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The Central Sahara is one of the richest regions of the prehistoric rock paintings and engravings in the world. The earliest paintings called the Round Heads were created in the Early Holocene by groups of dark-skinned hunter-gatherers who produced their paintings in the mountains of the Tassili n'Ajjer, Algerian Tadrart and Libyan Acacus. Since their discovery in the 1950s these paintings have been described and classified but they have not yet been studied systematically, their chronology has not been established and they have not been related to the archaeology. The study of archaeology, climatology and the rock art not only in the Central Sahara but in all African continent resulted in confirming the so called high chronology of the Round Heads which originated in the l O" millennium BP. It also revealed that this art did not finish with the arrival of pastoral population in the 8th millennium BP but the two artistic traditions coexisted until the complete desertification of the region. The results are based on a critical evaluation of existing literature and on fieldwork undertaken by the author in the key sites. Unlike the southern African rock art, the interpretation of the Round Heads has not been undertaken before because it was considered inappropriate and unachievable. The method of research presented here has not been previously applied to the rock art in the Central Sahara. Using the comparative studies, ethnography and landscape archaeology this thesis approaches the interpretation of the Round Heads and the painted sites as a pioneering work placing them in a wider African context. The first volume of the thesis presents the general overview of the rock art, archaeology and past climates in the Central Sahara, and the results obtained from the fieldwork. The second volume is an Appendix presenting each site studied during the fieldwork which constitutes the basis for the synthesis presented in the first volume.

The primary aim of this thesis is to explore the contribution that aspects of identity can add to our understanding of societies in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Scotland through the carvings they produced. Through a consideration of the history of rock-art research it is established that the identities of the makers of the art have been largely neglected, except as figures in a simple evolutionary schema where they function as exemplars of 'primitives'. Subsequent developments in the field have broadened the debate by focusing on context. Others have considered other aspects of humaness through their attention to sensation and memory, but these positions leave many questions unresolved. Moving beyond this I utilise developments in social sciences to indicate the important place of art in the expression of social and cultural identities. Drawing too on ethnographic analogies the role of art production in the development and maintenance of social relations is highlighted. Although people may share symbols which are used in order to articulate cultural meaning, these elements can also be employed in different ways which are essential to people's sense of community, tradition and identity. The rock-art repertoires of five areas in Scotland are considered and compared primarily as expressions of identity. These are rigorously analysed and differences made apparent at a number of levels. I assert here that rock-art is not a homogenous entity as assumed by some scholars and have sought to move the study of rock -art beyond those of current concerns to ones that consider the identity of the carvers.

This thesis presents a comprehensive review of the rock art in the north of Ireland (in the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Londonderry, Louth, Meath. Monaghan, Tyrone). Research in this substantial geographic area sought to understand the ways in which rock art responded to the natural landscape and other archaeological remains. Through field survey, a number of new panels were identified, both in areas of known rock art, and in areas were the presence of rock art was likely (in areas of known prehistoric significance and topographically distinct part of the survey area). The positive outcome of the survey element of this research suggests that there is more rock art to be found. A combination of GIS and field observations were used to explore particular aspects of the rock art tradition, with an emphasis on geologically centred themes. The outcome of this analysis has demonstrated the presence of distinct region groups of rock art and discrete centres of carving activity, resonating with the regional variability in mortuary monuments, for instance, across extended areas of Britain and Ireland during the Neolithic. In addition, the importance of geological variability in the biographies of individual rock art surfaces and local landscapes has also been explored. Local time frames for the rock art tradition have been suggested on the basis of chronological evidence and analysis of the passage grave art tradition; a number of potentially connected regions outside of Ireland have also been tentatively explored.

This dissertation examines the animal pattern derived from the detailed statistical analysis I carried out of the published rock art data, the data from Brandberg/Daureb region, and fieldwork I conducted in the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. This study, which highlights the value of quantitative analysis and attempts to find alternative interpretations for animal representation in rock art, is the first overview of the distribution of animal in southern African rock art. It provides an opportunity to explain an aspect of the art that has not previously received much attention in southern African rock art studies. While it has been previously noted by different rock art researchers that there is animal variation in terms of which animals are dominant species throughout southern Africa, this study provides the quantitative extent information on how far into which such variation exist. In attempting to provide an explanation for for variation in the representation of animals animal variation in southern African rock art, I use two main approaches: (i) correlation between most represented animals in the art and the ten vegetation biomes of southern Africa, and (ii) the application of the an adapted four-cell matrix model aimed at assessing alternative interpretations of rock art, in particular, the totemic and secular interpretations. Through the first approach, I show that there is a reasonable correlation between the areas where each of the four animals (eland, giraffe, kudu, and springbok) dominates (eland, giraffe, kudu, and springbok) and their known natural distribution. This is confirmed by their historically recorded natural distribution and the by faunal records. By applying the modified four-cell matrix model to rock art data from six regions, I establish that one animal in each takes the central predominance in each. This is a characteristic of shamanic communities. However, the major deviation is that the four-cell derived interpretation does not overly emphasise the dominance of eland to the exclusion of other animals that are well represented in the art.

Rock art remains a tangible part of landscapes for hundreds or thousands of years due to its fixation in space and its potential durability, making it especially valuable in understanding synchronic and diachronic processes of human symbolic engagement with their landscapes. The accretional nature of rock art at sites and in wider landscapes, embodying visible traces of meaningful past human (or ancestral or supernatural) action at specific places, has provoked reactions and response by successive populations. Many rock art sites show evidence of continuous and discontinuous use over considerable periods of time, and many, if not most rock art sites have undergone additions or modifications of pictographs and/or petroglyphs after an initial marking event. Rock art sites often appear to have been attributed significance by their successive users and may have been modified to suit changing perceptions and uses of these places and the wider landscapes. Rock art site- and landscapes are thus 'updated' and transformed during successive marking episodes. Over time they have evolved into palimpsests of 'past' and 'present' marks and marked places. Rock art making and use is, consequently, a dynamic process reflecting changing attitudes to and understandings of places and landscapes. Under these premises the present study introduces and discusses a regional sample of one of the least known bodies of rock art on the African continent, that of sub-Saharan Mali. Based on a substantial corpus of newly recorded rock art from the Baoule-Bakoye region of south-western Mali detailed descriptions of motifs in their site and landscape contexts are provided according to a consistent set of definitions and terms. The discussion of this rock art corpus focuses on the use of graphic symbolism and space at rock art sites in synchronic and diachronic perspectives, including issues of access and audiences, which hint at differences in social contexts of marking. The process of transforming or 'updating' of symbolic landscapes over time is followed in this study by discussing the 'life-histories' of rock art panels, sites and landscapes in the study region. 'Life-histories' of rock art sites comprise an initial marking event (which may have been triggered by a pre-existing importance attached to the particular locality) as well as often multiple subsequent marking events and episodes. The latter may include a variety of reactions to existing rock art, such as modifications of motifs, or the addition of new pictographs or petroglyphs to existing panels, sometimes in superimposition or juxtaposition to existing motifs. Such palimpsests thus inform about changing perceptions and uses of past markings and marked places in the past. Sub-Saharan Mali in addition provides a rare example of a contemporary rock art tradition, that of the Dogon people of the Bandiagara region in the centre of the country, which informs us not only about the social contexts of rock art making and use, but also illustrates interrelationships between symbolically marked places and the construction of personal and group identities. A case study of the Dogon circumcision rock shelter at Songo, where marking and re-marking takes place in a ritual context, follows the life- history of this site over the past century on the basis of a photographic documentation. Songo consequently provides a contemporary example of the dynamic nature and temporality of rock art making and use. It also shows how additions to and modifications of rock art sites in turn influence and transform human engagement with these localities over time. This thesis thus goes beyond the common stylistic approach to rock art in sub-Saharan West Africa, highlighting the dynamic nature of rock art making and use. It introduces contextual and in particular landscape approaches to the recording and study of rock art in sub-Saharan West Africa, while also considering almost a century of documentation and discussion of the rock art imagery. The thesis challenges current understandings of the character, age-range and the presumed social and cultural contexts of rock art in sub-Saharan Mali, and proposes new hypotheses as to the historical and archaeological contexts of this diverse rock art corpus in a diachronic perspective.

This dissertation explores the impact of Bushman images, and the writings of Lucy Lloyd and Wilhelm Bleek (working with the Breakwater Bushmen) on three art works of Pippa Skotnes. They are The Return III (1988), For //Kunn (1993) and Heaven’s Things (1999). It is argued that Bushman imagery, being the result of shamanic trance activities is characterised by imagery, which mammals universally share. The use of the same imagery by the Surrealists in the twentieth century arises not from an intimate interaction with the spirit realm/dream world but from the European longing for an altered reality. Skotnes appropriates Bushman imagery in her prints, narrating the tragic fate of the Bushman. She laments the loss of the transcendental relationship between Man and the Universe. The exploitation, adoption and marketing of Bushman imagery by the tourist industry marks the distinction between her respectful treatment and the materialism of South Africans. / Visual Arts / M.A. (Visual Arts)

This dissertation explores the impact of Bushman images, and the writings of Lucy Lloyd and Wilhelm Bleek (working with the Breakwater Bushmen) on three art works of Pippa Skotnes. They are The Return III (1988), For //Kunn (1993) and Heaven’s Things (1999). It is argued that Bushman imagery, being the result of shamanic trance activities is characterised by imagery, which mammals universally share. The use of the same imagery by the Surrealists in the twentieth century arises not from an intimate interaction with the spirit realm/dream world but from the European longing for an altered reality. Skotnes appropriates Bushman imagery in her prints, narrating the tragic fate of the Bushman. She laments the loss of the transcendental relationship between Man and the Universe. The exploitation, adoption and marketing of Bushman imagery by the tourist industry marks the distinction between her respectful treatment and the materialism of South Africans. / Visual Arts / M.A. (Visual Arts)