Jennifer Leiva is an Anthropology graduate student with a focus in Archaeology working with INAH Archaeologist and rock art expert, Enah Montserrat Fonseca Ibarra, and Dr. Amira Ainis in the Coastal Archaeology Lab. Her thesis project focuses on analyzing rock imagery in northern Baja California, using photogrammetry to create detailed visual records of the sites and X-ray fluorescence technology to collect and analyze pigment data. She will examine the Northern Abstract style, located in a cultural and ecological border zone where Cochimí and Yuman groups historically converged, and where the Mediterranean region transitions into Baja California's central desert. This research will provide insights into various strategies for natural resource use, population movements and dynamics, and the long-lasting ways in which landscapes were shaped, as reflected in local styles of rock imagery. With a background in the arts, she is particularly interested in how visual expressions connect to cultural, social, and environmental contexts, using both scientific and creative perspectives in her research.
This project is a Bi-National collaboration between Cal State LA and Centro INAH, Ensenada, Baja California, that will assist in the recordation of rock imagery archaeological sites under the Estudio de Campamentos en la Línea Costera y Valles Intermontanos de Baja California INAH project, directed by INAH Archaeologist, Enah Montserrat Fonseca Ibarra.
This research is funded by the Society for California Archaeology (SCA) Charles E. Rozaire Award for Student Research in California Archaeology, the SCA James A. Bennyhoff Memorial Student Award, and the American Rock Art Research Association 2025 Student Research Award.
