Description
Rock art is one of the most visible and geographically widespread of cultural expressions, and it spans much of the period of our species' existence. Rock art also provides rare and often unique insights into the minds and visually creative capacities of our ancestors and how selected rock outcrops with distinctive images were used to construct symbolic landscapes and shape worldviews. Equally important, rock art is often central to the expression of and engagement with spiritual entities and forces, and in all these dimensions it signals the diversity of cultural practices, across place and through time. Over the past 150 years, archaeologists have studied ancient arts on rock surfaces, both out in the open and within caves and rock shelters, and social anthropologists have revealed how people today use art in their daily lives. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art showcases examples of such research from around the world and across a broad range of cultural contexts, giving a sense of the art's regional variability, its antiquity, and how it is meaningful to people in the recent past and today - including how we have ourselves tended to make sense of the art of others, replete with our own preconceptions. It reviews past, present, and emerging theoretical approaches to rock art investigation and presents new, cutting-edge methods of rock art analysis for the student and professional researcher alike.
Table of Contents
List of ContributorsOnline Supplementary MaterialIntroduction1. Towards an Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock ArtBruno David and Ian J. McNivenPart I: Geographical and Historical Perspectives2. Interpretative Frameworks and the Study of the Rock ArtsMargaret W. Conkey3. North European Rock Art: A Long-term PerspectiveJoakim Goldhahn4. The Rock Art of Sub-Scandinavian EuropeOlivia Rivero and Juan F. Ruiz5. The Archaeology of Rock Art in Northern AfricaSavino di Lernia6. The Rock Art of Sub-Saharan AfricaJean-Loïc Le Quellec7. Rock Art of Northern, Central, and Western AsiaAndrzej Rozwadowski8. The Rock Art of South and East AsiaPaul S.C. Taçon9. Australia's Rock Art Heritage: A Thematic Approach to Assessing Scientific ValueJo McDonald10. Rock Art of the Pacific: Context and IntertextualityMeredith Wilson and Chris Ballard11. Rock Art of North AmericaDavid S. Whitley12. Rock Art in Central and South America: Social Settings and Regional DiversityAndrés Troncoso, Felipe Armstrong, and Mara BasilePart II: Conceptual Approaches to Rock Art: Investigating Meaning13. Tracing Symbolic Behaviour across the Southern ArcNatalie R. Franklin and Phillip J. Habgood14. Signalling Theory and Durable Symbolic ExpressionDouglas W. Bird and Rebecca Bliege Bird15. The Psychology of Graphic PerceptionJan B. Deregowski16. European Palaeolithic Rock Art and Spatial StructuresJean Clottes17. Art and Environment: How Can Rock Art Inform on Past Environments?George Nash18. Images of Animals in Rock Art: Not Just 'Good to Think'Iain Davidson19. Plants Before Animals? Aboriginal Rock Art as Evidence of Ecoscaping in Australia's KimberleySven Ouzman, Peter Veth, Cecilia Myers, Pauline Heaney, and Kevin Kenneally20. 'Enigmatic Images from Remote Prehistory': Rock Art and Ontology from a European PerspectiveAndrew Meirion Jones and Marta Díaz-Guardamino21. Rock Art, Music, and Acoustics: A Global OverviewMargarita Díaz-Andreu and Tommaso Mattioli22. The Production of Ethnographic Records and Their Use in Rock Art ResearchJulien Monney and Leïla Baracchini23. Rock Art and Ethnography in AustraliaLiam M. Brady, Robert G. Gunn, Claire Smith, and Bruno David24. Rock Arts, Shamans, and Grand TheoriesAnne Solomon25. A New Framework for Interpreting Contact Rock Art: Reassessing the Rock Art at Nackara Springs, South AustraliaClaire Smith, Jordan Ralph, Kylie Lower, Jennifer McKinnon, Matthew Ebbs, and Vincent Copley Senior26. Creolization in the Investigation of Rock Art of the Colonial EraSam Challis27. Out of Time and Place: Graffiti and Rock Art ResearchUrsula K. Frederick28. Memory, Materiality, and Place in Ojibway Rock Art PerformancesAlex K. Ruuska29. Rock Art as Cultural Expressions of Social Relationships and KinshipLiam M. Brady, John J. Bradley, and Amanda Kearney30. Bodies Revealed: X-ray Art in Western Arnhem LandLuke Taylor31. Rock Art and AestheticsThomas HeydPart III: Methods: Marks in Time and Place32. The Science of Rock Art ResearchGuy Gibbon33. Recording Rock Art: Strategies, Challenges, and Embracing the Digital RevolutionLiam M. Brady, Jamie Hampson, and Inés Domingo Sanz34. GIS in Rock Art StudiesMichelle L. Wienhold and David W. Robinson35. 3-D Modelling in Rock Art Research: Terrestrial Laser Scanning, Photogrammetry, and the Time FactorStéphane Jaillet, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Julien Monney, and Benjamin Sadier36. Archaeomorphological Mapping: Rock Art and the Architecture of PlaceJean-Jacques Delannoy, Bruno David, Robert G. Gunn, Jean-Michel Geneste, and Stéphane Jaillet37. Taphonomy on the Surface of the Rock Wall: Rock-Paint-Atmosphere InteractionsEmilie Chalmin, Stéphane Hoerlé, and Ina Reiche38. Characterizing Rock Art PigmentsEmilie Chalmin and Jillian Huntley39. The Use of Harris Matrices in Rock Art ResearchEdward Harris and Robert G. Gunn40. Radiocardon Dating in Rock Art ResearchFiona Petchey41. Optical Dating of Rock ArtRichard G. Roberts42. Uranium-Thorium Dating of Cave ArtAlistair W.G. PikePart IV: The Public Consumption of Art: Applying and Managing Art in the Present43. Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights in Rock Art: A Case Study of Australian Indigenous ArtStephen Gray44. The Conservation and Management of Rock Art: An Integrated ApproachJohannes Loubser45. Rock Art TourismMelanie Duval, Christophe Gauchon, and Benjamin Smith46. Past Images, Contemporary Practices: Re-use of Rock Art Images in Contemporary San Art of Southern AfricaLeïla Baracchini and Julien Monney47. The Use and Re-use of Rock Art Designs in Contemporary Jewellery and Wearable ArtLynette Russell and Myles Russell-Cook48. Visiting Gonjorong's CaveValda Blundell and Woddordda Traditional Owners Donny Woolagoodja, Janet Oobagooma, and Leah UmbagaiIndex
