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.
Rock Art 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 | September 2021
by Jessica Hamlin, M.A., Executive Director
Want to see more? Click below to visit our YouTube channel.
A deep dive at our Shumla Scholars program
Shumla’s purpose has always revolved, in part, around education; today, one of the ways in which we give back to the community is through the Shumla Scholars program. For the past several years, we have worked with the local K-12 school to develop coursework and lead classes for the senior students. Our archaeological chemist Rudy Banny has been leading the Scholars this year, teaching them about the art, archaeology, and science behind what we do. Join us for this Lunch and Learn as Rudy describes the Scholars’ educational journey this year as they’ve gained first-hand experience in the lab, working directly with rock art samples to prepare them for radiocarbon dating.
Topic: Shumla Scholars: Hands-on Learning in the Lab
Presenter: Rudy Banny, MA., Shumla Archaeological Chemist
Date and Time: Wednesday, May 17, 2023 | Noon – 1 p.m. Central Time
Join your colleagues and the conversation! There will be plenty of time for Q&A following the program. After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email as well as a reminder email the day of the session with a link to access the program via Zoom. See you then!
Click here to register!
Catching up with the Hearthstone Project!
In this Lunch & Learn, Shumla Senior Preservation Archaeologist Audrey Lindsay will provide an update on the Hearthstone Project. She’ll briefly review this collaborative project’s overarching goals and research questions as a refresher. Then, she’ll share more of the details about the current status of our fieldwork and labwork, plus our exciting next steps going forward.
Topic: Catching Up with the Hearthstone Project
Presenter: Audrey Lindsay, MA., Shumla Sr. Preservation Archaeologist
Date and Time: Wednesday, June 21, 2023 | Noon – 1 p.m. Central Time
Join your colleagues and the conversation! There will be plenty of time for Q&A following the program. After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email as well as a reminder email the day of the session with a link to access the program via Zoom. See you then!
Click here to register!
Colors in Pecos River Style
Images were made to exist – to live – by the symbolic power of color and an inherent life force in paint ingredients. Artists of the Lower Pecos depicted and animated actors in pictorial narratives through the image-making process, including choices in paint ingredients, a rule-governed painting sequence, and a color-coded graphic vocabulary. Join Dr. Carolyn Boyd as she shares new insights into the important role of color in Pecos River style rock art and the White Shaman Mural.
Topic: Color Engenders Life
Presenter: Carolyn Boyd, PhD., Shumla Founder and Interim Archaeology Director
Date and Time: Wednesday, July 19, 2023 | Noon – 1 p.m. Central Time
Join your colleagues and the conversation! There will be plenty of time for Q&A following the program. After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email as well as a reminder email the day of the session with a link to access the program via Zoom. See you then!
Click here to register!
What’s Next for Shumla? Aren’t we done yet?
It’s tempting to imagine that with so much accomplished in our first 25 years, that we would be reaching the point of mission completion. I have been asked on many occasions, “Are you done yet?”, “Haven’t you discovered everything there is to know?”. Well, I’ll let you be the judge. In this month’s Lunch and Learn, I’ll be sharing our go forward plan for the next 25 years. I’ll touch on where we will be focusing our efforts and your generous gifts to achieve our mission in ways we barely dreamed possible. And I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject too!
Topic: What’s Next for Shumla? Aren’t we done yet?
Presenter: Jessica Hamlin, MA., Shumla Executive Director
Date and Time: Wednesday, August 16, 2023 | Noon – 1 p.m. Central Time
Join your colleagues and the conversation! There will be plenty of time for Q&A following the program. After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email as well as a reminder email the day of the session with a link to access the program via Zoom. See you then!
Click here to register!
The Science of Radiocarbon Dating
Shumla Science Director, Dr. Karen Steelman, will discuss the basics of radiocarbon dating for a general audience. Radiocarbon dating is used in archaeology to estimate the age of organic materials. This is most often how archaeologists answer the question: how old is an artifact? Steelman will share the science used to calculate ages of artifacts based on kinetics and carbon isotope content. This includes advances in accelerator mass spectrometry, calibration methods, and statistics. Steelman will also show the practical steps that are used in the laboratory to process a sample for analysis – what do we actually do in the lab to obtain ages? After reviewing standard sample preparation methods, Steelman will focus on how radiocarbon dating pictographs (rock paintings) are challenging and require special methods such as plasma oxidation utilized in Shumla’s Archaeological Chemistry Laboratory.
Topic: The Science of Radiocarbon Dating
Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD., Shumla Science Director
Date and Time: Wednesday, September 20, 2023 | Noon – 1 p.m. Central Time
Join your colleagues and the conversation! There will be plenty of time for Q&A following the program. After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email as well as a reminder email the day of the session with a link to access the program via Zoom. See you then!
Click here to register!
More mark-making research results
Topic: More mark-making research results
Presenter: Ashley Busby, MFA., Shumla Collaborator
Date and Time: Wednesday, October 18, 2023 | Noon – 1 p.m. Central Time
Join your colleagues and the conversation! There will be plenty of time for Q&A following the program. After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email as well as a reminder email the day of the session with a link to access the program via Zoom. See you then!
Click here to register!
The Good, The Bad and the Stunning
In this month’s Lunch and Learn, Jessica will take us through Shumla’s greatest achievements, most difficult moments and the discoveries that have changed everything.
Topic: 25 Years of Shumla: The Good, the Bad and the Stunning
Presenter: Jessica Hamlin, MA., Shumla Executive Director
Date and Time: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 | Noon – 1 p.m. Central Time
Join your colleagues and the conversation! There will be plenty of time for Q&A following the program. After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email as well as a reminder email the day of the session with a link to access the program via Zoom. See you then!
Click here to register!