About Dr. Alan Garfinkel Gold

Alan Garfinkel Gold grew up in a small apartment in the New York Bronx with his mother, father, brother and sister. His father, Solomon, Sol, Garfinkel was a taxi cab driver just like his father before him and the oldest of the family's twelve children raised by Hyman and Pauline in Hell's Kitchen. While Alan might have broken out of the family trade, he stayed true to the New York spirit and has always been a bright, talkative light in the lives of his family and community that never seems to run out of jokes.

When his family picked up and moved to California after his father sold his Cab Driver's Medallion, Alan found himself under the hot San Fernando sun where he discovered his passion for archaeology and anthropology through the guidance of his charismatic teacher Janet Cupples.

From there on Alan's been on a life-long adventure that's led him from the extreme highs of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the troughs of the Grand Canyon's great valleys as he's pursued the ancient art of the Native Americans who carved beautiful figures into the ageless faces of stone so long ago.

A jack of all trades, Alan has published over 50 scientific articles, 5 books, lectured at a number of colleges, and has most recently appeared on the History Channel's 'Skinwalker Ranch'. 

One of his favorite career memories is when he met the Ram Dancers, and Guardians of the Grand Canyon. They live upon the canyon floors and are ethnically affiliated with the Havasupai Native Americans, the natural barrier of the canyon's walls acting as a shelter, foster the people's ability to retain a wealth of cultural treasures and traditions, their drumming in time with the beating heart of the west itself.