Castle Valley Archaeological Society presents . . .

This archived article was written by:

Is the Texas Pecos River-style-rock art the link to Castle Country’s
world famous “missing link” archaic rock art?

A detailed reconstruction of the hunter-gatherer cultures that occupied this area from the end of the Ice Age until historic times will encompass Tim Riley, USU Eastern’s Prehistoric Museum Curator of Archaeology’s, presentation on Thursday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in the museum’s second-floor classroom.
The Lower Pecos Canyonlands contain some of the oldest known rock art in the United States. Its arid climate and abundant rock shelters provide excellent organic preservation, yielding North America’s oldest evidence of both domesticated dogs and the use of psychotropic drugs. 
Dr. Riley will share his field work on the archaeology and rock art discoveries of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas and how these discoveries may relate to parts of Eastern Utah, particularly the early painted Barrier Canyon-style rock art and preservation technology.
Poly Schaafsma, in her classic papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, refers to the Castle Valley’s Barrier Canyon-style archaic rock art as some of the finest examples of rock painting in the world, yet of a culture not confidently recorded in the archaeological record, to date a true “missing link.”
This is a Castle Country “don’t miss” evening presented by the Castle Valley Chapter of the Utah Statewide Archaeological Society, said Chapter President Craig Royce. The presentation is free and open to students, faculty and staff.
  For additional information about Riley’s presentation or the Castle Valley Chapter, contact Royce at 435-888-2234 or Christina Collingwood at [email protected].