Ancient Visions: the Tukudika People petroglyphs

Shoshone petroglyph

Trail Lake Ranch is pleased to anounce that Dr. Larry Loendorf will lead a week-long exploration into the rock art and culture of early Mountain Shoshone and Plains Indians.

by Jane Vander Weyden

TRACCE PHP-Nuke version, 2002-2011

Ancient Visions:
the Petroglyphs and Pathways of the Tukudika People


 

Trail Lake Ranch is pleased to anounce that Dr. Larry Loendorf will lead a week-long exploration into the rock art and culture of early Mountain Shoshone and Plains Indians…

Trail Lake Ranch – Whiskey Mountain Wildlife Conservation Camp

Press Release

February 4, 2004 Dubois, Wyoming
Contact: Jane Vander Weyden (307) 455-2353

Ancient rock images have long been a source of wonder and conjecture. Trail Lake Ranch is pleased to announce that Dr. Lawrence Loendorf, professor at New Mexico State University and expert in the field, will lead a week-long exploration into the rock art and culture of early Mountain Shoshone and Plains Indians of Wyoming’s Wind River and Bighorn Basins.

The class, “Ancient Visions: The Petroglyphs and Pathways of the Tukudika (too-ka-dee’-ka) People,” will be based at Trail Lake Ranch near Dubois, Wyoming, from Tuesday, June 8 to Saturday, June 12.

The Wind River and Bighorn Basins are home to one of the most diverse assemblages of hunter-gatherer petroglyphs and pictographs in the world, according to Dr. Loendorf. Rock art in the region is well known for the spectacular and surreal anthropomorphic images of the Dinwoody tradition, as well as a startling array of other figures, including birds, plants and reptiles.

An archeologist and one of the top academics in the field, Dr. Loendorf was one of the first five Americans selected to enter Chauvet-Pont-d’arc cave in France, discovered in 1994, the site of the oldest known examples of parietal art in the world. He equates rock art sites with the dominant culture’s shrines and churches, and has noted that the images reflect the ideas and beliefs of the people who scratched, pecked or abraded them.

Loendorf will lead classes, hikes, day trips and discussions to explore the meaning and significance of these ancient images and how they are influenced by the cultural and religious practices of the people and the environmental settings of their location. During the week, students will:

• learn about the Mountain Shoshone and their big-game-hunting and plant-gathering lifeways;
• visit rock art sites in the Bighorn Basin that reflect environmental impacts such as elevation;
• explore incredible sites in the Dubois area;
• discover the ways archaeologists record and understand rock art;
• travel to Castle Gardens to see Plains Indian rock art, essential to understanding the interrelationship between Plains and Dinwoody rock art;
• and visit a bighorn sheep trap in the Wind River Mountains while investigating the difference between mountain and plains peoples’ art and culture.

Cost of the class is $545, which includes four nights’ lodging, all meals, instruction, transportation for field classes, and expert guides. Participants must be 18 years of age or older. College and continuing education credit are available through the University of Wyoming.

Trail Lake Ranch is located high in the Wind River Mountains, just 70 miles from Grand Teton National Park and 80 miles from Yellowstone.

For more information, contact Jane Vander Weyden, Program Manager, Trail Lake Ranch, PO Box 896, Dubois, WY 82513; phone: 307-455-2353 or 1-877-891-2356; fax 307-455-2784.

Jane Vander Weyden


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