Lunch & Learn
Sign up for our monthly Lunch & Learn to learn about our mission, projects, and much more!
Shumla’s ultimate goal is to share our mission and the wonder of Lower Pecos rock art with as many people as possible, reaching those around the country and the world. It is with great excitement that we’d like to introduce you to Shumla’s free Lunch & Learn virtual events! Join us virtually for an hour over lunch to learn about our latest projects and research and to share in some engaging discussions. Below, you can read more about upcoming Lunch & Learn presentations for each month and register.
Scroll through some of our past Lunch & Learn presentations or visit our YouTube channel to view more Lunch & Learn and other Shumla videos.
A Chronology Emerges | June 2024
by Karen Steelman, PhD, Science Director
Want to see more? Click below to visit our YouTube channel.
New Site Zoom In
You’ve been requesting to see more rock art and especially any new sites we are able to share. So, for this month’s Lunch and Learn, Jessica Hamlin, Shumla’s Executive Director, will be sharing high-resolution images and D-stretch filtered images to introduce veterans and newbies alike to the motifs that we find all across the vast landscape of the Lower Pecos.
This Lunch and Learn will be interactive as we explore rock art panels together.
Presenter: Jessica Lee Hamlin, MA
Date: Wednesday, June18, 2025
Time: Noon to 1:00 PM Central Time
Platform: Zoom
Halfway There: What Shumla Has Accomplished in 2025
Here at Shumla our staff is occasionally able to slow down and reminisce about the exciting and important fieldwork we do in the Lower Pecos (even if it just happened a few months ago). So for the halfway mark of our year we thought it would be a good idea to show everyone what Shumla has been up to and let you reminisce with us.
For this lunch and Learn, join David as he recaps all of the adventures, research, and some of the results Shumla has made so far in 2025.
Presenter: David Keim, M.A.
Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Time: Noon to 1:00 PM Central Time
Platform: Zoom
Charles Koenig – Learning from Eagle Cave: Earth Ovens and Indigenous Lifeways in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands
For over 10,000 years, Indigenous peoples living in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands have used earth oven baking pits to cook different foods. The time-depth of use combined with the widespread occurrence of oven sites—especially the massive burned rock middens that dot the Lower Pecos landscape—demonstrate the sustained importance of earth ovens within Indigenous cultures.
Although many archaeologists emphasize the subsistence role of earth ovens, these cooking features were and continue to be integral components of social aggregations, feasting, and other aspects of cultural expression.
This talk examines the early Holocene earth oven record from Eagle Cave, Texas, through the lens of intensification and how earth oven use changed over time. Rather than being a behavioral monolith, the Eagle Cave record contains significant differences between periods of earth oven use indicating shifting cultural strategies.
This multifaceted relationship between Indigenous peoples and earth ovens at Eagle Cave provides a foundation to consider the role(s) of earth ovens in adjacent regions.
Presenter: Charles Koenig, PhD.
Date: Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Time: Noon to 1:00 PM Central Time
Platform: Zoom
Rock Art Graphic Database: An Integral Rock Art Recording Method
Shumla creates digital tracing of rock art paintings to reproduce, preserve, analyze, and study Pecos River style pictographs. We use high-resolution Gigapanoramas and their enhanced versions in DStretch to generate digital illustrations. These digital illustrations are the start, then we add extra layers of data from stratigraphic analysis, radiocarbon dating, and geochemical analysis to build a Rock Art Graphic Database.
In this Lunch & Learn, Diana Rolon will share the process of this recording technique and show how we organize the color and data layers for individual figures or entire murals!
Presenters: Diana Radillo Rolón, PhD.
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Time: Noon to 1:00 PM Central Time
Platform: Zoom
Archaeological Science Research at Red Elk Shelter
Shumla’s Science Director, Dr. Karen Steelman, will share new research for Pecos River Style pictographs at Red Elk Shelter. During Spring fieldwork, the Shumla team photographed and illustrated the panel. Field microscopy of overlapping paint colors was done to understand the order the paint was applied to the limestone wall. We will also share new radiocarbon results for the pictographs.is key to preserving the rock art of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands. Shumla’s goal is for young students across the state and nation to learn about Pecos River Style pictographs.
Presenters: Dr. Karen Steelman (PhD, Shumla Science Director)
Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Time: Noon to 1:00 PM Central Time
Platform: Zoom
Stay Tuned For Details!
November News…
Presenters: Jessica Hamlin, M.A.
Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Time: Noon to 1:00 PM Central Time
Platform: Zoom