Articles
- Chauvet Cave on NOVAVery few people will ever stand inside Chauvet Cave. The French government controls access, the public is not allowed in, and even the scientists who study it work under strict limits. That makes NOVA's new film, Stone Age Masterpiece, a rare thing: nearly an hour inside one of the most important art sites on Earth. The episode (Season 53, Episode 11) premiered September 30 on PBS and is streaming free on pbs.org through October 29, 2026. Watch it while you can. Watch NOVA: Stone Age Masterpiece on PBS What the film covers Chauvet was sealed by a rockfall more than 20,000 years ago and rediscovered in December 1994 by Éliette Brunel, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet. Radiocarbon dates from charcoal put the drawings at more than 37,000 years old, nearly twice the age of Lascaux. NOVA follows the research team as they rebuild the cave's whole history, starting with the...Read more
- Rock Art Under Threat: Let’s Rewrite the EndingFrom the Pecos, to Bears Ears to Grand Staircase rock art is underthreat. Here are 2 actions you can take to help its survival.Read more
- Land Near Great Serpent Mound Returns to Shawnee HandsPeople often ask why we selected the sites we did for Rock Art: An American Story. There isn't a single answer to that question – and usually it's a combination. Sometimes it’s the grandeur or location of a site, sometimes it’s the site’s intriguing imagery, sometimes it’s because we have interesting insights into the site’s significance, sometimes it’s because the image I made evokes exactly the emotion I wanted it to. The reasons for selecting the Great Serpent Mound in Peebles, Ohio are particularly compelling. Not only is it one of North America’s most significant archaeological sites, Serpent Mound is the largest effigy earthwork in the world. It tells us a great deal about the beliefs and practices and capacities of the community that built it. And right now is a landmark moment in its history, because, after almost two centuries of forced removal, the descendants of those who built...Read more
- Questions About the World’s Oldest Cave Art DatesAre the Sulawesi cave paintings really 67,800 years old? How can we be sure?Read more
- Archaeology Podcast Network interview with Stephen AlvarezEarlier this year I had the privilege of being interviewed by Dr. Alan Garfinkel on the Archaeology Podcast Network. It was a wonderful conversation and fun to relive on the podcast. https://youtu.be/Yl8twQ5Q3gQ?si=7xGL9pqssgzWYWRA Thanks Alan for being such a wonderful host. Find more about the Archaeology Podcast Network HERE -Stephen Alvarez November 2025Read more
- Monumental Rock Art in the Arabian InteriorNew research in Nature Communications reveals that humans re-entered northern Arabia much earlier than once thought. As lakes re-formed in the Nefud desert ~16,000–13,000 years ago, people followed—leaving stone tools, camps, and monumental rock engravings of camels, ibex, and gazelles that mapped water and movement across the desert at the end of the Ice Age.Read more
- Kchi Pôntegok (Bellows Falls) Petroglyphs, VermontThere are two groups of engravings on the west bank of the Connecticut river at Kchi Pôntegok (the Great Falls). The images are deeply carved into the bedrock of the riverbank. The petroglyphs have survived periodic flooding of the river channel because of the hardness of the rock and the depth of the engravings. The North Group of the Bellows Falls Petroglyphs. The engravings are associated with Abenaki culture. It is impossible to say how old they are but there has been a Native American presence along the Connecticut River since the receding of the last glacial maximum. The South Group of the Bellows Falls Petroglyphs The north group of images resemble Abenaki and Iroquois corn masks. The images have been known since historic times and adorn the narrowest point of the Connecticut River. They likely mark that spot as a place of spiritual importance and a place of...Read more
Rock Art: 10 places to see it in the United States10 places you can appreciate rock art across the United States. The first 20,000 years of American history are written on the landscape.Read more- Digital TwinsA "digital twin," a detailed 3D model of Notre Dame became the blueprint for rebuilding the gothic cathedral after the devastating 2019 fire. In 2010 the late Andrew Tallon set out to make a 3D scan of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. His purpose was pure research, a way to look at the construction and planning of the gothic masterpiece. The craftsmen left no record of why they made decisions about construction, no records of technique, no firsthand accounts. In interviews Tallon said that looking at the details of construction was like looking into the mind of the builders. The best way to take in those details as a whole was to build the cathedral digitally. He used state of the art 3D scanners to collect billions of datapoints. Tallon built a digital twin of the Cathedral. LUX has an excellent post about this (here). And a podcast for those...Read more
Rock Art: What are Pictographs, Petroglyphs, and Geoglyphs?Rock Art: Pictographs, Petroglyphs, and Geoglyphs. Three techniques are used by the world's first artists. What do those terms mean and what does the art look like?Read more- Old River Bed Delta Footprints, Utah12,000 years ago someone walked through a stream in Utah. What do the footprints they left behind tell us?Read more
- Education through Rock Art: an Experience in EmpathyOne of the significant challenges in education today is engaging children with opportunities to think critically and to creatively express their ideas. Piloted in Tennessee and Oklahoma, our first rock art activity hit the mark. Kids discovered how symbols can convey multifaceted meanings, capturing events and knowledge, cultural beliefs and stories, and individual self-expression. They reflected on their own identifies and stories, comparing themselves with those original artists, then created unique artwork that demonstrated their understanding of the purpose and power of iconography today. On top of that, they had fun! Over a year has passed, and they’re still talking about their experiences. This kind of lasting impact is precisely what we aim to achieve in education—lessons that inspire new perspectives, a deeper understanding of the world, and greater self-awareness. To build on this success, we’re moving forward with the process of developing four additional activities, each designed to be...Read more
- Jackson Hole Talk September 4thJoin us Sept 4th, 2024 5:30 PM MDT Altamira Fine Arts Gallery in Jackson WYRead more
- Paleolithic paintings in Cresswell Craigs, UKhttps://youtu.be/6njVt5X4WWo Creswell Crags, Nottinghamshire is one of the most important Upper Paleolithic sites in the British Isles and has been the focus for archaeologists for over 170 years. In 2021, Research Fellow, Dr George Nash at the University of Liverpool explored the walls and ceilings of several caves within the Gorge, including Church Hole Cave and Robin Hood’s Cave. The results of this survey revealed several panels in Church Hole Cave that showed potential evidence of painted surfaces using a locally sourced red pigment. Read about his findings at the Bradshaw Foundation website (here).Read more
- Storied Rock InterviewOur founder Stephen Alvarez was interviewed on public radio about producing the Storied Rock article in National Geographic Magazine and the work of the Ancient Art Archive. Listen to the interview here. Storied Rock is live on National Geographic's website (here subscription required). You can see the images on Alvarez's website by going to America's Murals.Read more
