Rock Art of the Grand Canyon Region
Presented by Steve Freers
Steve Freers will be our presenter at the San Gorgonio Chapter meeting September 4. The meeting starts at 7:30pm at the San Bernardino County Museum, 2014 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands.
Mr. Freers, together with coauthors Don D. Christensen, Jerry Dickey, and their associates, have carefully and thoroughly recorded and documented nearly 500 rock art sites within the Grand Canyon region, stretching south from the Arizona-Utah border to the Mogollon Rim.
Over the past 28 years they have worked in cooperation with the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon National Park, Bureau of Land Management/Arizona Strip, and the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument to analyze the hard data and to form a comprehensive overview of the 5,000 years of Native American art painted and engraved on the walls and boulders within the greater Grand Canyon region.
Their work to date culminated in the newly released book, Rock Art of the Grand Canyon Region, from award winning Sunbelt Publications. It is a visually stunning book with over 425 photographs and 30 drawings, representing the latest classification of this rock art within a chronological framework and associated cultural affiliations. These enigmatic rock images are placed within their environmental and archaeological context, essential in deriving potential clues as to their function and significance.
Several interpretation theories exist in the literature and these are carefully examined in light of this current research. Importantly, rock art is an endangered cultural heritage and the question of its protection, preservation, and conservation also receives attention as well as the religious and social importance of these images to contemporary Native American peoples.
Presenter Steven M. Freers will provide highlights of the book’s content and share behind-the-scenes glimpses of their research journey within the majestic Grand Canyon region rarely seen by the millions of visitors who visit this area annually.
Steve Freers is a chemistry teacher at Temescal Canyon High School, Lake Elsinore, California. His avocation for the past thirty-eight years has been to research Native American rock art in Riverside and San Diego counties, as well as concentrated studying in the Grand Canyon region.
In 1994, he co-authored the book Fading Images on rock art in western Riverside County and served for five years as the senior editor for the American Rock Art Research Association (ARARA). In May of 2013, the results of an extensive rock art recording project in Grand Canyon National Park culminated in a 288-page book entitled Rock Art of the Grand Canyon Region by Don Christensen, Jerry Dickey, and Steve Freers.
The Arizona Governor’s Archaeology Advisory Commission awarded Mr. Freers and his co-authors the 2014 Arizona Governor’s Award for Special Achievement in Public Archaeology for their book and the over 10,000 volunteer hours documenting archaeological sites for public agencies.
In 2016, Mr. Freers was awarded the Crabtree Award by the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) for his outstanding contributions to the field of archaeology, cultural heritage preservation, and public education. Steve currently serves as the program and conservation chair for the San Diego Rock Art Association (SDRAA) and continues to conduct field work in northern San Diego County.
Mr. Freers is expected to have copies of his book at the meeting available for purchase.
