Presentations

Sharing Shumla’s Mission and Research

Browse our library of presentations on topics related to the rock art of the Lower Pecos. At Shumla, we travel the state, country and the world to share our mission and research at conferences, symposia, and with the general public.

Scroll through our video presentations or use the category buttons (above) to navigate to one of our subject groups. The Back to top links will return you to the top of the page. Happy learning!

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Hearthstone Project

Lunch & Learn:

Join Karen in the third of our four-part series on the results of the Hearthstone Project where she will reveal Pecos River Style radiocarbon dates and synthesize these dates with the iconographic data.

Date: June 19, 2024

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Lunch & Learn:

Join Diana in the second of our four-part series on the results of the Hearthstone Project where she will share the compositional structure of the murals the team studied.

Date: May 15, 2024

Presenter: Diana Radillo Rolón, PhD.

Lunch & Learn:

Join Shumla Preservation Archaeologist David Keim will start our four-part series on the results of this ambitious project by sharing the results of the microscopy analyses and the unbelievable lengths the painters went to in order to follow the rules of paint sequencing.

Date: April 17, 2024

Presenter: David Keim, M.A.

Lunch & Learn: The Cultural and Environmental Context of Pecos River Style Art

Join Shumla Collaborator Phil Dering for this Lunch & Learn where he will share about the timing of Pecos River style art, the conditions under which it was produced, and the nature of the society that produced it.

Date: March 20, 2024

Presenter: Phil Dering, PhD.

Lunch & Learn: Gestures of Meaning

Join Shumla Collaborator Ashley Busby as she presents on the elements of composition in Lower Pecos murals in Gestures of Meaning – An analysis of composition, representation, and process in Pecos River Style Art.

Date: October 18, 2023

Presenter: Ashley Busby, M.A.

Lunch & Learn: Catching up with the Hearthstone Project

Join Shumla’s Executive Director Jessica Hamlin for this Lunch & Learn where she will be sharing more of the details about the current status of our fieldwork and labwork of the Hearthstone Project.

Date: June 21, 2023

Presenter: Jessica Hamlin, M.A.

Lunch & Learn: Conversations with Indigenous Consultants

Join Shumla’s Founder Dr. Carolyn Boyd for this Lunch & Learn where she will be retelling her experience traveling to the Huichol community of San Andrés Cohamiata.

Date: March 15, 2023

Presenter: Carolyn Boyd, PhD.

Lunch & Learn: Shumla’s Past, Present, and Future

Join Shumla Executive Director Jessica Hamlin for this Lunch & Learn where she shares pictures and stories of Shumla’s beginnings, our years of growth impact, where we are today and where we are headed in our next great 25 years.

Date: February 15, 2023

Presenter: Jessica Hamlin, M.A.

Lunch & Learn: Precision Labwork Reveals the Age of Halo Shelter Pictographs

Join Shumla Science Director Karen Steelman for this Lunch & Learn where she will share new data from the Hearthstone Project.

Date: January 18, 2023

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Lunch & Learn: Examining Process – A Compositional Analysis of Pecos River Style Murals

Join Shumla Collaborator Ashley Busby for this Lunch & Learn where she will share her findings on the visual elements that Lower Pecos artists used to organize space and develop complex works of art.

Date: November 16, 2022

Presenter: Ashley Busby, M.A.

Lunch & Learn: New Data from the Radiocarbon Lab

Join Shumla’s Science Director Karen Steelman for this Lunch & Learn where she will be sharing theexciting new results The Hearthstone Project. 

Date: September 14, 2022

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Lunch & Learn: Introducing the Hearthstone Project

Join Shumla’s Science Director Karen Steelman for this Lunch & Learn where she will be sharing the goals and methods of Shumla’s newest effort, The Hearthstone Project. 

Date: November 17, 2021

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Iconographic & Interpretive Analyses

Lunch & Learn: Color Engenders Life: The White Shaman Mural

Shumla’s Monthly Lunch & Learn presentation. 

Date: July 19, 2023

Presenter: Carolyn Boyd, PhD.

Lunch & Learn:

Shumla’s Monthly Lunch & Learn presentation.

Date: April 19, 2023

Presenter: Diana Radillo Rolón, PhD.

Soul Expressions: Speech and Breath in the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos

Webinar for Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC.
Note: presentation begins at min. 1:25

Date: January 6, 2023

Presenter: Carolyn Boyd, PhD.

Introduction to the Visual Culture of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands

Webinar for Colorado Rock Art Association.
Note: presentation begins at min. 2:09

Date: November 2, 2022

Presenter: Carolyn Boyd, PhD.

Almuerzo y Aprendo: Felinos en el arte rupestre estilo Río Pecos

Los grandes felinos en el arte rupestre del estilo Río Pecos destacan por su gran tamaño y magnificencia artística pero también por su variedad de rasgos físicos. En la presentación de este mes, Diana hablará sobre categorías generales y específicas utilizadas para documentar felinos y cómo los datos obtenidos pueden ayudarnos a encontrar patrones y elementos repetitivos que se relacionan con significados culturales.

Fecha: 12 de Octubre de 2022

Presentadora: Diana Radillo Rolón, PhD.

Lunch & Learn: Felinos in Pecos river style rock art

Big cats (or “felines”) in Pecos River Style rock art stand out for their great size and artistic magnificence but also for their variety of features. In this month’s presentation, Diana will talk about general and specific categories used to document felines and how the data obtained could help to find patterns and repetitive elements associated with cultural meanings.

Date: August 17, 2022

Presenter: Diana Radillo Rolón, PhD.

Lunch & Learn: Saving Texas’s Oldest History Books

Shumla’s Monthly Lunch & Learn presentation.

Date: July 13, 2022

Presenter: Jessica Hamlin, M.A.

Lunch & Learn: The Skill and Genius of Ancient Artists

Shumla’s Monthly Lunch & Learn presentation.

Date: February 16, 2022

Presenter: Jessica Hamlin, M.A.

Lunch & Learn: Rock Art 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Shumla’s Monthly Lunch & Learn presentation.

Date: September 15, 2021

Presenter: Jessica Hamlin, M.A.

A Painted Landscape Myth and Ritual in Lower Pecos Rock Art

Public lecture at UCLA’s Cotsen Institute of Archeology. Note: presentation begins at min. 11:10

Date: February 12, 2019

Presenter: Carolyn Boyd, PhD.

El Estilo Lower Pecos de Arte Rupestre

Translation: Layers of Meaning: Border Canyonlands Archeological Project.
Note: sound begins at 7 min.

Date: February 18, 2015

Presenter: Carolyn Boyd, PhD.

Estilo Lower Pecos pt. 2

Presented in both English and Spanish

Date: February 18, 2015

Presenter: Carolyn Boyd, PhD.

Chemical Analyses

Lunch & Learn: The Science of Radiocarbon Dating

Join Shumla’s Science Director Karen Steelman as she  discusses the basics of radiocarbon dating for a general audience. Radiocarbon dating is used in archaeology to estimate the age of organic materials.

Date: September 20, 2023

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Lunch & Learn: New Rock Art Dates for the Lower Pecos Canyonlands

Join Dr. Karen Steelman, Shumla’s Science Director and the director of our 14C plasma oxidation laboratory, as she shares the science of dating Lower Pecos murals to determine when they were painted.

Date: April 13, 2022

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Lunch & Learn: How Old is Lower Pecos Art? 

Join Shumla’s Science Director Karen Steelman and the director of our 14C plasma oxidation laboratory, as she shares the science of dating Lower Pecos murals to determine when they were painted.

Date: June 9, 2021

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Chemical Archaeology of Lower Pecos Pictographs

Radiocarbon dating of rock art (pictographs) in southwest Texas. Presented as part of ARARA online lecture series.

Date: July 11, 2020

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Portable X ray fluorescence Analyses at the Meyers Spring Pictograph Site

Originally presented at the 2019 American Rock Art Research Association Annual Conference in Flagstaff, AZ

Date: May 14, 2020

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Radiocarbon Dating the Red Linear Style within the Guadalupe Mountains & Lower Pecos Canyonlands

Originally presented at the 2018 American Rock Art Research Association Annual Conference in Grand Junction, CO

Date: April 27, 2020

Presenter: Karen Steelman, PhD.

Alexandria Project

Lunch & Learn: The Alexandria Project Archive

Shumla’s Monthly Lunch & Learn presentation.

Date: June 15, 2022

Presenters: Audrey Lindsay, M.A.

Lunch & Learn: What’s the Rush?

Shumla’s Monthly Lunch & Learn presentation.

Date: March 16, 2022

Presenters: Jessica Hamlin, M.A.

A Look Back at the Alexandria Project

Presentation about Shumla’s endeavor to document and preserve the rock art of the Lower Pecos, and their experiences during the project.

Date: October 17, 2020

Presenter: Vicky Roberts, M.A.

Now What? The Alexandria Project is Just the Beginning

Presentation on Shumla’s plans beyond the project, including the sharing of all the newly accumulated rock art data.

Date: October 17, 2020

Presenters: Audrey Lindsay, M.A. & Tim Murphy, M.A.

The Alexandria Project

Webinar for Colorado Rock Art Association

Date: May 21, 2018

Presenters: Charles Koenig, M.A., Project Archeologist & Amanda Casteneda, M.A., Assistant Project Archeologist

Shumla’s presentations are an opportunity for us to share developing insights and data from our ongoing research efforts. Since review and revision are an integral part of the scientific research process, our interpretations are subject to change as new data are collected and other lines of evidence are considered. Our research primarily utilizes scientific, archaeological, and ethnographic methods; however Shumla recognizes and affirms other ways of understanding and knowing, especially Indigenous Traditional Knowledge.

Use of this content is limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder.