In southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, several seasons of direct archaeological investigations of carved and painted monoliths were undertaken in the early 1990's. This work simply entailed the formal excavation of the base of the monoliths (Steinbring and Buchner 1997). The results are not much different from similar excavations next to decorated cave walls. The cultural deposits accumulate alongside the carvings, and in one case excavation revealed that the deposits covered several rock paintings not previously known! Just the same, very little cultural information was developed. For one monolith, at the Swift Current Creek Site, a horizontal panel of images consistent with that of known Archaic (5,000 B.P.) sites elsewhere was above ground. The excavations showed that some carvings were covered by the upper soil horizon, and that paintings were covered by lower ones. Interestingly a thin lens of pigment and tiny pecking tools was discovered on a plane which bisected a painting. This, of course, meant that the deposit came well after the execution of the painting. A tooth found in the articulated lens yielded a date of A.D. 6-800, consistent with a bison-hunting culture known as Avonlea. Still, does this prove that the painting was done by people from that culture? No. It does not, because the deposits containing evidence of this culture were laid down after the painting was applied. It is probably a good bet that Avonlea people made it, but there is absolutely no direct physical proof. And, what about the seemingly early petroglyphs on top of the monolith? Typologically they would be more than 3,000 years earlier than Avonlea. Nothing was found in these excavations that would support such an early date. And, many rock art authorities at the present time reject dates achieved by typological data alone!