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2010 Lecture Series Schedule

July 23rd
Grand Sierra Resort, Nevada Room 7
Rock Art of the Valley of Fire State Park
by Dr Kevin Rafferty
Chair of the Department of Human Behavior at the College of Southern Nevada

March 17th
Publics Past and Present:
The Landscape of Petroglyph Lake, Oregon
by Anan Raymond, Regional Archaeologist
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Some studies of rock-art focus only on the images, failing to consider the larger context within which the art is found. But landscape, place, and audience are all integral to understanding rock-art. This is demonstrated at Petroglyph Lake at Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon. Petroglyph Lake is rimmed by 500 meters of low basalt cliffs containing nearly 70 rock art panels and more than 360 individual design elements. Rock cairns and stone circles dot the landscape above the cliffs, large lithic scatters occur at both the north and south shores, and Beatty’s Butte rises to the east. The relative permanence of the rock-art means that it has had many audiences, some intended and some unintended, some ancient and some recent. Therefore, the question is not “who made the rock-art and what does it mean,” but rather “why did they place it there, and who ultimately saw it.” These questions can only be addressed within the context of landscape, place, and both past and present audiences.

Distinguished Lecture Series, featuring Paola Dematte

January 19th, Grand Sierra Resort, Reno NV, 7 pm
January 21st, Springs Preserve, Las Vegas NV, 7 pm

What is 'Rock Art'? The evidence from China and beyond.

The next speaker in NRAF’s Distinguished Lecture Series is Paola Demattè, an Associate Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology in the Department of Art History and Visual Culture at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. She holds a Laurea in Chinese Language and Literature from the Università degli Studi di Venezia, and a Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of California, Los Angeles. An abstract of her much anticipated lecture can be found below.

What is rock art? Though everybody is fascinated by prehistoric signs painted or engraved on rock cliffs or caves, the discussion is still on-going about the meanings and uses of these remote images.
Even today, rock art is often perceived as a mysterious manifestation of the spiritual activities of our ancestors, and religion and ritual have historically played a major role in its interpretation. In the early 20th century, rock art signs were explained as representations related to the world of “primitive” religion, such as animism, and were associated to rituals of hunting and fertility magic. In more recent times, David Lewis-Williams and others have suggested that shamanism is at the root of all rock art creation. All these “explanations” share a belief that rock art is a unitary and unchanging phenomenon that requires a single answer.
An investigation of rock art in different parts of the world and in China, in particular, suggests that although rock art has some uniting characteristics, it is fundamentally the cultural and artistic expression of very diverse people.
Among the uniting elements, two are of great importance: the emphasis on land and place as natural containers of these images, and the role that the signs played as recording and communication devices. For many early societies, and particularly for mobile ones, the landscape was sacred and the signs highlighted key areas. On the other end, we cannot overlook the fact that these pictures functioned also in roles which in literate societies are taken up by writing. In times when writing did not exist or literacy was not widespread, the role of pictures and symbols in communicating and recording ritual or social matters was immense. Through this second element, different people told different stories: some related to religion and rituals, other dealing with more prosaic day-to-day activities.

Reno Lecture Ticket Information
Tickets to the Reno lecture are $15 for NRAF members and $20 for non-members. Seating is limited, so please purchase your tickets early. For tickets or information, please contact Kim at 775.323.6723 ext 11 or by email at info@nvrockart.org

Las Vegas Lecture Ticket Information
Ticket information for the Las Vegas lecture can be found at www.springspreserve.org, or by calling 702.822.7786

All lectures are held at the
Grand Sierra Resort
Reno NV
with a social hour from 6-7 pm
and the lecture beginning at 7pm

Entry is free to members, $5 for non-members. For ticket information, please call Kim Hopkinson at 775-323-6723 ext 11