2015 Allen Dart

Date: February 20, 2015
Contact: Dave Carney, 520 723-3172

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—February 20^th, 2015

Dave Carney, Chief of Interpretation and Education [phone]

Casa Grande Ruins Lecture Series held Weekly at Monument

COOLIDGE, AZ–On Wednesday March 4^th, at noon, Allen Dart, will present a lecture titled "Set in Stone but Not in Meaning: Southwestern Indian Rock Art". The talk highlights Ancient Indian petroglyphs (symbols carved or pecked on rocks) and pictographs (rock paintings).

Ancient Indian petroglyphs and pictographs are claimed by some to be forms of writing for which meanings are known. But are such claims supported by archaeology or by Native Americans? Archaeologist Allen Dart illustrates how petroglyph and pictograph styles changed through time and over different regions of the Southwest prehistorically and historically, and discusses how even the same rock art symbol may be interpreted differently from popular, scientific, and modern Native American perspectives.

Mr. Allen Dart, RPA, has worked and volunteered as a professional archaeologist in New Mexico and Arizona since 1975 for state and federal governments, private companies, and nonprofit organizations. He is employed full-time as State Cultural Resources Specialist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Arizona, and is the volunteer Executive Director of Tucson's nonprofit Old Pueblo Archaeology Center. He served as President of the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS) in 1991-1993, and founded Old Pueblo in 1994 to provide educational and scientific programs in archaeology and culture, and to create programs involving public outreach and participation in archaeology. He is a Registered Professional Archaeologist, and a member of several archaeology advocacy organizations. Mr. Dart has received awards from the Arizona Governor's Archaeology Advisory Commission (Governor's Award in Public Archaeology, 1997), Arizona Archaeological Society (Professional Archaeologist of the Year, 2012), Arizona State Historic Preservation Office, Arizona Archaeological Council, and AAHS for his research and his efforts to bring archaeology and history to the public.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument protects the multi-story Great House and the ruins of other ancient structures built by the people of the Sonoran Desert over 800 years ago. Established as the nation's first archeological reserve in 1892, the Ruins sparked the beginning of the archeological preservation movement in America. The Monument is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Directions and additional information are available on the Monument's website, you may call [phone], or follow us on Facebook.

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