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.
Cabeza de Vaca as Interpreter of Lower Pecos Rock Art
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions were famously the first Old Worlder’s to traverse and document their journey across Texas in the 1500’s. Fascinatingly, Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative offers evidence that he was in touch with and actively involved with interpreting the cosmological traditions found in the Lower Pecos rock art tradition. Rather than viewing his narrative solely as a survival story, this talk reframes it as an ethnographic key to understanding the meaning-making systems behind the White Shaman and related murals. In doing so, it proposes a rare bridge between a 16th-century written account and a much older visual cosmology still preserved in the Lower Pecos.
Presenters: Brandon Seale
Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Time: Noon to 1:00 PM Central Time
Platform: Zoom