Episode Details

Archaeology is about far more than digging in the dirt.

In Episode 463 of The Art Box, Steve welcomes archaeologist and friend Elizabeth Hora, Executive Director of High Desert Heritage and Research, for a fascinating conversation about how ancient landscapes, rock imagery, and cultural artifacts can help us better understand the people who came before us, and our responsibility to those who are here today.

Elizabeth shares how a sixth-grade fascination with Egyptian archaeology eventually led her to the archaeology of the American West, where she studies prehistoric rock imagery by looking beyond the images themselves to the surrounding landscape, plants, animals, sounds, and the ways people once moved through those places. Her work reminds us that every archaeological site is part of a much larger story.

The conversation also explores one of archaeology's most important modern conversations: the respectful repatriation of Native American cultural items. Through her nonprofit, High Desert Heritage and Research, Elizabeth is helping create pathways for individuals who wish to return artifacts to descendant tribal communities while encouraging the public to see these objects not as collectibles, but as meaningful pieces of living cultures and shared human history.

Along the way, Steve and Elizabeth discuss public archaeology, communicating science to broader audiences, and why curiosity remains one of the most important tools an archaeologist can carry into the field.

Whether you're fascinated by ancient civilizations, inspired by the American West, or simply curious about the stories hidden in the landscape around us, this is a conversation that will leave you seeing the past and the present, with new eyes.

Support the High Desert Heritage and Research here: https://www.highdesertheritage.org