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![A Path toward Understanding: Pictograph and Petroglyph Documentation and Data Collection [Deeper Digs]](/images/default-source/default-library/copy-of-copy-of-untitled-design.tmb-seminar.png?Culture=en&sfvrsn=532f456b_1)
A Path toward Understanding: Pictograph and Petroglyph Documentation and Data Collection [Deeper Digs]
When: November 18, 2025 2:00-4:00 PM ET
Duration: 2 hours
Certification: RPA-Certified
Pricing
Individual Registration: Individual Registration: $99 for SAA members; $149 for non-members
Group Registration: Group Registration: $139 for SAA members; $189 for non-members
Amanda Castañeda, RPA, M.A., Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center
Amanda Castañeda is the Archaeology Director for Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission of persevering the rock art of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands in southwest Texas. Amanda received her B.S. and M.A. in anthropology from Texas State University with graduate research focused on bedrock ground stone technology. Since graduate school, Amanda’s research and career has largely been in west Texas with non-profits, academic projects, and cultural resource management work. She also worked for the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office which afforded her the opportunity to work at several rock art sites on the northern plains. Rock art documentation and preservation has been a consistent thread throughout all of Amanda’s positions, gaining experience in varying methodologies and practices. Amanda serves on the American Rock Art Research Association board, is the rock art liaison for the Texas Archaeological Society and has helped facilitate several rock art recording workshops for state archaeological societies as well as the Society for American Archaeology at the 2024 Annual Conference in New Orleans.
Carolyn E. Boyd, Ph.D., Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, Texas State University
Carolyn E. Boyd is the Shumla Endowed Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University. She is an artist and an archaeologist specializing in iconographic analysis and cognitive archaeology. She received her doctorate in archaeology from Texas A&M University based on her analysis of the 5,000-year-old Pecos River style rock art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas and Mexico. Her research examines the role of hunter-gatherer artists as active participants in the social, economic, and ideological fabric of the community, and the function of art as communication and a mechanism for social and environmental adaptation. She is the author of numerous publications, including two books, Rock Art of the Lower Pecos (2003) and The White Shaman Mural: An Enduring Creation Narrative, which received the 2017 Scholarly Book Award from the Society for American Archaeology.
In 1998, Boyd founded a nonprofit organization, Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, to preserve and study the rock art of the Lower Pecos. She serves as ex-officio head of research for the organization and collaborates with Shumla on various research initiatives. Boyd’s current projects include Origins and Tenacity of Myth in Archaic Period Rock Art of Southwest Texas and Northern Mexico, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Layers of Meaning: Chronological Modeling & Pictograph Stratigraphy, funded by the National Science Foundation. This collaborative and interdisciplinary research program synthesizes expertise from chemistry, archaeological science, formal art analysis, and Indigenous consultants. Results from these projects are informing studies of myth, forager social organization, Texas prehistory, art history, and the origins of Mesoamerican myth and art. Results also are providing insights into possible drivers for the emergence and decline of Pecos River style rock art, including environmental, social, and extra-regional cultural influences.
Amanda Castañeda is the Archaeology Director for Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission of persevering the rock art of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands in southwest Texas. Amanda received her B.S. and M.A. in anthropology from Texas State University with graduate research focused on bedrock ground stone technology. Since graduate school, Amanda’s research and career has largely been in west Texas with non-profits, academic projects, and cultural resource management work. She also worked for the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office which afforded her the opportunity to work at several rock art sites on the northern plains. Rock art documentation and preservation has been a consistent thread throughout all of Amanda’s positions, gaining experience in varying methodologies and practices. Amanda serves on the American Rock Art Research Association board, is the rock art liaison for the Texas Archaeological Society and has helped facilitate several rock art recording workshops for state archaeological societies as well as the Society for American Archaeology at the 2024 Annual Conference in New Orleans.
Carolyn E. Boyd, Ph.D., Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, Texas State University
Carolyn E. Boyd is the Shumla Endowed Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University. She is an artist and an archaeologist specializing in iconographic analysis and cognitive archaeology. She received her doctorate in archaeology from Texas A&M University based on her analysis of the 5,000-year-old Pecos River style rock art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas and Mexico. Her research examines the role of hunter-gatherer artists as active participants in the social, economic, and ideological fabric of the community, and the function of art as communication and a mechanism for social and environmental adaptation. She is the author of numerous publications, including two books, Rock Art of the Lower Pecos (2003) and The White Shaman Mural: An Enduring Creation Narrative, which received the 2017 Scholarly Book Award from the Society for American Archaeology.
In 1998, Boyd founded a nonprofit organization, Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, to preserve and study the rock art of the Lower Pecos. She serves as ex-officio head of research for the organization and collaborates with Shumla on various research initiatives. Boyd’s current projects include Origins and Tenacity of Myth in Archaic Period Rock Art of Southwest Texas and Northern Mexico, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Layers of Meaning: Chronological Modeling & Pictograph Stratigraphy, funded by the National Science Foundation. This collaborative and interdisciplinary research program synthesizes expertise from chemistry, archaeological science, formal art analysis, and Indigenous consultants. Results from these projects are informing studies of myth, forager social organization, Texas prehistory, art history, and the origins of Mesoamerican myth and art. Results also are providing insights into possible drivers for the emergence and decline of Pecos River style rock art, including environmental, social, and extra-regional cultural influences.
Pictographs and petroglyphs, often referred to as rock art or rock imagery, are unique cultural resources and important archaeological features. However, many archaeologists may find the study of rock art intimidating for various reasons. Some people may not have experience with rock imagery because it does not exist or preserve in their environment. Others struggle with strategies for interpretation or understanding what can be learned from the myriad painted, pecked, and incised images found at archaeological sites. The goal of this webinar is to provide tools and a framework that makes the documentation and study of rock art more approachable. Throughout this course we will guide participants through modern methods of recordation with a focus on how research questions guide best practices. This seminar is intended for archaeologists at any career stage who have minimal to no experience with rock art documentation and analysis.
1. Participants will gain insight into the significance of rock art for past, present, and future peoples and appreciate the contributions that rock art can offer to archaeological inquiry.
2. Attendees will learn current best practices for rock art documentation ranging from baseline minimum procedures to highly detailed analyses.
3. Participants will understand the importance of tailoring recording methods to specific research questions and goals.
2. Attendees will learn current best practices for rock art documentation ranging from baseline minimum procedures to highly detailed analyses.
3. Participants will understand the importance of tailoring recording methods to specific research questions and goals.