The Rock Art Podcast

Hosted by Dr. Alan Garfinkel, The Rock Art Podcast explores the fascinating world of Indigenous rock art across North America and beyond. Each episode dives into the cultural, spiritual, and archaeological significance of ancient carvings, paintings, and symbols left on stone. Through interviews with experts and Tribal representatives, the podcast highlights the stories, traditions, and research that bring rock art to life. Whether you're a rock art enthusiast, archaeologist, or simply curious about the past, The Rock Art Podcast offers an in-depth look at one of humanity’s oldest and most meaningful forms of expression.

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The Legacy of Rose Spring and the Bow and Arrow Transition with Dr Robert Yohe - Rock Art 170
Rachel Roden Rachel Roden

The Legacy of Rose Spring and the Bow and Arrow Transition with Dr Robert Yohe - Rock Art 170

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.

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PROMO - Filling the Gap: New Evidence of Paleoindian Life in Northwest Missouri and Southwest Iowa with Dr. Thomas Loebel and John Lambert- Plains 44
Rachel Roden Rachel Roden

PROMO - Filling the Gap: New Evidence of Paleoindian Life in Northwest Missouri and Southwest Iowa with Dr. Thomas Loebel and John Lambert- Plains 44

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.

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Göbekli Tepe with Jens Notroff - Ep 169
Rachel Roden Rachel Roden

Göbekli Tepe with Jens Notroff - Ep 169

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.

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Nahua Cosmology and Decolonizing Rock Art with Jose Botello - Ep 168
Rachel Roden Rachel Roden

Nahua Cosmology and Decolonizing Rock Art with Jose Botello - Ep 168

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.

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Alan Ehrgott and The Elusive Conquest of Queen Califa - Ep 167
Rachel Roden Rachel Roden

Alan Ehrgott and The Elusive Conquest of Queen Califa - Ep 167

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.

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A podcast about rock art with Dr. Alan Garfinkel, president of the California Rock Art Foundation.


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