The Role of Rock Art in Cultural Understanding: A Symposium in Honor of Polly Schaafsma

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Role of Rock Art in Cultural Understanding: A Symposium in Honor of Polly Schaafsma," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Polly Schaafsma’s pioneering work on the rock art of the American Southwest in the 1960s not only helped establish her as the authority in this region, but also as one of the first American scholars to focus on rock art research. The themes of place, style, and tradition recur in her work, and by her commitment to analysis of style and imagery, she has demonstrated the value of rock art as a major resource in reconstructing past cultures and traditions. She has utilized rock art to chronicle cultural change, and in collaboration with Curtis Schaafsma, she investigated the origins of the Pueblo Kachina Cult. In the 1980s she wrote on theory and method in rock art studies, and this work is still indispensable, reaching far beyond the Southwest to guide those working with rock art worldwide. Schaafsma continues to bring contemporary issues to the attention of the wider research community, as shown with her recent book on rock art and ethics. Thus, as we honor her many significant contributions to rock art studies, we invited papers on these topics from the general standpoint of rock art research with special reference to the legacy of this highly influential scholar.