Petroglyphs of the KS Smoky Hills:
WPL will host "Petroglyphs of the Kansas
Smoky Hills" a presentation and discussion by Humanities Kansas speaker
Rex Buchanan on Sunday, June 23 at 2:00pm.
Too often Kansas history seems to start with the Coronados' trip
through the state in 1541. For centuries before European arrival, Native people
lived on the plains, and some left behind rock carvings on soft sandstone in
the middle of the state. Based on the book "Petroglyphs of the Kansas
Smoky Hills" this presentation focuses on these carvings, the people who
made them, and what the carvings tell us about those people and their
relationship to the land. The presentation also discusses the challenges of dating
and interpreting these carvings, the threats posed by erosion and vandalism,
and the role of landowners whose property shelters these carvings.
Rex Buchanan is the former director of the Kansas Geological
Survey and the author of books about Kansas geology and water.
