The Rock Art Podcast

In this episode, Alan speaks with author James W. Graham about his book Where the Moon Stands Still, exploring the remarkable geometry and possible lunar alignments of the ancient Hopewell earthworks in Newark, Ohio. They discuss how researchers Ray Hively and Robert Horn investigated the relationship between the earthworks and the Moon’s 18.6-year cycle, and what these discoveries reveal about Indigenous astronomical knowledge. The conversation also considers the role of curiosity and interdisciplinary research in scientific discovery, the importance of Indigenous perspectives, and the ongoing debate over how ancient earthworks were designed and used.

• For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/174

• The Archaeoastronomy of the Newark Earthworks
• Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks
• Where the Moon Stands Still by James W. Graham
• www.jameswgraham.com

• Dr. Alan Garfinkel
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• Motion

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In this episode, Alan speaks with previous guest, Shefa Salem, and her colleague Mohamed Al-Trhuoni, about the remarkable rock art of Libya and their efforts to document, preserve, and interpret it. They explore similarities between Libyan rock art and imagery from other parts of the world, including rain symbolism, animal figures, altered states of consciousness, and shamanic imagery. The conversation also examines the limitations of purely descriptive approaches to rock art and the importance of making Libya’s vast and largely underdocumented record accessible to researchers and the public.

• Shefa Salem

• Dr. Alan Garfinkel
  • [email protected]
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In this episode, Alan speaks with Dr. George Nash about Ice Age archaeology and rock art in South Wales. They explore the remarkable discoveries at Bacon Hole and Cat Hole, including a painted cave panel rediscovered after disappearing beneath calcite for decades, and a stylized reindeer engraving dated using uranium-thorium dating. They also examine Ice Age hunter-gatherer movement, the changing landscape of the Gower Coast, and how new technologies such as D-Stretch are revealing previously invisible traces of prehistoric art.

• For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/172

• Rediscovered Late Upper Palaeolithic Painted Imagery at Bacon Hole, Gower Peninsula, South Wales
• Dr. George Nash Research
• D-Stretch - Rock Art Digital Enhancement 

• Dr. Alan Garfinkel
  • [email protected]
  • Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website
  • Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon

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• Motion

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In this episode, Alan speaks with Stephen Alvarez about his new book, Rock Art: An American Story, exploring the enduring significance of rock art across North America. They discuss Indigenous perspectives, the sacredness of rock art sites, and how ancient imagery continues to connect people with place, culture, and history. The conversation also considers the challenges of interpreting and dating rock art, and the importance of respecting and protecting these remarkable records of the past.

For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/171

Dr. Alan Garfinkel

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Dr. Alan Garfinkel talks with archaeologist Robert Yohe about their long collaboration and new insights from Yohe’s work at the Rose Spring site. Yohe describes using many radiocarbon dates from a deep, stratified deposit to refine local chronology and estimate the bow-and-arrow’s introduction around 1,600 years ago, along with a rare ritual feature involving a bighorn sheep skull. They also discuss challenges and progress in dating rock art, including AMS radiocarbon dating of a South Fork Kern River painting to about 1,000 years old, and Yohe previews a major upcoming Rose Spring monograph that revises earlier views on subsistence, settlement, and stone tool reuse.

For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/170

Dr. Alan Garfinkel

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In this episode of the Great Plains Archaeology Podcast, Carlton is joined by John M. Lambert and Thomas J. Loebel to discuss their recent article with Dr. David Easterla, “Addressing a Gap in the Late Pleistocene Record of the Midwest: Fluted Points in Northwest Missouri and Southwest Iowa.” The conversation explores why this region has long been underrepresented in Paleoindian research and how the documentation of 235 fluted projectile points, including dozens of previously unreported specimens, helps illuminate the lives of some of North America's earliest inhabitants. Lambert and Loebel discuss the challenges and value of integrating museum collections, private collections, and published records, as well as what Clovis and Folsom projectile points reveal about technology, mobility, and land use across the Midcontinent and Great Plains. The episode highlights how overlooked collections and regional documentation projects continue to reshape our understanding of Paleoindian settlement, movement, and adaptation during the late Pleistocene.

Article Citation: Lambert, J. M., Loebel, T. J., & Easterla, D. A. (2025). Addressing a gap in the late Pleistocene record of the Midwest: fluted points in Northwest Missouri and Southwest Iowa. Plains Anthropologist, 70(273), 40–63.

Dr. Alan Garfinkel

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In this episode, Alan speaks with Jens Notroff about the groundbreaking discoveries at Göbekli Tepe, one of the world's oldest monumental archaeological sites. They explore what its remarkable stone architecture, animal imagery, and material culture reveal about the social organization, ritual practices, and symbolic lives of hunter-gatherers more than 12,000 years ago. The conversation also examines how ongoing research is reshaping our understanding of the origins of monumentality, cooperation, and the transition to settled life.

For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/169

Dr. Alan Garfinkel

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In this episode, Alan speaks with Jose Battello about his Indigenous Nahua heritage, his journey into anthropology, and the role of Indigenous knowledge in archaeological interpretation. They explore decolonial approaches to research, Nahua cosmology as a lens for understanding Coso rock art, and the importance of Indigenous self-representation, language, and ceremonial traditions in preserving cultural knowledge.

For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/168

Dr. Alan Garfinkel

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In episode 167, Dr. Alan Garfinkel interviews author and conservationist Alan Ehrgott about his recent book, The Elusive Conquest of Queen Califa: California History Revisited. The discussion explores the Indigenous peoples of Baja California, the arrival of Spanish explorers and missionaries, and the role of rock art as a visual record of history, belief, and cultural survival. Ehrgott describes how his work blends historical research, memoir, adventure travel, and historical fiction, drawing from a 1,200-mile backpacking journey along Baja California’s Camino Real and decades of study of California history and conservation. The episode examines Indigenous lifeways, missionization, colonial encounters, cave paintings, and the enduring cultural landscapes of Baja California, while reflecting on how archaeology, oral traditions, and rock art help illuminate the complex history of California and its first peoples.

For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/167

Dr. Alan Garfinkel

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In episode 166, Dr. Alan Garfinkel continues his discussion of a major Coso rock art panel, focusing on recurring symbolic elements and their possible cosmological meanings. He examines prominent figures depicted with snakes and distinctive staff-like wands, drawing on insights from researcher Bernard Jones and Hopi ceremonial traditions to explore connections between rock art, the winter solstice, and beliefs about maintaining cosmic balance. Alan discusses Indigenous concepts of the sun and moon as opposing yet complementary forces, including Nahua and broader Uto-Aztecan traditions that explain celestial cycles through mythic conflict and renewal.

For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/166

Dr. Alan Garfinkel

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