The Texas Archeological Society's two-day Rock Art Academy will be held in El Paso, Texas, on February 16-17, 2019. Registration will close at midnight on January 17, 2019.

The TAS Rock Art Academy "...explores regional rock art archeological sites, Mogollon archeological sites, and how investigators use this information to interpret the human and natural histories of an area. Classroom sessions for the Academy will be held at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology with field sessions at Hueco Tanks State Park..."

For registration and event details please go to this TAS page.

/s/ webmaster [Photos by Marianne Smith]

Registration is open and ongoing for the Texas Archeological Society's Rock Art Academy to be held in El Paso, Texas, on February 16-17, 2019.

The TAS describes the Rock Art Academy as "...a two-day Texas Archeology Academy that explores regional rock art archeological sites, Mogollon archeological sites, and how investigators use this information to interpret the human and natural histories of an area. Classroom sessions for the Academy will be held at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology with field sessions at Hueco Tanks State Park..."

The registration period for the 2019 Rock Art Academy continues through midnight on January 17, 2019. For details on this event, go to this TAS page.

/s/ webmaster [Photos by Marianne Smith]

A total of 15 GCAS members, a few of the membership-curious, and three canine companions gathered for the GCAS’s November 4, 2018, field trip to examine the petroglyphs in Frying Pan Canyon and Pony Hills near Deming. We enjoyed stellar weather: sunny to partly-cloudy, a high temp of about 75F, with just enough of a breeze to keep the dust down.

The Texas Archeological Society has announced that registration will open on October 28, 2018, for their next Rock Art Academy to be held in El Paso, Texas, on February 16-17, 2019.

The TAS explains that the Rock Art Academy "...is a two-day Texas Archeology Academy that explores regional rock art archeological sites, Mogollon archeological sites, and how investigators use this information to interpret the human and natural histories of an area. Classroom sessions for the Academy will be held at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology with field sessions at Hueco Tanks State Park..."

The registration period for the 2019 Rock Art Academy runs from noon on October 28, 2018, through midnight on January 17, 2019. For details on this event, go to this TAS page.

/s/ webmaster [Photos by Marianne Smith]

"Is this what I think it is?" [Points to half-buried odd-shaped rock...]

"No. It's just a half-buried odd-shaped rock."

"What about this?"

"Well, now, that IS something!" [Group clusters together with excitement.]

Observe the two photos over there on the right. You can always tell you're in a group of amateur archaeologists when someone finds something interesting, and everyone gathers around to have a look...except for one person who will keep scanning the ground. Just in case.

Petroglyphs are open to interpretation - wide open - because the artists who pecked them into the rock left no written explanation of the images and little to no oral history to guide the present-day viewer. Therefore, all interpretations can be considered. Total eclipse or coronal mass ejection? Could be either. Could be both.

In 1992, the image on the right there [via The Journal] was discovered on a rock panel by participants of a field school/archaeological excavation in Chaco Canyon. (Such a find is reason enough to volunteer for a field school.) It looks like an image of the sun to most people. The rock panel on which it was pecked is now named Piedra del Sol (Rock of the Sun) in its honor. However, it might depict more than just an artistic sun design.

Via the GCAS Facebook page: