Lower Pecos Rock Art Could Become More Famous

By Bill Sontag
bill.sontag@delrionewsherald.com
Staff Writer, Del Rio News-Herald

Reprinted with permission of the Del Rio News-Herald
Published October 9, 2005

The sheer abundance and preservation of ancient rock art along the Pecos River, Devils River and Rio Grande confluences of southwest Texas made an insightful impression on a world-renowned archeologist last week.

Lecturing at Shumla School Wednesday, Dr. David Whitley, adjunct professor at Arizona State University, appeared flabbergasted by the quality of the archeological legacy left by thousands of years of prehistoric civilizations.

"This is unquestionably one of the richest rock art sites in North America, and one of the most complex in the world," Whitley said.

Despite a personal résumé of nearly global research experience, Whitley's week at Shumla School was his first visit to the riparian habitats populated no more recently than 40 centuries ago by thriving communities living alternately on the desert and in caves and cliff overhang shelters along stream beds and rivers.

Such was his determination to come to the Lower Pecos region that Whitley cancelled his participation in Moscow, Russia, at an international conference on shamanism and the rock art of Siberia.

Whitley was both student and speaker at Shumla School's week-long colloquium, "Pecos Experience: Art and Archeology of the Lower Pecos." The experiential non-profit educational institution, nestled in a limestone desert bowl about 15 miles north of Comstock, hosted a dozen tent-dwelling, adult students of archeology and prehistoric rock art.

During six days of demonstrations, lectures and hikes to seven remote, often inaccessible sites, workshop participants were guided into the mysteries and the archeological research burgeoning in this region.

The limestone cliff overhangs and cave-like structures, sculpted by millions of years of stream flow and scouring winds, shelter 4,000-year-old multicolored rock art panels. Dr. Carolyn Boyd, Shumla School's founder and director, received her doctorate on the subject from Texas A&M University, and is a leading cheerleader for the region's scientific importance.

"It's the rich data. What we have is positively narrative. The possibilities for research-based interpretation are endless," Boyd said Wednesday before Whitley's after-dinner presentation to workshop participants.

The school's large, airy pavilion quadruples as dining room, lecture hall, workshop, and lounge. After sumptuous meals, workshop participants chatted about each day's experience, waiting Wednesday night for Whitley's illustrated lecture.

While class members huddled and relaxed, Whitley and Boyd reflected, sharing often-arcane observations and assessments of the status of research and public awareness of Lower Pecos rock art and general archeological significance.

Whitley began his career of archeological research in the early 1980s. As chief archeologist at UCLA, he completed his PhD there in 1982. Teaching at UCLA was followed by similar positions at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, Universidad de San Carlos, Guatemala, and now Arizona State University.

His research projects have explored rock art sites in California and the Great Basin, as well as southern Africa, France and Guatemala. Two weeks ago, Whitley returned from France where he presented his views on rock art research to a meeting of the United Nations Environmental, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

UNESCO was fresh on Whitley's mind, as he commented with exuberance on the plentiful and vivid Lower Pecos rock art. "This is as good as the most famous sites in the world. We use examples like this to understand the origins of humanity."

Whitley's next opinion resolved a chord of harmony with Boyd's career interests and research, culminating in her 2003 publication by Texas A&M University Press, Rock Art of the Lower Pecos.

"We really need to get this nominated as a World Heritage site," Whitley said.

"The United States, as you may know, has not participated in UNESCO for years, but we re-joined two years ago," Whitley explained.

The specialized United Nations agency claims a global mission. "It is not enough to build classrooms in devastated countries or publish scientific breakthroughs. Education, social and natural science, culture and communications are the means to a far more ambitious goal: To build peace in the minds of men."

Only 812 natural and cultural sites have been designated by UNESCO as having World Heritage significance since its inception in November 1945, and just 20 are in the United States. Other world sites include the Great Wall of China, Ancient Thebes and its Necropolis in Egypt, the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, and the archeological zone of Paquimé, Casas Grandes, México.

If the Lower Pecos rock art region is nominated and accepted as a UNESCO World Heritage site, it would be only the fourth archeological World Heritage site in this country, preceded only by Mesa Verde National Park, Colo., Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, N.M., and Cahokia Mounds State Historic Park, Ill.

Neither Boyd, nor any of a few Shumla School staff members in earshot, took Whitley's comment lightly Wednesday.

"He's normally a pretty reserved guy," Boyd said Saturday, adding, "The idea that this area is worthy of such a nomination would not be a shock to anyone in this business that knows the Lower Pecos at all," Boyd said.

Joe Labadie, National Park Service archeologist at Amistad National Recreation area where hundreds of Lower Pecos Region archeological sites are protected, agreed Saturday with Boyd's assessment.

"He's usually pretty measured about what he says. Whitley is one of a handful of international bigwigs, and he's among maybe half a dozen really big ones," Labadie commented on Whitley's reputation in the archeological community.

Of the possibility of a World Heritage Site nomination and designation, Labadie said the area has already achieved national recognizance that may support a nod from the international organization.

"There are four national register districts out here, and three of them are for prehistoric sites. The one I'm probably most familiar with is the Lower Pecos River National Register District. It includes 83 sites along and on both sides of the Pecos River, from the confluence, up the river nine miles.

"In my knowledge, and in 19 years of hanging around out here, I don't think it's too big of a stretch to think that's a real possibility," Labadie said.

The National Register of Historic Places designation now in place includes sites like the Gail Galloway White Shaman Preserve, owned by the Rock Art Foundation, San Antonio, recognized as a premier example of vivid Lower Pecos Region rock art.