David S. Whitley is a consulting archaeologist and Adjunct Professor of Geography at Arizona State University. He received his Ph.D. in archaeology at University of California, Los Angeles in 1982, where he wrote the first dissertation on the interpretation of North American rock art. Whitley has conducted rock art research in the western U.S., Guatemala , and South Africa . Some of his recent books include THE ART OF THE SHAMAN: ROCK ART OF CALIFORNIA (University of Utah Press , 2000); HANDBOOK OF ROCK ART RESEARCH (AltaMira Press, 2001); and INTRODUCTION TO ROCK ART RESEARCH (Left Coast Press, 2006). He is currently completing a book on the origin of art and religion titled CAVE ART AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT (Prometheus Books, 2008).

The last three decades have witnessed a rapid advancement in rock art research, worldwide. This has involved important new discoveries, the development of dating techniques, and the application of sophisticated interpretive models, all demonstrating the importance of rock art to archaeology and to world heritage. Public interest in and awareness of rock art have also expanded dramatically during this same period. The numbers of public visits to sites have increased significantly; rock art sites have become important components of the “heritage tourism” industry; and public agencies are increasingly recognizing the need to manage their rock art resources. These trends are reviewed in the context of ensuring that our rock art heritage is preserved into the 22 nd century, and in terms of our current greatest deficiency: the lack of any coordinated program for rock art conservation.