2020_Andean Petroglyphs_EGA (original) (raw)
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In this paper, we explore the temporal dimension of rock art, emphasising the intensity and the history of its production. With the intention of establishing categories of intensity, experimentation with different techniques, instruments and types of strokes was undertaken in order to evaluate the amount of time and work required to produce the petroglyphs. The results were compared to the rock art produced by two different societies that inhabited the semi-arid region of Chile, specifically in the Limarí valley. The results of these analyses allowed us to observe two distinct temporal organisations of rock art production, corresponding to two different types of societies: hunter-gatherers and peasants. At the same time, we discuss the relevance of these experiments and their implications for the identified temporal differences in social terms.
: This article presents a preliminary hypothesis about a pattern of interaction between a sample of Amazonian petroglyphs and its lithological substratum expressed by a covariation between rock type and rock art stylistic patterns (i.e. perceived graphic behaviour or patterned arrangement of formal attributes) located on a geological frontier on the Lower Negro River, Northern Amazonia. Elements of Perspectivism derived from Amazonian ethnological studies are applied to the geological realm as an interpretive tool to help understand how ancient Amazonian indigenous groups might have thought about geological phenomena and thus, reflect upon possible consequences of this process on rock art behaviour in areas of marked geodiversity. This constitutes a tentative articulation between ethnology and archaeology to bring into play elements of an ethnogeological framework as applied to Amazonian rock art studies. KEYWORDS: Petroglyphs; Brazilian Amazon; Negro River; Geological Frontier; Perspectivism; Ethnogeology
New Rock Art Site Complex In The Arauak River Valley, Southeastern Venezuela
Rock Art Research, 2023
This paper examines Amerindian rock art recovered on an isolated boulder located near the Upuigma Tepui in the Arauák River Valley in Bolívar State, southeastern Venezuela. We explore some ideas about the possible use of this boulder by the indigenous hunter-gatherers, both as a shelter and as a place for enacting ritual activities, in the broader context of the cultural landscape. Preliminary stylistic analysis suggests possible regional interrelationships of the pictograms with other rock art sites. Evidence also suggests the source of the red ochre used for the paintings, which might have come from a mineral anomaly close to the site. In addition, we briefly present some petroglyphs found within the same regional context. We stress the necessity of further systematic research into this phenomenon given the potential for encountering more pictograms and petroglyphs as well as other valuable data which would contribute to a better understanding of the chronology and sociocultural context of the long-past humans in this remote area of northern South America. Finally, we call for the protection of these pictograms as valuable heritage sites.
SEPÚLVEDA, M., G. CABELLO y D. VALENZUELA. 2016. Rock art in Chile (2010-2014)
This article reviews the principal studies in rock art research in Chile, including engravings, paintings and geoglyphs, carried out in the course of the last five years (2010-2014). Our review expands the account presented before for different regions of the country, between 2005 and 2009 (Sepúlveda and Valenzuela 2012) and for studies carried out up to 2005 (Gallardo et al. 2006). Once again, we refer to the principal geographical regions of the country presented from north to south: Northern Chile, and North Central and Central Chile (Figure 1). The main advances are once again in the northern region: on the coast, and in the low and medium Western Valleys, from the Lluta to the Camarones rivers (engravings), in the Andean foothills of Arica (paintings), in the Tarapacá and Antofagasta regions inland, and also in the middle valley of north central Chile (engravings). Southernmost Chile was the subject of only one piece of work related to technological approaches to rock paintings (Sepúlveda 2011d). We intend to provide a synthesis of the main subjects / themes, problems and theoretical and methodological models used in the archaeological study of rock art in Chile during the last few years. After a regional presentation, we also summarise two new thematic studies: on Colonial rock art and on a technological approach to rock art painting by physico-chemical characterizations of pigments.