Hands-on Workshop on Rock Art Site Recording
Offered at the MAS Annual Meeting in Missoula, April 10, 2026.
Image by Laurie White using DStretch, Photoshop, and a Wacom drawing tablet. The finished drawing was overlaid onto high-resolution photograph of the actual panel surface to provide depth. The scene includes a rabbit hunt on the left, figures carrying a deer in the center, and a deer over a cliff on the right. The finished image highlights how the original artist used the curvature of the rock to create the illusion of a cliff. An isolated deer is depicted at the top.
The Montana Archaeological Society (MAS), in collaboration with Sacred Sites Research (SSR), will sponsor a hands-on workshop on rock art site recording at the upcoming MAS annual meeting in Missoula on April 10, 2026. Participants will be guided through the ten steps for recording a pictograph or petroglyph site. The workshop includes three hours of illustrated classroom lectures, followed by two hours of practical field instruction at a rock art site east of Missoula.
The workshop will be led by Lawrence Loendorf, Laurie White, Karen Steelman, and Mark Willis, who together bring more than 100 years of experience in rock art documentation.
Workshop schedule—April 10, 2026
10:30AM-12:00 Classroom lecture to include Importance of American Indian involvement; controversy about the term rock art; rock art sites are archaeological sites; logistics for recording rock art sites; panel designation; photography including DStretch, 3-D models, pole photography and site mapping.
Lunch (Sack lunches will be provided)
12:30-2:00PM Classroom lecture to include Use of pXRF to study pigment make-up; Relative dating and use of Harris diagrams; Pictograph dating methods; Experimental petroglyph dating; panel drawings with the use of drawing tablets; motif analyses; report writing.
2:00PM to 5:00PM—Travel to the Bearmouth site east of Missoula. Due to extenuating circumstances, the field portion of the Rock Art Workshop will not occur. This time slot will be a continuation of the classroom lecture. Thanks for understanding!
Screenshot[/caption]Laurie White drawing at Valley of the Shields. Drawing made with DStretch, PhotoshopTM and the use of a WacomTM drawing tablet. The lighter areas are where the surface was smoothed before incising the outline of each pictograph. Paint in multiple colors was added to the finished product. A pXRF instrument was used to determine the green pigment is from the mineral fuchsite.
Textbook: Loendorf, Lawrence and Nancy Medaris Stone 2025 Ten Steps for Recording Pictograph and Petroglyph Sites: Methods and Technologies. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City
A copy will be handed out to all enrolled participants
Workshop cost: $25.00 to be paid on sign up. Limited to 15 participants.