CRAF is proud to publicly announce our partnership with the Archaeology Podcast Network! CRAF President Dr. Alan Garfinkel Gold has been hosting CRAF’s weekly one-hour rock art show for two months and we now have over eight hours of free interviews and engaging rock art talk in the can (as they say in radio land)! Check it out.
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Just a quick note to say we at CRAF miss you
and we hope you and your loved ones are doing well. Update from California Rock Art Foundation (CRAF)
04/14/2020 We regret to inform you that ALL CRAF events for this spring have been cancelled due to the requirements of the global pandemic. In light of recent events, we imagine that this news does not come as a surprise to you. It is our hope and plan to reschedule these events for current registrants and to hold additional events next fall, but of course we will have to wait and see what happens. We have also temporarily ceased sending out membership materials and fulfilling orders for products to ensure your health and safety and that of our staff. We will resume once it is deemed safe to do so. We wish to thank you for your continued financial support, particularly during this unprecedented time. As a tax-exempt, non-profit [501(c)(3)], volunteer-run organization, every bit of support helps. CRAF is submitting a completed report for one project on a world class rock art complex in the Mojave Desert contracted by a governmental agency and we have two more remarkable rock art districts that will be part of CRAF’s multi-year conservation and protection efforts. CRAF is also continuing our rock art stewardship program under another agreement performing a condition assessment for a major rock art concentration in the eastern Sierra. Your participation, membership fees, and donations sustain projects such as these that protect, conserve, and honor our rock art treasures throughout the Californias. As stated above, we plan to reschedule cancelled events in the fall. If you are already registered or are on a waiting list for a CRAF event, your place is reserved. If instead you wish to cancel your registration and be reimbursed or want to donate your registration fees to CRAF, just send a short email or text letting us know. (We have already reimbursed ALL those who had made such requests prior to this notice today. Please allow us a few days for the credit to show on your statement. If you were expecting a reimbursement and do not receive one, please let us know.) We sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy during this unprecedented and challenging time. We hope you all had a Happy Easter holiday whatever your religious affiliation. Best and regards, The Board of Directors California Rock Art Foundation, Inc. a 501c(3) educational and scientific not-for-profit organization Please send all inquiries to: Christine Grimaldi Clarkson, christine.craf@gmail.com (email), (209) 201-8051 (text) P.S. CRAF is developing an on-line educational enrichment program through the Archaeology Podcast Network as live webinars and we will be providing updates on these programs through various channels. Let us know if you have a special topic you’d like us to present and we will do our best to cover that subject matter. Also, many of our Board Members are available via zoom. Have bored kids at home? School assignments to complete? Want to chat with an archaeologist and/or rock art expert, ask questions, pick our brains? Now is your chance. Just send Christine an email with a request and we'll arrange a time. As of 04/07/2020, we have decided it is best to cancel all of our spring events. We hope to be able to reschedule them in the fall.
We hope you stay healthy. In an effort to do our part to reduce and hopefully end the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), CRAF has cancelled its CRAF Talks until further notice.
Effective as of yesterday, the China Lake Navel Air Weapons Station has cancelled its tours of Little Petroglyph Canyon until April 10. At that time, they will reassess the situation and decide how to proceed. The CRAF March 22 tour has been cancelled. We may be able to reschedule the tour for a later date, but at this time we do not know when the base will reopen. Our other field trips are scheduled for mid-April or later and we hope to hold them as planned. Our generous cancellation policy remains in effect. We will reassess this as time progresses. Stay healthy! If you have not done so already, it is time to renew your CRAF Membership for 2020.
https://www.carockart.org/join-craf-or-renew-membership.html If you have already renewed your Membership, your letter will be arriving in your mail soon. We are currently working on updating our website with our upcoming events (please pardon our dust in the meantime), and we have several exciting opportunities coming your way this spring. You won't want to miss out. Check our website often. There is still room to join us on our Cultural Tours of rock art sites in Baja: Santa Teresa – March 12-19* San Gregorio – March 22-29* https://www.carockart.org/cultural-tours.html Trips to Little Lake, Little Petroglyph Canyon and Tomo-Kahni are currently open for registration.3/12/2018 CRAF has reduced their student membership fee to only $15.00.
Religious Symbolism in Eastern California Ghost Dance Rock Paintings
The Ghost Dance movements of 1870 and 1890 were revitalistic or millennial expressions (crisis rites). The central theme was that if Natives danced (the round or circle dance) and prayed the world would return to a natural, unharmed state (before Euroamerican intrusion). The majority of anthropologists believe that the purpose of the dance was to bring back the dead (Native people and animals). The world would then return to the way it was before Euroamericans introduced their devastating diseases and destructive habits that nearly destroyed the Native Great Basin people – in essence a new heaven on earth. There were strong elements of rain shamanism, a theme of resurrection, eagle feather metaphors and white horse oral tradition inter-fingered into Ghost Dance lore. In eastern California, a number of historic multicolored Native American rock paintings have been documented that are extraordinarily rich in imagery (including an extensive array of representational elements). These paintings are different than most conventional Numic paintings that are predominantly monochromatic, rendered in only red, abstract imagery. These rock paintings are a window into the worldview of Native people and provide some amazing insights into the religious meaning and metaphor of Ghost Dance religion and Numic (Great Basin Paiute Shoshone) cosmology. New technology (D-stretch, computer aided color enhancements, deconstruction of superimposition, and color sequencing), has provided some new discoveries of the deeper meanings. This illumination has come from intense literature study and improved physical documentation. Dr. Alan Garfinkel is a California and Great Basin anthropologist/archaeologist principally known for his work with the indigenous people of the Far West and for his studies of Native American rock art in California and the Great Basin. He is most well regarded for his pioneering studies in the regional prehistory of eastern California, the far southern Sierra Nevada, and southwestern Great Basin. He holds active research interests in forager ecology, Native American consultation in cultural resource management contexts, rock art studies, and peopling of the Americas. He is a recognized authority on the Coso Range Rock Art traditions and Coso Region prehistory in general. He received his Bachelor’s at CSU, Northridge, and his MA and Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis. His career includes stints with Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Applied Earthworks, California Dept. of Parks & Recreation, Bureau of Land Management, United States Forest Service, California Department of Transportation, Bakersfield Community College, and AECOM. Dr. Garfinkel is currently Principal Archaeologist for UltraSystems Environmental, Inc. in charge of their work in the Western United States and Pacific Rim. Their corporate office is in Irvine, California. Garfinkel is also founder and director of the California Rock Art Foundation. - a not for profit, scientific and educational organization dedicated to the preservation of indigenous rock art resources in Alta and Baja California. Dr. Garfinkel has authored five books including Prehistory of Kern County, Archaeology and Rock Art, and the Handbook of the Kawaiisu and has formally published over 50 scientific articles in various academic journals. He is the recipient of the 2008 and the 2011 California State Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation. University of California Santa Cruz, Anthropology Department, 1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 For more info, contact: Taylor Ainslie, Graduate Program Coordinator for the Anthropology Department at UCSC, tainslie@ucsc.edu |
