the Kaibab’s tribal neighbors, academic research, site protection, and data stewardship. He has sought to make the Kaibab a Forest Service leader in heritage resource management. Under Hanson, the Kaibab became the first federal agency to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Hopi Tribe and subsequently with the Havasupai and Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians. He has helped organize 16 Passport-in-Time Projects that have contributed thousands of volunteer hours to document rock art across the Kaibab Forest. Remarkably, this includes more than 400 rock art sites.
Saturday, February 18
Saving the Rock Art of El Malpais National Conservation Area
by Dr. Ike Eastvold, Archaeologist, Santa Fe Community College
The El Malpais National Conservation Area southeast of Grants, NM, famous for its Ventana Arch, Sandstone Bluffs Overlook, El Malpais lava flows, and Cebolla Wilderness, is also a rich repository of unique Puebloan paintings and petroglyphs hidden in its sublime sandstone canyons. Ike Eastvold, an instructor at Santa Fe Community College teaching field courses on the El Malpais rock art, will explain influences from earlier Chacoan and Mogollon cultures and make connections to later Acoma and Zuni Pueblo traditions, particularly the development of katsina spirituality.
A native of Prescott, Arizona, Ike Eastvold has taught continuing education field courses on southwestern rock art for over twenty years, first through the University of California when he lived in Riverside, and now living in Albuquerque, through Santa Fe Community College where he has developed nine different field courses to study the cultures of rock art areas in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and west Texas. He has completed large-scale photographic inventory of rock art for the BLM California Desert Plan, the Santa Fe National Forest, the State of New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, and the Riverside (CA) Municipal Museum.
Since 1968, he has worked to preserve the ancient sites from vandalism, ORV damage, theft, and poorly planned development. Most recently, his work was featured in National Geographic Magazine on the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. For his work to establish the Petroglyph National Monument, he was given one of two pens used by President George Bush Sr. to sign the establishing legislation in 1990.
Other awards have come from the American Rock Art Research Association, the National Park Service, the National Parks and Conservation Association, the American Travel Writers, the national and local Sierra Club, the states of California and New Mexico, and the cities of Riverside, CA and Albuquerque, NM.
Saturday, February 25
The Story of Hopi/Pueblo Migration as Seen in Ancient Rock Art Traditions
by Eric Polingyouma, Hopi Cultural Interpreter
Eric Polingyouma’s presentation will evaluate the migration routes of Hopi and New Mexico Pueblo peoples from Central America to their present locations today. He will present his research into shared aspects of cultural tradition and similarities in material culture. The legacy of rock art along these migration routes allows us to evaluate similarities in symbolic tradition and possibly even clan symbols. Polingyouma will present slides from his expeditions to Mexico, Mexico City area, Durango area, and Casas Grandes to research these cultural connections.
Polingyouma is a last member of the Blue Bird Clan of the Hopi Tribe. He attended the University of Arizona, College of Agriculture. He has traditional knowledge of the Hopi history and local and regional ethnobotany. He has worked for the Hopi Tribe and village government in various programs. Recently he served as a Hopi consultant for state universities, colleges, national parks, and state parks. Currently he is involved in tracing the history of the Hopi Pueblo Clan migration from the south.