Christopher S. Davis

Christopher Davis is an anthropological archaeologist specializing in Amazonian prehistory, rock art, and archeoastronomy. With multiple grants and fellowships, he earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Dartmouth College, and from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) he earned a master's in anthropology and a doctorate in archaeology. He was a participant in archaeological excavations and GIS research on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and in prehistoric pottery analysis in Puerto Rico before he joined Dr. Anna Roosevelt's surveys and excavations in the Brazilian city of Santarém, Para, along the Lower Amazon River. As a Fulbright awardee, he completed his doctoral dissertation as the principal investigator of cave, rock-shelter, and open-air excavations—along with rock art and archaeoastronomy field research—in the rainforest hills of Monte Alegre, also on the banks of Brazil's Lower Amazon River.  He also collaborated with specialists in the elemental analysis of the pigment, which demonstrated that the rock art paint and the pigment in the excavated layers came from the same geological source of ochre. Davis' long-term research involves traditional knowledge mnemonics and transmission among Amazonian peoples since the terminal Pleistocene/Holocene period, and study of the ways in which people have recognized and adapted to climatic and environmental changes at that time. Davis attempts to discern their sense of intention and innovation to discover and pass down, or share, recognized patterns and successful cultural strategies.

Davis is a rising scholar in Amazonian archaeology who has published peer-reviewed articles. Ever since the debut of his rock art and archeoastronomy research in the 2018 PBS documentary mini series, "Native America: From Caves to Cosmos", he has been sought as a specialist in the field of rock art and ancient astronomy by scholars and independent investigators alike. Davis has most recently appeared in season 2 of Graham Hancock’s Netflix Series, Ancient Apocalypse. Where some of these research is featured in episode 2 and episode 6. He has also contributed research photos to Graham Hancock's commercial book, America Before.