Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2010. / Includes abstract. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Title from first page of PDF file (viewed May 19, 2010). Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Montana, 2007. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed July 17, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-101).

This thesis presents a holistic study of connections in the Altai Mountains of the eastern Eurasian Steppe, as shown by rock-art. Currently divided by four countries, pecked images (petroglyphs) and painted images from the 2^nd-1^st millennium BCE have been subjected to very separate research traditions, exacerbated by language barriers. This thesis focusses on the entire Altai Mountain range as a study area, integrating research published in Chinese and Russian, with supplementary literature in Kazakh and Mongolian consulted. To demonstrate the potential for connectivity and, consequently, movement, a map of accessibility was generated, showing that there are various optimal routes for movement throughout the Altai. The locations of rock-art sites relative to these routes indicate that movement was a key feature contributing to the creation of rock-art. Examining topographic features in the vicinity of rock-art sites of three regions (Mongolia, Russia, PRC) highlighted an association between watercourses and sites, whilst studying the micro-landscape within panels found that the creators of rock-art were not representing the tangible spatial relationship of figures to the landscape. More broadly, similarities between motifs at rock-art sites, as well as on portable art, demonstrate that the people making them, regardless of whether they were aware of it or not, were part of a wider understanding of how to depict subjects. Evidence of this understanding can be found even in regions with very different cultural backgrounds to the Steppe, such as the Chinese Central Plains, demonstrating that groups outside of the Steppe were aware of and using this way of representing. By combining analysis of motifs with that of the landscape, this thesis demonstrates that rock-art as a practice was inherently linked with to the landscape, whereas content and style are more indicative of a wide-ranging belief system amongst Steppe pastoralists, which was expressed aesthetically.

The rock engraving site of Driekopseiland, west of Kimberley in the Northern Cape is distinctively situated on glaciated basement rock in the bed of the Riet River, and has a wealth of over 3500 engravings, preponderantly geometric images. Most other sites in the region have greater proportions of, or are dominated by, animal imagery. In early interpretations, it was often considered that ethnicity was the principal factor in this variabilty. From the 1960s the focus shifted more to establishing a quantative definition of the site, and an emperical understanding of it within the emerging cultural and environmental history of the region.

The rock engraving site of Driekopseiland, west of Kimberley in the Northern Cape is distinctively situated on glaciated basement rock in the bed of the Riet River, and has a wealth of over 3500 engravings, preponderantly geometric images. Most other sites in the region have greater proportions of, or are dominated by, animal imagery. In early interpretations, it was often considered that ethnicity was the principal factor in this variabilty. From the 1960s the focus shifted more to establishing a quantative definition of the site, and an emperical understanding of it within the emerging cultural and environmental history of the region.

This study examines rock art sites containing scratched petroglyphs in the Bennett Hills, Idaho. Despite their research potential, scratched petroglyphs have received little attention in rock art research or literature. This study contributes valuable data to scratched rock art research and the corpus of rock art research in general. Two samples of ten scratched petroglyph sites were examined and recorded for a total of twenty petroglyph sites. Using formal and contextual research methods, multiple attributes of scratched petroglyphs are identified and analyzed. The formal qualities of scratched petroglyphs are examined to define the extent and to characterize the motif assemblage. Formal qualities were also studied to test hypotheses concerning the relationship between scratched and pecked petroglyph styles and associations between scratched petroglyphs and other archaeological phenomena. The contexts of scratched petroglyphs are studied on site and landscape scales to identify correlations with other archaeological phenomena and environments. The formal analyses revealed that there are more scratched petroglyphs in the Bennett Hills than records and literature currently indicate. Few site records document the presence of scratched petroglyphs, although as a result of this analysis it appears to be ubiquitous in the Bennett Hills. It is possible that scratched petroglyphs are under recorded in other locales as well, and that further investigations may identify a greater frequency of scratched petroglyphs throughout the Great Basin. Proper identification of scratched petroglyphs may alter how these properties are evaluated and in turn how they are managed. The Bennett Hills encompass a limited and unique assemblage of scratched petroglyph motifs that are dissimilar to petroglyphs manufactured using other techniques. This is significant in that it helps support the idea that scratched petroglyphs are distinct. Rather than just an alternative method to pecking, scratched petroglyphs serve a unique function that is different from and independent of pecked petroglyphs. Contextual analyses indicated that scratched petroglyphs are located in patterned and significant associations with artifacts, features, environments, and landscapes. The contextual analysis suggested that scratched rock art was produced in a public context in close proximity to subsistence related activities, perhaps in association with resource gathering events. There are various hypotheses that deal with the interaction between scratched and pecked petroglyph styles. Scratched petroglyphs occur both independent of and in association with other pecked petroglyph styles, although scratched petroglyphs do not commonly occur with any one pecked motif. When scratched and pecked petroglyph styles overlap scratched petroglyphs are always later than and superimposed over earlier pecked petroglyphs. Data was collected to test three hypotheses concerning the intention of association between scratched and pecked petroglyphs. It does not appear that scratched petroglyphs serve to obliterate earlier pecked petroglyphs or function as a sketch that would be pecked later. There is evidence that some scratched petroglyphs enhance earlier pecked petroglyphs however, this hypothesis cannot sufficiently describe the range of patterns and associations found in the Bennett Hills scratched petroglyph assemblage. Hypotheses suggesting associations between scratched rock art and other archaeological phenomena were also examined. The association between scratched petroglyphs and scratched stones is deserving of further research. It may also be too soon to dismiss the association between scratched petroglyphs and quartz. The examination of scratched petroglyphs in the Bennett Hills provides a unique insight into the minds of the makers of these petroglyphs, contributing valuable data our knowledge of the prehistoric peoples of the Bennett Hills and surrounding areas.

Tratamos aqui de um estudo preliminar acerca das gravuras rupestres (petróglifos) situadas no baixo rio Negro, entre os municípios de Novo Airão e Barcelos, Estado do Amazonas. Nesta área foram foto-documentados e geo-referenciados, até o presente, 20 sítios rupestres ribeirinhos, a céu aberto, parcialmente submersos, em afloramentos rochosos areníticos e graníticos contendo gravuras de origem indígena pré-colonial. Estes sítios não apresentam depósitos arqueológicos e, portanto, não podem ser escavados nem inequivocamente associados aos sítios cerâmicos adjacentes na área (o que pecisa ser testado, todavia). Desta maneira, se configuram em variáveis quase isoladas, sem relações diretas com o restante do registro arqueológico regional nem datações de nenhum tipo. Cronologias internas e pontuais de alguns painéis podem, no entanto, ser identificadas sugerindo reuso e reavivamento diacrônico das gravuras. A área amostral apresenta variabilidade geológica (contato do escudo cristalino com bacia sedimentar) e variabilidade hidrográfica (confluência dos rios Negro/Branco/Jauaperi/Unini/Jaú). Propomos que essas características geoambientais podem estar contribuindo para a variabilidade no fenômeno gráfico-rupestre que estamos detectando na área, o que pode indicar diferenças crono-culturais na autoria desses petróglifos. De fato, o conhecimento acerca da conjuntura geológica da área levou-nos à proposição da variabilidade estilística como hipótese preliminar, o que foi confirmado no primeiro contato com essas gravuras e se constitui, portanto, em nosso primeiro resultado de pesquisa concreto, a identificação da variabilidade gráfico-rupestre na área, um quadro marcadamente heterogêneo. Dentre as abordagens teóricas correntes na arqueologia escolhemos utilizar duas delas em conjunto reflexivo. A primeira delas , na primeira parte do texto, se refere ao método formal de estudo de arte rupestre, a partir do qual podemos entender as gravuras rupestres (e pinturas) como sistemas pré-históricos de comunicação visual que funcionariam como linguagens gráfico-simbólicas das comunidades autoras. Nessa perspectiva, seriam passíveis de estudo enquanto uma variável, ou resultante, do comportamento humano no passado inseridas no registro arqueológico, portando características formalmente identificáveis e mensuráveis, estruturadas em perfis gráficos (perfis estilísticos) que, hipotética e simplificadamente, indicariam os perfis sociais dos autores rupestres. Utilizamos aportes da semiótica e da antropologia visual, entre outros, para análise de códigos simbólicos onde se evita a interpretação de significados, apoiando-se exclusivamente na análise formal do significante gráfico baseada nos aspectos materiais, ou seja, aspectos técnicos, morfo-temáticos, cenográficos, tafonômicos e geo-ambientais do grafismo rupestre. A segunda abordagem se traduz por uma tentativa de interpretação de um dos fenômenos gráficos identificados na área, através de associação a um complexo mitoritualístico característico do Alto Rio Negro, denominado genericamente de Jurupari. São identificadas correspondências entre a iconografia deste corpus gráfico e as representações públicas etnografadas relacionadas ao processo ritual e às narrativas míto-cosmológicas respectivas do complexo do Jurupari. Trata-se, pois, de um experimento com o método informado de estudo, em que um conjunto de discursos ameríndios é utilizado na classificação rupestre, neste caso, através, ainda que criticamente, de analogia etnográfica indireta. Se o processo de identificação das formas, desambiguação formal, e classificação (ordenamento de padrões gráfico-espaciais) das diferenças observadas entre formas se convertem na espinha dorsal da pesquisa; a segunda parte se converte numa tentativa de olhar as gravuras pela percepção ameríndia, ainda que indiretamente através de meta-representações etnográficas e testar, em caráter interpretativo, uma correspondência entre fração das gravuras encontradas e mitos e ritos ameríndios, com vistas para além dos modelos formais estilísticos não-indígenas. / This research presents a preliminary study about the petroglyphs from a sample area between Old Ayrão village and Branco river\'s mouth, at the lower Negro river basin, Western Brazilian Amazon. They comprise a corpus of open air and underwater Rock Art sites, fifteen (15) up until now, located on sandstone and granite riverine boulders and outcrops. Given the absence of archaeological stratified deposits, these sites can neither be excavated nor unequivocally related to adjacent ceramic sites in the survey area (which remains a possibility to be tested). Thus, they are bound in contextual isolation, lacking spatial as well as chronological control, remaining as outsiders of the archaeological record. The area presents geological variability (contact between crystalline Guiana shield and Amazon sedimentary basin) as well as hydrographical variability (confluence among Negro, Branco, Jauaperi, Unini and Jaú rivers). We propose that this environmental set contributes to the graphical variability we are detecting inside the rock art corpus (suggesting discrete corpora), which indicates possible chronological and cultural distinctions in the prehistoric authorship of these petroglyphs. Indeed, the preliminary knowledge of the actual geological context of the survey area, as well as its major fluvial confluence, has led us to first postulate the hypothesis of stylistic variability which was confirmed in the first contact with these petroglyphs. This, in fact, constitutes the first concrete result of our research, the identification of a multi-stylistic rock art zone in the Negro\'s basin, which we think is deeply related to the environmental set of the survey area, which in its turn was partially responsible for the establishment of different cultural groups, and the development of different cultural ways of representing the cognizable world (visible and invisible) into discrete strategies of visual thinking on the basin along the Holocene. Among the current approaches to rock art study we have chosen to apply two different but complementary general methods, Formal and Informed, as a dialectical reflexive conjunct. The first part of the text is committed to the formal method. Under this token, we are considering the petroglyphs (and pictographs) like prehistoric systems of visual thinking and communication, quasi-linguistically organized graphic-symbolic codes, of the authors\' communities. Focus on rock art under this scope (as a variable, or resultant, of human past behavior, culturally organized, inserted in the environment - archaeological record) is a profitable strategy in order to identify and measure formal material characteristics of rock art assemblages, which, we believe, can lead to the identification of discrete sets of structured graphical patterns that, hypothetically and simplistically, could be related to the socialcognitive profiles of those communities. So, we are applying a set of theoretical constructs, basically derived from semiotics, visual anthropology and cognitive archaeology, to the analysis of visual symbolic codes, holding our attention on the graphic signifier (the material object) and avoiding the interpretation of specific meanings over the form (guessing signified concepts deriving from iconic resemblances between forms and \"real things\" in the non- Indian archaeologist\'s cosmology). By material signifier in rock art we comprehend those material aspects such like technique, morphology, thematic, syntactical combinations and compositions, taphonomy and other geo-environmental variables. The second approach, informed method, is devoted here to a tentative interpretation of one of the stylistic profiles identified; comparing some of its distinctive iconic patterns to the Upper Negro River Myth- Ritual Complex of Jurupari, devised as a multi-ethnic religious complex that hypothetically pervaded the entire basin during pre-colonial times. We are suggesting by the present evidence that these cultural manifestations (Jurupari and this specific rock art corpus), separated in time-space, could be related to a same system of expressive, ideological and cognitive phenomena in the past, with a specific locational insertion in the surveyed area. So, if identifying forms (formal disambiguation), and classification (ordering of graphic-spatial patterns) of observed differences among forms are converted into the spinal cord of this research, the second part is, nevertheless, equally important in the way it provides a rudimentary tentative of looking to rock art through Amerindian eyes and test the potential of ethnographic meta-representations to illuminate archaeological reasoning about rock art phenomena in the Negro\'s basin. That is, an interpretive approach targeting some sort of explanation beyond the non-indigenous formal stylistic constructs (but, what remains to be tested in the area is the rock art analysis directly through Amerindian prefrontal cortex, a kind of neural-cognitive otherness experiential approach, which would imply, for future experiments, in direct participative observations, possibly involving an Indian specialist and archaeologist\'s Caapi - B. caapi - consumption for perceptual and ontological purification and subsequent observation of petroglyphs and dialogue among them and the rocks).

The importance of managing and conserving cultural heritage can not be overemphasised. It is this realisation that has prompted the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to declare identified sites of cultural importance as World Heritage Sites. The uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park (UDP) was declared such a site in 2000, with its natural properties and cultural heritage as the criteria for inscription. The cultural heritage centres on the vast quantity of rock art that is renowned for its quality and diversity of subject. It is an important consideration for future generations to have the opportunity to view and understand this rich history and culture. There are increasing human and natural impacts on this non-renewable resource and to minimise these impacts and thus ensure the longevity of the resource it is necessary to develop a multi faceted selection of management and conservation tools. This realisation led the Programme of Geornatics, University of KwaZulu-Natal to conceptualise a project to develop a web-based Geographical Information System (GIS) specifically aimed at assisting in the management and conservation of rock art sites for the Valley of Pools in the Cathedral Peak Conservation Area of the UDP. Data for the project was captured in the field using Global Positioning System (GPS), digital camera and video camera as well as conventional hardcopy documentation. Existing digital spatial data and descriptive data were also collected from relevant stakeholders and a commercial organization. A pilot spatial database was then developed using ArcGIS@9 and Microsoft Access@, and later tested using a set of integrated simulated queries reflective of routine questions that users may request. Upon obtaining satisfactory responses to the queries, the integrated database was migrated and authored in ArcIMS®9 where it was further tested, and subsequently access was given to selected external professionals, both nationally and internationally, from various backgrounds, for evaluation purposes. Feedback from this process was favourably obtained. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

After the pioneering work of Julio C. Tello, Frédéric Engel and John H. Rowe on the Formative and Preceramic periods, few advances have been made in the investigation of early cultural developments on the south coast of Perú. This is especially true for the Río Grande de Nasca drainage, where there is a lack of data regarding early human occupation. The Nasca-Palpa Archaeological Project aims to reconstruct the human occupation of the Palpa valleys during all Prehispanic periods. In this article we present a summary of the evidence for the Paracas culture by presenting data recovered over the past ten years from several sites inthe Palpa valleys for the Initial Period and the Archaic period. We describe the settlement patterns, architecture, and funerary practices, as well as other cultural manifestations of the early periods, for instance, petroglyphs, geoglyphs, ceramics and other types of artifacts. We also carry out a preliminary reconstruction of the prehispanic settlement history of the Palpa valleys, beginning with the Middle Archaic period (ca. 3800 BC) and ending with the Inka period. More than 150 radiocarbon dates are used to establish a chronology of the different periods of human settlement in the Palpa valleys. / Después de los trabajos pioneros de Julio C. Tello, Frédéric Engel y John H. Rowe sobre el Periodo Formativo y Precerámico, no se han dado muchos avances en la investigación de los desarrollos tempranos en la costa sur del Perú. Para la cuenca del río Grande de Nasca, en especial, existen pocos datos sobre la ocupación humana en los periodos tempranos. El Proyecto Arqueológico Nasca-Palpa tiene como objetivo investigar este desarrollo en los valles de Palpa durante todas las etapas de la época prehispánica. En este artículo se presenta un resumen de las evidencias sobre la época Paracas, el Periodo Inicial y el Periodo Arcaico recuperadas en esa región en los últimos 10 años. Se describen patrones de asentamiento, rasgos arquitectónicos y patrones funerarios, así como otras manifestaciones culturales, como petroglifos, geoglifos, cerámica, entre otros tipos de hallazgos. Hasta el momento se ha podido reconstruir la historia ocupacional de los valles de Palpa desde el Periodo Arcaico Medio (aproximadamente 3800 a.C.) hasta el periodo inka. Más de 150 fechados de radiocarbono permiten respaldar la cronología de los diferentes momentos de ocupación de los valles de Palpa con fechas calendáricas.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa e à Inovação Tecnológica do Estado de Sergipe - FAPITEC/SE / By mid-18th Century Rock Art (petroglyphs) in Maranhão, Brazil, was first registered by Yves d’Evreux, a french priest, who came to know about its existence from a speech of an indian witchdoctor. These petroglyphs were centuries later described and reproduced by naturalists. In spite of its remarkable importance, these symbolic pre-colonial remains located in the Center-South and South-West regions of the country have been scarcely studied. These rock art sites are part of an ample cultural context including landscape itself and its characteristics that reflect preferences and uses of ancient groups of people.It is probable that the choice for specific petroglyphs supports is related to the availability of suitable areas and the authors’ past landscape experiences and the sensorial aspects that emanate from it. This research work presents a phenomenological approach for the study of the Chapada das Mesas National Park rock art and landscape, so to understand how the sites are physically engaged and to identify features affecting the choice of supports by their materialization and insertion in the regional geomorphological context. So, it was developed a spatial analysis of the sites, paths and local borders, rock surfaces with art and its characteristics, water resources in different forms, the sites and art visibility and the landscape aspects related to perceptions and body movement. A visual register of the rock art was made through the use of digital technology, scanner Artec Eva 3D, producing data and contributing to the discussion about the technological advantages and disadvantages of such a method for documenting and analyzing archaeological remains. / Em meados do século XVII, as gravuras rupestres no Maranhão foram identificadas, a partir do discurso de um pajé indígena, pelo religioso francês Yves d’ Evreux, e, alguns séculos depois, painéis chegaram a ser descritos e reproduzidos por naturalistas. Apesar de serem os vestígios pré-coloniais mais notáveis no Centro-Sul e Sudoeste do Estado, os estudos referentes a essas manifestações simbólicas ainda são escassos no Maranhão. Entende-se que os sítios possuidores de arte rupestre estão incluídos em um contexto cultural amplo que envolve a própria construção da paisagem e características que indicam a preferência das sociedades pretéritas por determinados locais bem como seus usos. Acredita-se que a escolha dos suportes gravados estaria relacionada não apenas a disponibilidade de áreas a serem gravadas, mas, a experiência com a paisagem que esses autores teriam tido no passado, considerando, sobretudo, os aspectos sensoriais que dela emanam. Assim esta pesquisa considerou a abordagem fenomenológica para o estudo das gravuras rupestres e da paisagem no Parque Nacional Chapada das Mesas a fim de compreender como estes sítios estão engajados fisicamente e, identificar características que pudessem influenciar ou não a escolha dos suportes gravados a partir da materialização e inserção destas, no contexto geomorfológico regional. Desse modo, foi realizada uma análise espacial dos sítios, dos caminhos e fronteiras locais, dos suportes gravados e de suas características, das fontes hídricas em suas diferentes formas, a visibilidade dos sítios, das gravuras e de outros aspectos da paisagem que envolvem a percepção e o movimento corporal. Dentro dessa perspectiva a pesquisa também propôs o registro visual das gravuras rupestres a partir do decalque digital e do scanner de mão Artec Eva 3D, trazendo apontamentos sobre as possíveis contribuições, vantagens e desvantagens desse recurso metodológico para documentar e analisar esses vestígios arqueológicos.