VORSCHLAG fur FOLGENDE SITZUNG
Llamado para una sesión de propuestas
Pedido de Prepostas para Sessoes Request for papers on the role of educating the public on rock art.
Provisional Summary of Sessions and Presenters
Sessions List
current as of 4/15/99Tentative List of Presenters
current as of 4/15/99IRAC '99 Field Trips
Schedule of field trips Downloadable field trip form
Tranportation schedule and location of meals Meal Schedule
TWO-DAY CONSERVATION RECORDING WORKSHOP AT ARNOLD'S CAVE
SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN (May 20 and 21, 1999) ARNOLDS CAVE WORKSHOP(Pre IRAC '99)
Downloadable IRAC'99 Registration Forms
Forms are available as an Adobe Acrobat file or a .jpg file. Please fill out and mail to the addresses at the bottom of the form. Pre-registration form in Adobe Acrobat 3.0 Room/Board, Banquet, and Box Lunch Form in Adobe Acrobat 3.0 Vendor's Room Information & Vendor's Application Form in Adobe Acrobat 3.0 Pre-registration form as jpeg graphic Room/Board, Banquet, and Box Lunch Form as jpeg graphic Vendor's Room Information as jpeg graphic Vendor's Application Form as jpeg graphic Downloadable field trip form Please feel free to print out this promotional flyer and post in conspicuous places. Downloadable Flyer in .jpg format Downloadable Flyer in Adobe Acrobat format.
International Federation of Rock Art Organizations
IFRAO
IRAC '98 Photo Gallery online with lots of happy memories. IRAC 98 Photos Original 1998 congress website.
The International Rock Art Conference (IRAC) for 1999 will be held in Ripon, Wisconsin, USA. The venue for this event will be Ripon College, a small liberal arts college founded in 1851. The setting is picturesque, amidst the lush, flowering spring of scenic central Wisconsin. Extensive facilities are being provided by the college, several buildings which date from the 1850's and are on the United States National Register of Historic Places.
The national host for the event is the American Rock Art Research Association which voted unanimously to hold its annual symposium at Ripon, during its meeting in El Paso, May 1996. The local sponsor for the event will be the Mid-America Geographic Foundation, a non-profit organization with extensive interests in rock art. The International Federation of Rock Art Organizations, the international sponsor of the event, also voted unanimously to conduct its meeting at the Ripon venue during its 1996 Congress in Namibia.
Other sponsoring and collaborating organizations and institutions involved in the event are the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, the University of Wisconsin Center - Fond du Lac, the Upper Midwest Rock Art Research Association, the Eastern States Rock Art Research Association, the Ho-Chunk (Wisconsin Winnebago) Nation, and the Wisconsin All-Tribal Council. Aboriginal groups will present opening and closing ceremonies. Other Native activities are planned, including vendors. Ample facilities are being provided by Ripon College.
Wisconsin has achieved significant attention in rock art research only within the last decade or so. David Lowe has discovered nearly 80 rock art sites in Southwestern Wisconsin where virtually none had been known of before. The great majority of these are petroglyph sites in what is known as the driftless area, an area which escaped the glaciers and essentially produced the common landscapes of Wisconsin. Deep within these undisturbed valleys, Lowe perfected a system for finding sites. As late as 1950 less than 15 sites were known of in the entire state. Further discoveries have been made by Robert Boszhardt and Cynthia Stiles in western Wisconsin.These include some exciting sites in rock shelters, with carved ceilings.
Dr. Robert Salzer of Beloit College in southern Wisconsin has contributed to regional rock art research through his decade of excavations at the Gottschall Rock Shelter near Muscoda, Wisconsin. In the course of these excavations Salzer discovered a series of rock paintings, and was able to suggest their timing by finding pigment traces dropped from the paintings into the active cultural deposits.
The unique aspect of Wisconsin's prehistoric symbolism are the many hundreds of effigy mounds. These mounds, in the form of animals, birds, and sometimes humans, are found throughout the state and were once estimated to number over 20,000!
Field trips planned for the 1999 Congress will include both rock art sites and these effigy mounds, as well as a number of petroform sites in east central Wisconsin. The petroforms consist of boulders placed on the ground in the form of circles, lines, and sometimes human figures. Herman Bender, founder of the Mid-America Geographic Foundation, and Dr. Jeffrey Behm of the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh are the pioneers in this rather new Wisconsin rock art research. Present theories pertaining to this phenomenon center on a range of astronomical alignments, especially the solstices. Star alignments are also suggested. A considerable interest in these sites has been expressed by Native elders, especially of the Cheyenne.
Of interest to the international rock art community will also be the petroglyph sites, many within two hours of the campus venue. All but one of these sites is located in relatively soft sandstone formations. These sites are fragile and exceptional controls will be in place for their protection. A feature common to almost all of these sites is ritual grooving - a worldwide phenomenon. Many sites have been overlooked by explorers because grooves appear to many to be natural. There is an unusual extensive presence of this feature at Wisconsin sites, and it promises to provide impetus for active debate.
Besides the rock art and effigy mounds, Wisconsin has a great deal to offer in the way of cultural attractions and events. Ripon is only 18 miles from the Experimental Aircraft Association Museum. Annually, over one million visitors throng to the "fly-in" here. The U.S. National Railway museum is only 40 miles north, and the famous House-on-the-Rock is about 1.5 hours away. Even closer is the Circus World Museum - home of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. There are also numerous art galleries, historical museums, and endless outdoor beauty.
Ripon College has offered a most favorable package of room and board in the college dormitories. Housing is very adequate, and meals are, by every standard, exceptional. The College will also arrange buses for the various tours and field trips and will provide a shuttle service to and from the airport at Appleton, Wisconsin - just 45 minutes away. In addition to the dormitory facilities, there are three motels in Ripon, several more at Green Lakes (7 miles away) and numerous accommodations at both Fond du Lac and Oshkosh (each about 18 miles away).
If you have any questions, they may be directed to:
Dr. Jack Steinbring Dept. of Anthropology Ripon College Ripon, Wisconsin U.S.A. 54971 e-mail: steinbringj@ripon.edu FAX: 920-748-7243 Phone: 920-748-2937
