For Immediate Release
October 6, 2008

Explore Native American rock art with UCR Extension

Learn about the origins of Native American rock art, local styles and contemporary connections to this important cultural heritage through a new course, Native American Rock Art Field Experience, offered by UCR Extension.

Steven Freers, noted rock art researcher and advocate for the preservation and recording of rock art sites, will lead participants on a one-day field trip to such sites in the vicinity of Lake Perris State Park. He will teach the basic concepts of site visitation etiquette, photography and recording techniques.

Rock art in the Lake Perris area is in the San Luis Rey and Rancho Bernardo traditions, Freers said. The San Luis Rey tradition is the more recent and is primarily associated with the Luiseño and Cahuilla Indians.

"Participants will have the opportunity to look into the past and view it with a little more educated eye," Freers said.

Freers, who teaches chemistry at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore, has served as publication chairman for the American Rock Art Research Association and was editor of American Indian Rock Art. He co-authored a book, "Fading Images: Indian Photographs of Western Riverside County."

See Freers explaining petroglyphs in the San Bernardino Mountains on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTq4gc3aC-Q.

The class is divided into two sessions. The first will meet from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, at Ya'i Heki' Regional Indian Museum at Lake Perris. The class will be followed by a field trip from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, around Lake Perris State Park.

To reach the museum from the 60 freeway east, exit Moreno Beach Drive. Go right to Via Del Lago and make a left. The road will lead straight into the park at the Moreno Valley entrance.

From the 215, exit Ramona Expressway and go east to Lake Perris Drive. Make a left and the road will take you to the Perris Entrance.

Fee for the lecture and field trip is $145. On-line registration is available at www.extension.ucr.edu or by phone at 951-827-4105 or 800-442-4990. Be sure to mention the registration number: 082-AHN-N01.

UCR Extension is a self-supporting branch of the University of California, Riverside.