My name is Dr. Robert David. I earned my Doctorate at the University of California Berkeley and am also a Portland State University Alum. As a Klamath Tribal member, my research centers on North American rock art, with an emphasis on the Klamath Basin. I have taught courses in Anthropology and Native American Studies at UC Berkeley and currently teach Anthropology courses at Portland State University. My background includes doing Cultural Resource Management as a federal employee and as an independent contractor. I have had an ongoing Klamath Basin field project for the past 20 years that involves finding and documenting forgotten rock art sites. In this way, I work to reacquaint the tribes with their rock art heritage and create programs that focus on (re)understanding their symbology. My plans for the future include continued research in the Klamath Basin, continued teaching in the university system, and developing curriculums that centralize Native epistemologies.
Selected Works:
- Location is (almost) Everything: Rock Art Differences Across the Sacred Landscape of the Klamath Basin (Oregon/California, USA). Perspectives on Difference in Rock Art, pp. 444-458. Jan Magne Gjerde and Mari Strifeldt Arntzen, Eds. Equinox, Publishing, United Kingdom.
- Spirit Fire and Lightning Songs: Looking at Myth and Shamanism on a Klamath Basin Petroglyph Site. Contributions of the Archaeological Research Facility, University of California Berkeley, No. 66, Berkeley, California.
- Old Man Owl: Myth and Gambling Medicine in Klamath Basin Rock Art. In Rock Art and Sacred Landscapes, Pp.-163-176. Donna L. Gillette, Mavis Greer, Michelle Hayward, and William Murray, Eds. Springer Publications, New York.
- The Holding Hands Petroglyph Site: Using the Ethnographic Record and Sacred Space to Illuminate Aspects of a Modoc Rock Art Site, American Indian Rock Art, Volume 38. Eric Ritter and Melissa Greer, Eds. American Rock Art Research Association, Glendale, Arizona.
- The Archaeology of Myth: Rock Art, Myth, and Sacred Landscapes of the Klamath Basin. In, Archaeologies: The Journal of the World Archaeological Congress, Vol. 6, No. 2; pp 372-400.