May 2022

Authors Jan F. Simek, Stephen Alvarez, and Alan Cressler argue that photogrammetry offers untapped potential for not simply the documentation but also the discovery of a variety of archaeological phenomena. Read the full Antiquity article here

Author Jan Simek said explains this new discovery “changes our perspective on what might be in these caves…. It brings the cave art of the southeast into the discussion of other monumental images that we see in different parts of North America." Read the full MSN article here

The newly discovered glyphs are so massive that they weren’t previously noticed as discrete artworks. By scanning the entire cave ceiling, the researchers were able to stitch together images of artworks that cannot be observed in their totality in person, given the cave’s low ceiling.  Read the full Gizmodo article here

The fact that these drawings were made on such a large scale, and in such a difficult to reach location, suggests a strong degree of intention behind their creation. “It wasn’t doodling,” Simek says. “They had to lay them out, at least in their head, and maybe even a little bit on the wall, in order to be able to draw them the way they did.” Read the full Smithsonian article here

The presence of massive rock art in the Southeast “just emphasizes that ideas are flowing back and forth across this continent before European contact,” says Alvarez.  Read the full National Geographic article here