The 2013-2014 Kadohadacho Speaker Series will have a theme this year—iconography! Iconography is the study of the imagery or symbolism in art and images and all of our speakers for Spring 2013 and Fall of 2014 will address various aspects of how archeologists and art historians attempt to get at past cultures through the images that they leave behind.
Our first speaker will be Dr. Reinaldo “Dito” Morales, Associate Professor of Art History with the Department of Art at the University of Central Arkansas. Dr. Morales will be talking about the iconography of Northeast Brazilian rock paintings with ties into interpreting petroglyphs on Petit Jean Mountain—taking indigenous attitudes into consideration in the interpretation of very old rock art.
Following that, in October we will play host to Dr. George Lankford, professor emeritus of anthropology and religion from Lyons College. Dr. Lankford is the author of many articles, book chapters and books about iconography in the Southeastern US—including Visualizing the Sacred: Cosmic Visions, Regionalism, and the Art of the Mississippian World (2011), Looking for Lost Lore: Studies in Folklore, Ethnology, and Iconography (2008), Reachable Stars: Patterns in the Ethnoastronomy of Eastern North America (2007), and many, many more. Dr. Lankford will be reprising his keynote address to the 2012 State-wide Arkansas Archeological Society Meeting on meaning on iconography.
In November we have Dr. Duncan McKinnon. Many of you will remember Dr. McKinnon from his Kadohadacho Chapter talks on Battle Mound, or from the honors course he taught on Native American iconography (entitled “Myths and Mound Builders”) here at SAU. Dr. McKinnon is now teaching anthropology at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, and he returns to talk about iconography in landscapes and pottery right here in south Arkansas.
Our final Fall speaker will be our own Dr. Jamie Brandon who will talk about some historic iconography—the image of the bear in early Arkansas history—and what it might mean (using artifacts excavated from Historic Washington State Park).
In the Spring we will have more talks about prehistoric iconography in Arkansas and the southeastern United States. The first two are from Arkansas Archeological Society members. Don Higgins, avid recorder of rock art on Petit Jean Mountain, will talk to us about the centenary of Petit Jean rock art study in February, while in March, James Rees, Vice-President of the Arkansas Archeological Society, will talk to us about the intersection for archeomusicology and iconography.
We will wrap up with our April speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Horton, AAS Research Station Archeologist at Toltec Mounds State Park. Dr. Horton will be talking about the iconography used in Native American basketry.
We are very excited about having a theme to this year’s lectures—and we hope that you are too. More information on each of the speakers will be forthcoming in each of the newsletters. We hope to see you at one of our talks this year.
Kadohadacho Speakers, 2013-2014
• September 10—Dr. Reinaldo “Dito” Morales, Art Historian at UCA in Conway, will talk about interpreting rock art.
• October 8—Dr. George Lankford, professor emeritus from Lyons College, will talk about Southeastern Native American iconography.
• November 12—Dr. Duncan McKinnon, anthropologist at UCA in Conway, will talk about iconography on landscapes and pottery here in southwest Arkansas.
• December 10—Our own Dr. Jamie Brandon will talk about bears and historic iconography in Arkansas…and we’ll have the annual AAS-SAU Research Station Open House and Holiday Potluck.
• February 11—Don Higgins, Arkansas Archeological Society member and avid rock art researcher, will talk about 100 years of studying rock art on Petit Jean Mountain.
• March 11—James Rees, Vice-President of the Arkansas Archeological Society and archeomusicologist, will talk about iconography and music in the southeastern US.
• April 8—Dr. Elizabeth Horton, AAS-Toltec Station Archeologist, will talk about iconography in Native American basketry.
