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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. TranscriptsFor a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/174LinksThe Archaeoastronomy of the Newark EarthworksHopewell Ceremonial EarthworksWhere the Moon Stands Still by James W. Grahamwww.jameswgraham.comContactDr. Alan [email protected]. Alan Garfinkel’s WebsiteSupport Dr. Garfinkel on PatreonArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetAPN ShopAffiliates and SponsorsMotion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. LinksShefa SalemContactDr. Alan [email protected]. Alan Garfinkel’s WebsiteSupport Dr. Garfinkel on PatreonArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetAPN ShopAffiliates and SponsorsMotion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. TranscriptsFor a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/172LinksRediscovered Late Upper Palaeolithic Painted Imagery at Bacon Hole, Gower Peninsula, South WalesDr. George Nash ResearchD-Stretch - Rock Art Digital Enhancement ContactDr. Alan [email protected]. Alan Garfinkel’s WebsiteSupport Dr. Garfinkel on PatreonArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetAPN ShopAffiliates and SponsorsMotion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/171 Links Rock Art: An American Story by Stephen Alvarez with Kate Nelson Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/170 Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Links Instagram: @‌pawnee_archaeologist Email: [email protected] The Archaeology of the North American Great Plains by Douglas B. Bamforth (2021) Archaeology on the Great Plains Edited by W. Raymond Wood (1998) Carlton's KU Anthropology Faculty Bio Plains Anthropological Society Website Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon APN APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/169 Links The APN Awards - Nominations Open! Jens Notroff wesbite Jens Notroff academic papers Göbekli Tepe, Türkei: Die Arbeiten der Jahre 2014 (Herbst) und 2015 Building Monuments, Creating Communities. Early monumental architecture at Pre-Pottery Neolithic Göbekli Tepe. Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/168 Links The APN Awards - Nominations Open! Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/167 Links The Elusive Conquest of Queen Califa by Alan Ehrgott Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/166 Links Iconicity of the Uto-Aztecans: Snake Anthropomorphy in the Great Basin, the American Southwest and Mesoamerica Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In episode 165, Dr. Alan Garfinkel interviews Dr. Meenakshi Dubey-Paik about her decades of research on India’s rock art, including extensive work on painted rock shelters. She describes how some tribes treat certain sites as sacred for vows, offerings, and festivals, using signs/symbols, animal imagery, dance, and music-induced trance, while noting cultural change from relocation and the addition of later shrines (e.g., Shiva/Kali) that shifts attention away from older images. Meenakshi highlights key motifs (animals, honey collection, dancers, tiger beliefs), and urges education and conservation to prevent vandalism and development damage. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/165 Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Host Dr. Alan Garfinkel interviews Dr. John Bellezza about his path from traveling in India and Tibet in the 1980s to focusing on Tibetan prehistory, archaeology, cosmology, and rock art, later earning a PhD at the University of Kent based on prior publications. Bellezza stresses learning Tibetan languages and working in the field as Tibet opened to travelers in 1984, then turning to pre-Buddhist traditions often erased or absorbed by Buddhism and long neglected by scholars. He describes discoveries at Lake Namtso, evidence for high-altitude pastoralism and hunting, and key finds in rock art and monuments, including chariots and standing-stone complexes. He previews ongoing rock art volumes and future work on bronze talismans and Old Tibetan texts. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/164 Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Alan speaks with Dr Jayc Sedlmayr about his research into indigenous theology and animal ceremonial traditions. Drawing on interdisciplinary backgrounds, Sedlmayr discusses his “Embodied Essence” project, which explores how many cultures understood spiritual essence as residing in bodily substances—especially bone marrow. He explains how this perspective helps interpret ritual practices involving bones, such as their treatment as regenerative “seeds,” their placement in ceremonial contexts, and their role in maintaining relationships between humans, animals, and the spiritual world. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/163 Links Embodied Essence sessions (SAA 2024 collection) The Ensouled Body (co-authored by Jayc Sedlmayr) Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Alan speaks with Dr Christian Bentz and Dr Ewa Dutkiewicz about their research on early systems of conventional signs. They explore how recurring symbols in rock art and mobile artifacts may reflect shared visual communication as far back as 40,000 years ago, and what this reveals about early human cognition and culture. Transcripts For a rough transcript head over to: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/rockart/162 Links SignBase, a collection of geometric signs on mobile objects in the Palaeolithic Humans 40,000 years ago developed a system of conventional signs Dr Ewa Dutkiewicz Profile Dr Christian Bentz Profile Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this special episode, I sit down with Dr. Todd Surovell, professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, to discuss new research that re-examines Monte Verde using modern geoarchaeological methods. The results suggest that the famous site may actually be much younger than previously believed, dating to the Holocene rather than the Ice Age. If true, this would mean that Monte Verde is not evidence for pre-Clovis humans in South America, and it could force archaeologists to reconsider one of the most influential discoveries in American archaeology. We discuss: The history of the Monte Verde discovery Why it reshaped textbooks in the 1990s How new geological and dating analyses challenge the original interpretation What this means for Clovis-first vs. pre-Clovis models Why independent verification and skepticism are essential in science This episode explores how science evolves—and how even the most famous discoveries can be re-examined. Links Video Version to follow along Surovell’s Study Surovell’s UW Page davidianhowe.com Davidianhowe.com/store Contact Dr. Alan Garfinkel [email protected] Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s Website Support Dr. Garfinkel on Patreon ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates and Sponsors Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.