The Arkansas Archeological Society will present Arkansas Rock Art at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 13, in room 104 of the Bruce Center located on the campus of Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia.
The guest speaker will be Jerry Hilliard, a research associate with the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Research Station of the Arkansas Archeological Survey. Hilliard has been an integral part of a group of archeologists who have worked to record rock art across the state for the last three years as part of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Rock art is one of the oldest material forms of human expression. It consists of images that are painted or carved onto natural rock surfaces, such as bluff faces, cave walls, and large boulders. Some images are naturalistic representations of people, plants, animals, and celestial objects. Others are abstract motifs that are more difficult to interpret, but are important for the clues they provide into ancient symbolism. These images occur singly and in groups or panels at sites located in a wide range of environments and geographical areas throughout the world.
Arkansas has a particularly rich assemblage of rock art at sites distributed throughout the central and northwestern parts of the state. The best place for the public to see Arkansas rock art is at Petit Jean State Park, where you can tour Rockhouse Cave. Characteristics of the Petit Jean painted style of rock art include the use of red pigments, line drawings made with finger-width strokes, solitary images, and geometric motifs.
For more information regarding the presentation, call Dr. Jamie Brandon at 870-235-4229.
