The Deep Time Relationship Between People and Caves

2026 NSS Convention Keynote speaker – Genevieve von Petzinger.

Genevieve von Petzinger is an internationally recognized paleoanthropologist and rock art researcher specializing in prehistoric cave art and early proto-writing systems. Her academic work focuses on the evolution of symbolic thought in hominin species during the Paleolithic, with particular attention to geometric signs, early art-making practices, and the emergence of structured graphic communication.

Genevieve has conducted fieldwork at more than one hundred cave and rock art sites across Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. She has co-directed major archaeology projects on multiple continents and integrates a wide range of technical tools into her research to trace the intercontinental movement of people and ideas during humanity’s earliest eras.

As a National Geographic Explorer and TED Senior Fellow, Genevieve is also a globally respected science communicator. Her TED Talk on Ice Age cave art has been viewed over 10 million times and she and her research are frequently featured in international media projects. 

She is the author of “The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World’s Oldest Symbols”, which has been regarded as one of the most significant works of our evolutionary ancestry since Richard Leakey’s “Origins”. 

This recording is from Tuesday, July 7th at 9pm ET at the 2026 NSS Convention as Genevieve presented ‘live’ from Ireland, while working on assignment!