Speaker to discuss region’s prehistoric rock art

ATHENS — The Southeast Ohio History Center Lyceum Speaker Series will present the program Ancient Rock Art of the Ohio Valley at noon Aug. 15. Speaker Alex Armstrong will present information about Native American petroglyphs of our region. He will look at famous sites like the Leo Petroglyphs in Jackson County and Inscription Rock at Kelley’s Island, Ohio. Armstrong will also look at lesser-known petroglyph sites with a particular emphasis on sites in the greater Athens area that the public can visit.

Petroglyphs are from a period in Ohio’s past that goes back before any surviving information to tell us about the person or culture behind them. Many of the etchings are abstract and may date to a thousand years in the past. Those who study them most are at a loss to explain what they depict or why they may have been created. The ancient markings may depict fish and birds, stylized humans and other symbols and patterns, about which modern scholars can only speculate.

Were these designs in stone the work of the Fort Ancient people or of an imaginative individual? Are they meant to communicate with people of that early era or to a viewer at a time in the distant future? Is it picture writing or art? Come and hear some thoughts about these silent etchings imprinted in Ohio’s bedrock from a time long past.

The Southeast Ohio History Center is located at 24 West State St. in Athens and offers limited parking in the rear off of North Congress Street. The Lyceum Luncheon Speaker Series is scheduled for the third Thursday of each month. The event is free and open to the public.

For information, call (740) 593-3380 or visit www.southeastohiohistory.org.