Rock art
Rock art is a term in
archaeology for any man-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:
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Petroglyph attributed to Classic Vernal Style, Fremont archaeological culture, eastern Utah. |
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Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces
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Pictographs - rock and
cave paintings
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Mobiliary rock art - smaller, portable examples of either of the above types.
The term "rock art" appears to have been used first used in about 1959: "The rock art tells us little for certain about marriage customs."
[J. D. Clark, Prehist. S. Afr. ix. 248, 1959], and has also been described as "rock carvings"
[H. M. Chadwick, Origin Eng. Nation xii. 306, 1907: "The rock-carvings at Tegneby"], "rock drawings"
[H. A. Winkler, Rock-Drawings of Southern Upper Egypt I. 26, 1938: "The discovery of rock-drawings showing boats of a type foreign to Egypt."], "rock engravings"
[H. G. Wells, Outl. Hist. I. xvii. 126/1, 1920: From rock engravings we may deduce the theory that the desert was crossed from oasis to oasis.], "rock inscriptions"
[Deutsch, Rem. 177, 1874: "The long rock-inscription of Hamamât."], "rock paintings"
[Encycl. Relig. & Ethics I. 822/2, 1908: "The rock-paintings are either stencilled or painted in outline."], "rock pictures"
[Man No. 119. 178/2, 1939: "On one of the stalactite pillars was found a big round stone with traces of red paint on its surface, as used in the rock-pictures"], "rock records"
[G. Moore, The Lost Tribes and the Saxons of the East, 1861, Title page: "with translations of Rock-Records in India."] and "rock sculptures
[Tylor, Early Hist. Man. v. 88, 1865 "Rock-sculptures may often be symbolic boundary marks."]Both petroglyphs and pictographs can be
parietal, meaning on the walls of a cave or rock shelter, open-air meaning they are made on exposed natural outcrops or monument-based which are made on stones consciously deposited.
Petroglyphs are created by rock removal, including scratching, abrading, pecking, carving, drilling, incising and sculpting. Locations of choice are rock facets coated with patina, a dark mineral accumulation on rock surfaces. Petroglyphs remove the patina, exposing the contrasting lighter rock interior. Instances of negative images, produced by removing the patina surrounding the intended figure, are also known. Sometimes petroglyphs are painted or accentuated by polishing. The degree of repatination indicates relative dating. Some of the most ancient petroglyphs are the same color as the surrounding rock.
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Pictograph, southeastern Utah, attributed to Basketmaker period, Puebloan archaeological culture. |
Pictography is the application of pigments. Survival of ancient paintings is attributable to use of mineral pigments, most commonly manganese, hematite, malachite, gypsum, limonite, clays and various oxides. The best preserved pictography is found under sheltering overhangs and in caves. The simplest pictographs are wet clay finger drawings and charcoal drawings. To produce crayons or paints first the minerals had to be finely ground and combined with binding materials. Crayons and animal hair brushes have been excavated in caves with paintings. Exceedingly fine lines evidence the production of excellent brushes. The most common rock art element found around the world, the human hand, exemplifies several pictography types. A technique used since the Neolithic is spraying around a hand, resulting in a negative image. The more common positive print was often made with pigment applied to the hand and transferred to the rock.
Traditionally, individual markings are called
motifs and groups of motifs are known as
panels. Sequences of panels are treated as
archaeological sites. This method of classifying rock art however has become less popular as the structure imposed is unlikely to have had any relevance to the art's creators. Even the word 'art' carries with it many modern prejudices about the purpose of the features.
Rock art can be found across a wide geographical and temporal spread of
cultures perhaps to mark territory, to record historical events or stories or to help enact
rituals. Some art seems to depict real events whilst many other examples are apparently entirely abstract.
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ROCK ART STUDIES: A Bibliographic Database at the Bancroft Library containing over 10,000 citations to the world's rock art literature.
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The Rock Art Pages
