June 5–29, 2012, brings the yearly session of Field Methods in Rock Art, a three-week field school in rock art recording offered through the Department of Extension Studies at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, in partnership with SHUMLA. This class, designed for both graduate and undergraduate credit, is held between the spring and summer semesters at the SHUMLA campus in southwest Texas. (Information from the Texas State Anthropology Department Web site)
Taught by Dr. Carolyn Boyd, a leading researcher in Lower Pecos rock art; and Elton Prewitt, a well-known field archeologist with years of research experience in the region, this course offers the opportunity to study with two remarkable educators while learning:
- How to establish a field research design and field data collection protocols.
- Rock art recording methods, including photography, mapping, sketching, and written inventories.
- Laboratory procedures, record keeping, cataloging, and records curation.
- Rock art data analysis — formulating and testing hypotheses.
- Current theories regarding the meaning and function of rock art.
- Archeology of the Lower Pecos, hunter-gatherer lifeways, and foraging adaptation to the environment.
Information flyer (PDF).
2011 Class Syllabus.
Read about past offerings: 2006, 2007–2010.
Earn three to six hours of undergraduate or three hours of graduate credit while studying rock art that has been described by Dr. Jean Clottes as "...second to none and ranks among the top bodies of rock art anywhere in the world."
Cost:
Tuition and fees for three hours of undergraduate university credit
(one course): $651.
Tuition and fees for six hours of undergraduate university credit
(two courses): $1,302.
Tuition and fees for three hours of graduate university credit (one course): $801.
Tuition and fees are payable online to Texas State University-San Marcos through SBS Billing and Payment. You must enroll for this course through the Office of Extension Studies, located in Academic Services Building-North, Room 301. Further TSU registration information is available here.
Additional costs that provide lodging, meals, course materials, recording equipment, and on-site travel: $1,750, payable directly to SHUMLA. Contact SHUMLA to make payment.
Scholarships:
The Rock Art Foundation (RAF) has generously established the Rock Art Foundation Scholarship Fund for Field Study in Rock Art, an annual fund to pay the expenses of students attending the Field Methods in Rock Art Field School. This year RAF is funding four scholarships. Additional scholarships have been funded by the Dee Ann Story Educational Fund.
These commendable acts make the class available to students who otherwise would not be able to attend. These scholarships, each in the amount of $1750, will cover the costs for attending this class. This amount does not cover tuition and other fees charged by the Offices of Extension Studies at Texas State University.
SHUMLA is challenging its friends to assist future students by contributing to the Scholarship Fund, thereby helping to ensure the future of good rock art stewardship and cutting edge research in the Lower Pecos region.
Recipients of these scholarships have been notified.
Textbooks and Required Reading:
| The Rock Art of the Lower Pecos by Carolyn Boyd (book), Texas A&M University Press, 2003 |
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| Metaphors from Burial Caves: A Look at Five Subterranean Morturary Caves in La Laguna, Coahuila by Leticia González Arratia, 2010 (9.5 MB PDF) |
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| Using Ethnographic Analogy to Interpret the Columbia Plateau Scratched Style by James D. Keyser and Michael W. Taylor, 2005 (5.1 MB PDF) |
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| The Signs of All Times by J.D. Lewis-Williams and T.A. Dowson, 1988 (6.8 MB PDF) |
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| Prehistoric Ritual Destruction of Some Lower Pecos River Style Pictographs by Timothy E. Roberts, 2005 (6 MB PDF) |
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| Times of Origin and the Navajo Holy People in Canyon Landscapes by Polly Schaafsma and Will Tsosie, 2009 (3.3 MB PDF) |
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| Dangerous Ground: A Critique of Landscape in Rock-art Studies by Benjamin W. Smith and Geoffrey Blundell, 2004 (6.7 MB PDF) |
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| Myths, Making, and Consciousness by Anne Solomon, 2008 (12.3 MB PDF) |
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| Recommended Reading: |
Introduction to Rock Art Research, by David S. Whitley, 2005 (book),
Left Coast Press |
For more information on expenses, this program, or future offerings, E-mail SHUMLA or call 432-292-4848. |
