Rock Art Study

The paper presents the results of the research and initial analysis of the rock art from the Castle Rock Community, a cluster of Ancestral Pueblo sites, dated to the thirteenth century A.D. and located in southwestern Colorado, in the heart of the Mesa Verde region. The rock art in the area is represented by anthropomorphic figures (shamans or warriors) from the Basketmaker II period, but most of the rock art is from the Pueblo III period (1150-1280/1300 A.D.) and encompasses geometric designs as well as fighting scenes. The interpretation of the meaning and function of the rock art is rather difficult, but some depictions might be interpreted as clan symbols, watermarks, or as solar/lunar markers connected with astronomical observations. On almost every panel of rock art or close to it, historic inscriptions, initials, names and dates are also present. Most of the ancient rock art is located within the site’s (cliff dwellings) boundaries or very close to them, but certainly some paintings and petroglyphs are much older than the thirteenth century A.D. settlements.

Full-text of the article available at:
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/IGCMXIKFHUXBB7EXFYVG/full?target=10.1080/00231940.2019.1643071

This paper reviews current developments in microerosion analysis, including the testing of a universal calibration curve based on regional precipitation. This enables the use of the method in regions that are unlikely to provide suitable calibration surfaces. The paper also considers the creation of the archive of the International Centre of Rock Art Dating and the need for it to facilitate the testing of rock art age estimates.

This article discusses the continuity between of patterns, shapes and meaning between pre historic rock art and contemporary tribal art as a key to unlock the cognitive beginning of humanity. It provides extensive illustrations of shared gestures, postures, rituals and practices that can be deciphered in a comparative study. It also provides a global backdrop to the shared awareness about similar hilly and forested environments, which were and are frequented by artists of rock art and tribal art. It suggests that the only way to move out of an exclusive scientific concern with materials, techniques and chronology of the oldest available evidence of human cognition is to study its art in relation to the art of people living in ecologically isolated enclaves till this day.

यहूदी-ईसाई सोद्देश्यवाद और शैल-कला वर्गीकरण (Yahudi-Isai Soddeshyavad or Shail-Kala Vargikaran) by Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty published in Madhya Bharat ki Shail Chitrakala (मध्य भारत की शैल-चित्रकला) [Madhya Bhārata Kī Śaila-Chitrakalā]. In this Hindi translation of Judeo-Christian Teleology and Rock Art Taxonomy by the author, the priority, interiority, qualitative superiority of paleolethic European art is questioned. The scientistic postulate about chronology of rock art are also questioned because of their false premises, which ignore the taphonomic logic of bias in evidence

Los autores ofrecen una aproximación preliminar a tres sitios de petroglifos de los Yungas del Depto. de La Paz, con un registro parcial que facilita una evaluación de las características de los sitios y de los grabados. Lamentablemente nos falta todavía el contexto cultural y cronológico, que podría ser estudiado con los resultados de prospecciones y excavaciones arqueológicas. En el futuro se debe lograr un estudio más exhaustivo del arte rupestre yungueño con un análisis detallado de su iconografía, distribución espacial de los motivos y posibles relaciones culturales. Estos datos deberían integrarse en una amplia visión de los petroglifos en las tierras bajas de Bolivia, que a su vez se relacionan con el arte rupestre en varias zonas amazónicas, por ejemplo en el país vecino del Perú. Por otro lado, se destacan los problemas de conservación por agentes naturales y el vandalismo. Abstract The authors present a preliminary approach to three petroglyph sites in the tropical valleys of Yungas, Dept. of La Paz, with partial recording of photos and drawings. Unfortunately the cultural context and chronology of these engravings is still unknown. Rock art of Yungas is partly related to other regions in the Bolivian lowlands and the Amazon basin. On the other hand, the authors highlight conservation problems of the sites.

Resumen En octubre de 2018 se realizó el XI Simposio Internacional de Arte Rupestre en la ciudad de La Serena, Chile, evento que reunió investigadores de cinco países sudamericanos, México y España. En este artículo ofrecemos una evaluación preliminar del XI SIAR destacando enfoques actuales en los estudios del arte rupestre latinoamericano. Abstract The 11 th International Rock Art Symposium (XI SIAR) was held at La Serena, Chile, in October 2018. Researchers from five South American countries, Mexico and Spain participated. In this article we present a preliminary review of the XI SIAR highlighting current approaches in Latin American rock art studies.

The paper brings together a complete list of publications on rock art of Northeast Africa and Arabian Peninsula (co-)authored by Pavel Červíček. The overview is introduced by a  brief overview of life and research of this Egyptologist and Prehistorian of Czechoslovak origin, who spent most of his life in emigration in (West) Germany.

We want to know what meaning consequences have the imperfection and originality in the rock art paintings of Vereda San Rafael in Colombia. To answer this we are going to define the concepts of imperfection and originality based on the theoretical approaches of Julien Algirdas Greimas. The next step would be to adapt this ideas to the study of rock art, in specific in the South American Rock Art Site, Vereda de San Rafael in Colombia.

The wolf (Canis lupus) in Palaeolithic art
It is well known that carnivores (and other potentially aggressive large species) are poorly represented in Palaeolithic art. This is also the case for genus Ursus and genus Panthera, each of them recorded by 100-200 representations dating from 40,000 to 10,000 cal BP, compared to several thousand herbivores. The genus Canis, which was established in Europe before the Pleistocene is even markedly rarer. In the late Middle Pleistocene, C. lupus dispersed into Europe and wolf’s remains are commonly found in Late Pleistocene cave deposits. In this poster, we will review the extant evidence of wolf’s representations in Palaeolithic art, separating them from the ones of other canid (i. e. fox, Vulpes vulpes), as well as from the wolverine (Gulo gulo), which also has a resembling overall shape, despite being part of the Mustelidae family. In most cases, when the animal is represented complete (or almost so), the ear and muzzle, together with the overall body proportions, allow to make a distinction between the different species represented.
In the end, we conclude that only 9 depictions can be safely retained as representing a wolf. There are 5 more which might be listed as probable wolves, and 6 that remain frankly dubious.
Interestingly, the wolf, which is a gregarious species, is almost always depicted as a single animal. It is represented at a small scale, mostly rendered by engraving, and it is noteworthy that there is at least one specimen in Germany, and one in Italy, which are countries with an overall limited artistic record if compared to France and Spain. All are of Lateglacial age and associated with Magdalenian or Late Epigravettian lithic industries.
When, at the end of the Pleistocene, first the cave bear became extinct, and then the spotted hyena and the lion gradually disappeared from Europe, the wolf was left – up to present times – as the only large carnivore of Europe. The exiguous number of wolves which enter the Palaeolithic art record at that time possibly reflects the changes happening in the European megafauna.

References
Di Maida, G., & M. Mussi. 2017. “Cry wolf! The engraved pebble of Grotta Polesini (central Italy).” In: Vocation préhistoire: hommage à Jean-Marie Le Tensorer (eds. D. Wojtczak, N. Al Najjar, R. Jagher, H. Elsuede, F. Wegmüller, & M. Otte), 99–108. Liège: Éditions ERAUL. Études et Recherches Archéologiques de l’Université de Liège.

Lombo Montañés A. 2016. “Los cánidos en las manifestaciones gráficas paleolíticas”. In: O. Rivero Vilá & A. Ruíz Redondo (eds.), El arte de las sociedades prehistóricas. V Encuentro Internacional de Doctorandos y Postdoctorandos, 67-69. Santander.

A recently recorded Colorado Desert rock art site within the Palen-McCoy Wilderness, CA-RIV-12421, reflects a fascinating intersection between prehistoric and historic peoples. The vibrant petroglyph expressions include Western Archaic Tradition, Patayan, and equestrian motifs. The heaviest concentration of scratched motifs known in the Colorado Desert can be found here. Historic inscriptions are also present beginning in 1873, including that of O. P. Calloway and possibly the “infamous” land grafter John Benson. All tolled, CA-RIV-12421 provides a relatively high mixture of potential chronological markers. An attempt has been made to analyze the context of this site utilizing its environmental setting and the extant temporal clues available in the rock art. Findings of this investigation include a suggestion that much of this art was created in the Historic Period (ca. 1540-1774), with equestrian motif creation occurring between the early 1700s and 1873. The site’s geomorphology, ecological, and archaeological aspects, in conjunction with its high concentration of bighorn sheep petroglyphs, suggests that it may have functioned as a destination locality for spiritual and hunting purposes.

Art, communication and wellbeing In this paper the Authors are considering that deep echoes might possibly exist betrt een prehistoric and today's man. They base their hvpothesis upon their observations made during long sessions of micropsychoanalysis, especially on transfer-ence/counter-transference dvnamics, and on the study of rock Art. From an analytical point of view, such echoes refer to representations and affects linked with self-preservation and adaptation. In some of their previous studies, D. Gariglio and D. Lysek had assumed that some evervdal, life factors, both prehistoric and present-dav, could express some evidence of unconscious tracks of r,r,ellbeing experiences. These tracks coulcl be reactivated whenever psvchic fluidity exists. This could tl-ren promote an elaboration and a rearrangement of the information stored in the psyche. In addition, after a recent journer. to prehistoric Perigord, it seems reasonable to suppose, even in pre-lettered societies, some dynamics linked to wellbeing experiences. Such hypothesis might add a connection between us and our distant ancestors.

Western Basketmaker II style petroglyphs (Ca 1000 BCE to 450 CE), found along the lower San Juan River, Colorado River into Grand Gulch, the Little Colorado River, and the Chinle Wash drainages including Canyon De Chelly can be shown through several lines of evidence to represent two cultural groups. The methodology involves a systematic analysis of proxemic (spatial) arrangements, body posture and gesture displays, superimposition sequences for temporal chronology and cultural associations by ethnographic analogy. Cultural diagnostics include cultural directionality, mythic iconography and cultural idioms specific to each language group.  Superimposition sequences of Western BMII panels, show an earlier culture with assemblages of iconography nominated as ‘Group 1’, overlaid by a second assemblage of iconography nominated as ‘Group 2’.

Group 1 iconography finds its contemporary counterpart in myths and Katsinas, (masked and not masked) and altar paintings of the Keres language speakers.  The distribution of Group 1 iconography occurs along the San Juan River and exclusively along Little Colorado River drainages. Group 2 iconography finds its counterpart in the myths, duck shaped pots, Katsinas, masked and not masked, and altar paintings of the Zuni language speakers.  Group 2 iconography co-exists with Group 1 on the San Juan River but is exclusive in the Chinle Wash drainages and in Canyon De Chelly.

TROLETTI F., Threadlike engravings of historical period on the rocks and plaster of churches and civic buildings. Some comparisons and proposals of interpretation, Proceedings of XVII World UISPP (International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences) Congress. 1-7 sept. 2014, Burgos (ES); vol. 10; Session A18b:, Post-Palaeolithic Filiform Rock Art in Western Europe, Archaeopress Publisching Ltd, Oxford 2016, pp. 43-54.