Rock Art, Historical Ontologies, and the Genealogy of Landscape

2019 ◽  
pp. 301-332
Keyword(s):  
Relative Position ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Agrarian Communities ◽  
Spatial Attributes ◽  
Rock Paintings ◽  
Art Production ◽  
Historically Situated

Prehispanic ontologies can be conceptualized as historically situated meshworks that unfold particular engagements among humans, other-than-humans, places and substances. The affective and animacy capacities of the participant of these fields of relations are connected to their historical position within them. Through comparing the visual, technical, and spatial attributes of rock art production during 3,500 years in Valle El Encanto (Chile), we describe how the manufacture of rock paintings and petroglyphs unfolded different fields of relations. Based on the above, this chapter discusses how these particular meshworks were related to specific historical landscapes and two different ontologies: one related to hunter-gatherer groups and another to Andean-agrarian communities. The transformation identified in Valle El Encanto allows us to discuss the historical replacement of ontologies, as well as how social practices and the affective and animacy capacities of other-than-humans, places and substances changed their relative position within the fields of relation throughout history.

The Cultural Study of Tribes and Prehistoric Rock Paintings of Simdega District

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-48
Author(s):  
Nitesh Kumar Mishra ◽  
Anshu Mala Tirkey ◽  
Baleswar Kumar Besra
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Study ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Tribal Community ◽  
Tribal People ◽  
Neolithic Site ◽  
Tribal Communities ◽  
Tribal Society ◽  
Rock Paintings

This research paper will mainly consist of the unreported Neolithic site and rock art sites of Simdega district. In this paper there will be the detailed information about the rock paintings. The detailed study will be done of the various figures of the paintings. This paper will also describe the associated remains found along with the rock paintings. The research paper also consists of the developing phase of the rock art which can be seen in the tribal communities. Paper will also consist of the study of saddle quern, its various uses and how it is related to the tribal community. There will the content about the importance of the rock art in the tribal society. Various rituals are performed on the rock art site by the tribal people till today. This research paper will describe these rituals which are performed by the tribal people. The paper will consists of the study of correlation between the rock art and the various arts forms and cultures present in the tribal community.

Time and Rock Art Production:

2016 ◽  
pp. 147-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Vergara ◽  
Andrés Troncoso ◽  
Francisca Ivanovic
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Art Production

The case for continuity of human occupation and rock art production in the Kimberley, Australia

2021 ◽  
pp. 194-220
Author(s):  
Peter Veth ◽  
Sam Harper ◽  
Kane Ditchfield ◽  
Sven Ouzman ◽  
Balanggarra Aboriginal
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Art Production

From Top Down Under: New Insights into the Social Significance of Superimpositions in the Rock Art of Northern Kimberley, Australia

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Motta
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Supernatural Power ◽  
The Social ◽  
Northwestern Australia ◽  
Art Production ◽  
Cultural Dominance

Rock-art researchers have long acknowledged the importance of discerning superimposition sequences as a means for exploring chronology. Despite their potential for reconstructing painting events and thus informing on a site's production sequences, the social significance of superimpositions and their associated meanings have been little explored. In the Kimberley Region of northwestern Australia, interpretations of superimpositions as an analytical lens have often lingered on the ‘negative’ connotations of this practice (e.g. to destroy supernatural power embedded in previous paintings and/or to show cultural dominance). As a result, it has been proposed that the overpainting of previous images was tantamount to defacing, leading to the proposition that new images constituted a form of vandalism of older art. In this paper, a sample of rock-art sites from the northwestern and northeastern Kimberley is analysed with the aim of grounding the study of superimpositions in more nuanced practices, leading researchers to contemplate the role they played among populations within the same area. It is argued here that superimpositions brought together past and present experiences that served to reinforce the links between contemporary art production and the inherited landscape.

Early Australian Anthropomorphs: Jabiluka's Dynamic Figure Rock Paintings

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally K. May ◽  
Iain G. Johnston ◽  
Paul S.C. Taçon ◽  
Inés Domingo Sanz ◽  
Joakim Goldhahn
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Figurative Art ◽  
The World ◽  
Rock Paintings ◽  
Body Adornment ◽  
Art And Society ◽  
Detailed Nature ◽  
Sheer Number

Early depictions of anthropomorphs in rock art provide unique insights into life during the deep past. This includes human engagements with the environment, socio-cultural practices, gender and uses of material culture. In Australia, the Dynamic Figure rock paintings of Arnhem Land are recognized as the earliest style in the region where humans are explicitly depicted. Important questions, such as the nature and significance of body adornment in rock art and society, can be explored, given the detailed nature of the human figurative art and the sheer number of scenes depicted. In this paper, we make a case for Dynamic Figure rock art having some of the earliest and most extensive depictions of complex anthropomorph scenes found anywhere in the world.

scholarly journals PRÁTICAS ARQUEOLÓGICAS EM COMUNIDADE: Experiências Participativas na Chapada Diamantina, no Âmbito do Projeto Circuitos Arqueológicos de Visitação

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Carlos Alberto Etchevarne ◽  
Alvandyr Dantas Bezerra
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Chapada Diamantina ◽  
Social Commitment ◽  
Archaeological Practice ◽  
Community Contexts

As práticas sociais desenvolvidas no âmbito do “Projeto Circuitos Arqueológicos de Visitação da Chapada Diamantina/Bahia” enquadram-se nos pressupostos da chamada Arqueologia Pública. Os resultados da vivência efetivada nos seis municípios chapadenses contemplados (Iraquara, Lençóis, Morro do Chapéu, Palmeiras, Seabra e Wagner), deixam transparecer a importância do compromisso social quando a prática arqueológica é desenvolvida em contextos comunitários, nesse caso, em localidades situadas próximas aos sítios de arte rupestre. Trata-se, por conseguinte, de uma reflexão sobre a natureza transformadora da Arqueologia através da interação social e troca de saberes. ARCHAEOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN THE COMMUNITY: Participative Experiences in the Diamantine Plate, in the Framework of the Archaeological Visitation Circuits ProjectABSTRACTThe social practices developed within the scope of the “Chapada Diamantina / Bahia Archaeological Visitation Project” fit the premises of the so-called Public Archeology. The results of the experience carried out in the six contemplated Chapada municipalities (Iraquara, Lençóis, Morro do Chapéu, Palmeiras, Seabra and Wagner), reveal the importance of social commitment when the archaeological practice is developed in community contexts, in this case, in locations located close by to rock art sites. It is, therefore, a reflection on the transformative nature of Archeology through social interaction and exchange of knowledge.Keywords: Archaeological circuits; Rock Arte; Community Archeology.

scholarly journals Scenes of Human Control of Reindeer in the Alta Rock Art. An Event of Early Domestication in the far North?

2020 ◽  
pp. 121-146
Author(s):  
Ingrid Fuglestvedt
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Northern Norway ◽  
Social Form ◽  
Wild Game ◽  
Human Control ◽  
Far North ◽  
Art Production

This article focuses on some evident differences between Phase 1 and Phase 2 rock art at Alta in western Finnmark in northern Norway. The earliest period (Phase 1, 5200–4200 cal BC) of rock art production shows numerous scenes in which humans seem to take control of wild game. The compositions of corrals with reindeer inside may be indications of forms of early domestication suggested to have occurred within a context marked by the authority of successful hunters and the influence of emerging inequality. This element of control correlates with an apparent totemic influence in the expressions of rock art. The rock art produced in the succeeding period (Phase 2, 4200-3000 cal BC), however, entirely lacks scenes communicating control of reindeer. This article suggests that this selective absence is an expression of a regained egalitarian social form and a reappraisal of an original animism.

People, Plants, Animals, and Formlings in the Rock Art of Zimbabwe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ancila Nhamo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Country Rock ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Geometric Figures ◽  
Great Zimbabwe ◽  
Rock Paintings ◽  
Art Research ◽  
Made In

In Zimbabwe, the term “rock art” refers mainly to prehistoric engravings and paintings that were executed on the walls of shallow caves, rock shelters, or faces of boulders across the country. Rock paintings were executed using pigments in a variety of colors and textures while engravings were etched into the rock using incisions, polishing, or pecking methods. The paintings dominate the corpus of rock art in the country. They are found within the granitic boulders that cover much of the country while rock engravings are confined to narrow belts in the eastern, southern, and southwestern parts where the sandstone is found. The spatial distribution of rock art in Zimbabwe helps to show that geology was the influential factor in choosing whether to paint or to engrave. In terms of subject matter, the rock art of Zimbabwe is mostly dominated by what is known as hunter-gatherer art, with a few sites having what has been termed “farmer art.” There is a possibility of some of the art having been made by herders but this requires further research and conformation. The hunter-gatherer art is made up of mostly animals and humans. Nevertheless, the occurrence of plants and geometric figures, especially the “formlings,” sets the rock art of Zimbabwe apart from that of other areas in southern Africa. Farmer art has animal and human figures, mostly in white kaolin and usually found superpositioned on top of the hunter-gatherer images. The color and superpositions led the art to be termed the Late Whites. The possibility of herder art has been raised due to the occurrence of depictions such as handprints and finger-painted dots. These images are associated with herders in neighboring countries such as South Africa and Botswana. Research in Zimbabwe has tended to favor the dominant aspects of rock art. As such, rock paintings have been extensively investigated at the expense of engravings. In the same vein, hunter-gatherer research art has been preponderant as compared to the study of farmer and possibly herder art. Nevertheless, it is important to note that although a lot of strides have been made in rock art research, fewer researchers, especially among the indigenous, have had an interest in these aspects of the Zimbabwean past. Rock art is often overshadowed by the archaeology of the farming communities, which has Zimbabwe culture and particularly Great Zimbabwe as its hallmark. However, it is encouraging to note that there has been an upsurge in students working on projects concerning rock art, which foretells good prospects for the uptake of rock art research in the future

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