Join us for a fascinating lecture by the Archaeological Society of Alberta exploring the mysterious Vissotzky Petroglyphs!
The Vissotzky Petroglyphs: A Cranbrook Site “Cousin” in Northwest Montana
Between 2019 and 2025 the Oregon Archaeological Society has been recording and analyzing the Vissotzky Petroglyphs, located near Whitefish, Montana. Pecked into a horizontal bedrock outcrop just above a small glacial lake, the more than 700 petroglyphs include some 200 animal tracks, numerous human and animal images, and a dozen atlatls. Many of the animal tracks are arrayed in trackways representing animals walking across the site area. Analyses so far completed have focused on trackways, chronology, vision quest imagery, and the hyper-sexual representations of men and birthing women. My presentation will focus on the site’s chronology, its close ties to the Cranbrook site in southeastern British Columbia, and the newly discovered use of narrative compositions in late Archaic culture.
About the Speaker:
James D. Keyser is a Montana-native, having grown up on the Flathead Indian Reservation. His interest in rock art began at age nine when he saw his first site. He participated in his first rock art recording project in 1973, after entering the University of Montana.
Keyser has conducted rock art research across western North America. He also has an ongoing research interest in European rock art in France, Spain, and Italy. He is retired from the U.S. Forest Service, where he served as a regional archeologist for 27 years.