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Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-10-06T16:50:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Hérom Silva de Cezaro_.pdf: 7425261 bytes, checksum: ef10a566734d3a111f111a775c4725f5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-06T16:50:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Hérom Silva de Cezaro_.pdf: 7425261 bytes, checksum: ef10a566734d3a111f111a775c4725f5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-18 / Nenhuma / A presente Dissertação de mestrado tem por objetivo fazer o mapeamento, o registro, a análise tipológica e técnica dos sítios e ocorrências arqueológicas de Arte Pré-histórica registrados nos contrafortes da serra geral catarinense, dentro do polígono do Projeto de Pesquisa Arqueologia Entre Rios: do Urussanga ao Mampituba, da Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense-UNESC, e sua comparação com os sítios de Arte Pré-histórica registrados por outros autores em regiões próximas. O intuito é perceber similaridades e diferenças entre padrões gráficos, técnicos e ambientais e assim contribuir para o panorama arqueológico e da Arte Pré-histórica do extremo sul catarinense. Na manipulação do material se acentuaram as diferenças entre os sítios e as outras ocorrências registrados em áreas próximas, mas sobrou uma sensação de parentesco entre todos os sítios da região, sua ligação com a ‘tradição pisadas’ de gravuras e, com relação à população executora, sobressaiu a da tradição cerâmica Itararé. / This Master thesis aims to map the record, the typological and technical analysis of the archaeological sites of prehistoric art registered in the foothills of the Santa Catarina general saw, within the research polygon Archaeology project Entre Rios of Urussanga to Mampituba, the Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense-UNESC, and its comparison with the prehistoric art sites registered by others in nearby regions. The aim is to understand similarities and differences between graphic patterns, technical and environmental and thus contribute to the archaeological landscape and the Prehistoric Art of the southern tip of Santa Catarina. In handling the material they have widened the differences between sites and other occurrences registered in nearby areas but left a feeling of kinship between all sites in the region, its connection with the 'trodden tradition' of prints and, with respect to the executor population , stood the Itararé ceramic tradition.

Thesis (M.A. (Anthropology)) - Rhodes University, 2005.

This thesis proposes a fresh engagement with the idea of the archaic as a means to recover and replenish some of the lost vitality suffered during what William Barrett characterized the modern period as “the gigantic externalization of life.” An introductory essay examines how the related ideas of the archaic, the primal, and the prehistoric have at key moments provided a source of creative energy for the arts of the last century. Collections of found material, and several photographic studies document the city of Niagara Falls—icon of American pop culture and faded relic of romanticism. The photographs present an alternative to the world of the touristic snapshot, and address the questions: In the age of simulation how do we know what is real anymore? Can we learn to see with archaic eyes?

This thesis proposes a fresh engagement with the idea of the archaic as a means to recover and replenish some of the lost vitality suffered during what William Barrett characterized the modern period as “the gigantic externalization of life.” An introductory essay examines how the related ideas of the archaic, the primal, and the prehistoric have at key moments provided a source of creative energy for the arts of the last century. Collections of found material, and several photographic studies document the city of Niagara Falls—icon of American pop culture and faded relic of romanticism. The photographs present an alternative to the world of the touristic snapshot, and address the questions: In the age of simulation how do we know what is real anymore? Can we learn to see with archaic eyes?

Dans cette étude paléontologique, plusieurs méthodes ont été mises au point pour tester les hypothèses sur l’utilité des mustélidés en tant que signal paléoécologique, paléoenvironnemental et chronologique pour les sites préhistoriques du Paléolithique. Les genres Gulo, Martes, Mustela et Meles du Pléistocène et de l’Holocène de la moitié Sud de la France sont étudiés sous l’angle de l’anatomie comparée, de la biométrie et de la morphométrie géométrique sur un matériel très varié : crânien, dentaire et post-crânien. Les mustélidés proviennent de nombreux sites différents par leur âge, climat et altitude : Saint- Vallier, la Caune de l’Arago, Orgnac 3, le Lazaret, le Portel-Ouest, La Fage, La Marche, Siréjol, Villereversure, La Tanne du Beau Prince, la grotte des frères Traversat, Tuchan et Ambrussum. Cette approche systémique a permis de découvrir de nouveaux outils de sexage des mustélidés, sur les I3 notamment. L’indice de constriction orbitaire que nous avons établi livre une diagnose sexuelle très claire sur les blaireaux. La pente de la droite de régression des P4 et des Canines supérieures chez Mustela montre une distinction entre M. martes et M. foina. Nous confirmons la grande variabilité morphologique de ces petits Carnivores, qui reflète les environnements dans lesquels ils vivent ou ont vécu et qui est plus importante que la distinction spécifique chez Martes martes et Martes foina. De même, nous proposons Melesmeles atavus comme sous-espèce chronologique du Pléistocène moyen et présent à la Caune de l’Arago.De plus, les M. thorali, M. palerminea, M. praenivalis présentent plutôt des mandibules robustes et des dents graciles par rapport à leurs homologues actuels. / In this paleontological study, several methods have been developed to test hypotheses about the utility of mustelids as a paleoecological, palaeoenvironmental and chronological signal for prehistoric Paleolithic sites. The genera Gulo, Martes, Mustela and Meles of the Pleistocene and the Holocene of the half of the South of France are studied from the angle of comparative anatomy, biometry and geometrical morphometry on a very varied material: cranial, dental and postcranial. Mustelids come from various sites differed by age, climate and altitude: Saint-Vallier, Caune de l'Arago, Orgnac 3, Lazaret, Portel-Ouest, La Fage, La Marche, Siréjol, Villereversure, the Tanne du Beau Prince, Frères Traversat’s cave, Tuchan and Ambrussum. This systemic approach made it possible to discover new tools for sexing mustelids, particularly on I3. The post-orbital constriction index that we have established provides a very clear sexual diagnosis of badgers. The slope of the regression line of P4 and upper Canines of Mustela shows a distinction between M. martes and M. foina. We confirm the great morphological variability of these small carnivores, that reflects the environments in which they live or have lived and which is more important than the specific distinction in Martes martes and Martes foina. Similarly, we propose Meles meles atavus as a chronological subspecies of the Middle Pleistocene and present at the Caune de l'Arago. In addition, M. thorali, M. palerminea, M. praenivalis have strong mandibles and slender teeth compared to their current counterparts.

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.

En el planteamiento previo de este trabajo nos propusimos cinco objetivos que hemos desarrollado a lo largo del estudio y que se detallan a continuación. 1) Documentación del mural La documentación gráfica del mural ha consistido en la realización de un calco digital del mural en base al programa Photoshop y con la ayuda de la aplicación DStrech. A partir de la documentación gráfica hemos identificado 194 motivos en distintas categorías de figuras animales, humanas y elementos esquemáticos y abstractos distribuidos en cinco sectores de la cueva. Todos estos motivos están reproducidos a escala en el calco general y situados en la planimetría de la cavidad. Además, hemos elaborado una aplicación de base de datos específica para nuestras investigaciones referentes al arte rupestre de las sierras centrales de Baja California. La intención es tener unas descripciones estandarizadas que permitan comparar los datos formales de las figuras de una cavidad entre sí y respecto a otros murales. En este estudio incluimos la descripción de la base de datos y su funcionamiento, así como la información perteneciente a la cavidad de El Ratón en forma de ficha individual de cada figura. 2) Proceso de realización del mural La documentación del mural ha servido para establecer el orden de superposición de las figuras que están en contacto y muestran una estratigrafía cromática. El establecimiento de estas superposiciones no está exento de problemas, derivados principalmente de la apreciación del anclaje de los pigmentos, las transparencias de los colores, los repintes y las reelaboraciones de las figuras. A partir de esta información hemos establecido el proceso de ejecución del mural. Para ello hemos tenido también en consideración elementos compositivos y rasgos formales de las figuras pintadas. El resultado son siete fases consecutivas dentro del proceso muralista. Hemos detallado los puntos en la documentación en los que nos hemos basado para establecer el proceso para que pueda juzgarse su idoneidad, y proponemos estudios más detallados que incluyan la elaboración de láminas delgadas en algunos puntos del mural para cerciorarnos de las superposiciones. Por otra parte, hemos confrontado la propuesta de fases que hemos establecido en El Ratón con las fases que R. Viñas propuso para La Pintada y hemos podido apreciar que algunas formas que caracterizan fases consecutivas de La Pintada siguen el mismo patrón en El Ratón. Esto es especialmente apreciable en la evolución del perfil de los cuerpos y la posición de las patas de los cuadúpedos. 3) Contexto cronocultural Durante mucho tiempo los Grandes Murales se han considerado como un fenómeno relativamente homogéneo vinculado con la cultura Comondú, en un periodo de tiempo incluido en las últimas fases de la prehistoria bajacaliforniana. A partir de las observaciones en distintos murales, nuestro equipo de trabajo advirtió que las fases pictográficas que se observan en algunos frisos podían contravenir esta idea inicial y descubrir que el proceso pictográfico de las sierras centrales de Baja California es dilatado en el tiempo. La documentación realizada por R. Viñas en La Pintada y ahora la que presentamos para el caso de El Ratón confirman esta hipótesis: hay una diversidad de momentos pictóricos en los murales que evidencian cambios culturales en un proceso diacrónico dilatado. R. Viñas propone una distinción entre los Grandes Murales con distintas fases internas —en La Pintada propone cuatro fases para los Grandes Murales—; otra etapa pictórica con la inclusión de nuevas formas gráficas que mantendrían elementos de los Grandes Murales, a la que llama «Tradición Gran Mural», y una etapa final en la que predominan los elementos esquemáticos y abstractos y que se desvincula formalmente de los Grandes Murales. Este esquema coincide con nuestras observaciones en El Ratón, donde las fases 1-3 corresponden plenamente a los Grandes Murales, las fases 4 y 5 se incluirían en esa «Tradición Grandes Murales» y las 6 y 7 se apartan formalmente de esta tradición. No obstante, esta propuesta no deja de ser un esquema inicial y el fenómeno rupestre en Baja California es muy complejo como para pensar que a esta tendencia general no le podremos añadir nuevos matices cuando se documenten un mayor número de cavidades pintadas. Las fases finales del arte rupestre de Baja California corresponden a los habitantes de la península que conocieron a los colonizadores europeos. Otra cuestión es establecer el inicio del proceso y las fases intermedias. Las fechas directas sobre los murales establecen una antigüedad que se remonta al Arcaico temprano. La fecha que consideramos fiable obtenida del puma n.º 41 de la cueva de El Ratón (4.845 ±60 BP) es coherente con este entorno de dataciones. Sin embargo, no podemos dar la cuestión por zanjada. En el futuro se deberán establecer proyectos de datación que persigan objetivos específicos. Proponemos la búsqueda de fechas radiocarbónicas que relacionen figuras de las fases de la cronología relativa que se deriva de la documentación, en espera de una coherencia que dé sentido al estudio del proceso y que, posteriormente, sea comparable con el estudio de otros murales. En el caso de El Ratón, la documentación presentada facilita el proceso de selección de figuras potencialmente interesantes para confirmar o corregir la propuesta de las fases pictóricas. 4) Análisis de la composición gráfica del mural El análisis de la composición gráfica del mural nos ha permitido identificar relaciones entre distintas figuras o elementos internos de las pinturas que hemos interpretado como códigos del lenguaje muralista. Los pintores han utilizados los motivos iconográficos, formas, colores, contactos entre figuras, relaciones de simetría, ubicación en el espacio, líneas visuales, sucesiones, actitud y posición de las figuras para crear estos códigos. Estos se manifiestan en ocasiones por su valor recurrente, otras por contraste u oposición y se hacen evidentes en la composición de manera que resultan significativos. Las relaciones codificadas permiten identificar la temática representada dentro del mismo mural, y observar diferencias de estos tratamientos entre sus distintas fases. Conforme avance el estudio de los murales podremos establecer la distribución en extensión geográfica y profundidad histórica de estos códigos y así se convertirán en un elemento para discernir el proceso histórico de los murales rupestres de Baja California. Podremos ver también cómo estos recursos se asemejan o diferencian entre las sierras de San Francisco, Guadalupe y San Borja en una visión amplia del fenómeno de los Grandes Murales. 5) Funcionalidad de la cueva de El Ratón Las cuevas pintadas de la sierra de San Francisco han sido consideradas, a menudo, como agreggaton sites. Tal como fueron definidos para el Paleolítico, estos son yacimientos donde se reúne un grupo numeroso de personas para llevar a cabo una serie de rituales y actos sociales y se caracterizan por una ocupación de mucha gente por poco tiempo. Se espera que esto se refleje de alguna manera en el sedimento arqueológico y en consecuencia quede rastro de la estacionalidad que caracteriza a estas reuniones. Por otro lado, el sitio ha de reunir unas condiciones que permitan concentrar un número importante de asistentes, abundancia de elementos rituales muebles y un panel decorado que presente elementos singulares y decoraciones genéricas. En nuestra opinión, no todas las cuevas pintadas del área de los Grandes Murales cumplían la misma función. Esta apreciación deriva de las obvias diferencias entre distintos tipos de cuevas pintadas que conocemos en las sierras de San Francisco. No es lo mismo una cueva como La Pintada con más de mil figuras, una temática muy variada, muchas fases de realización del mural y una extensión considerable, que pequeñas oquedades que pueden encontrarse en varios barrancos con un número reducido de pinturas, u otras cavidades de mediano tamaño, un mural relativamente con pocas pinturas y una temática unitaria. Pero por el momento, no tenemos unas características definidas que categoricen los distintos tipos de cueva pintada ni siquiera estos sitios de congregación. En el caso de la cueva de El Ratón hemos confrontado sus datos con los provenientes de La Pintada, La Serpiente y El Porcelano y hemos visto que participan de ciertas similitudes y diferencias significativas. En primer lugar, las cuevas de La Pintada y El Ratón son amplias y con una terraza que permite la reunión de un grupo considerable de personas. La cueva de La Serpiente es una grieta en el cantil que apenas puede albergar un número muy reducido de personas y El Porcelano es una cueva mediana sin mucho espacio para grandes reuniones. Si a estas propiedades morfológicas añadimos las características de los respectivos murales vemos que El Ratón y La Pintada comparten rasgos comunes en contraste con los casos de La Serpiente y El Porcelano. Las cuevas de El Ratón y La Pintada presentan una considerable variabilidad de rasgos estilísticos y de recursos técnicos, una paleta de colores amplia y un repertorio iconográfico extenso, a tal punto que los porcentajes son muy similares. Por el contrario, El Porcelano y La Serpiente muestran una gran homogeneidad interna de rasgos estilísticos y de recursos técnicos, una paleta de colores casi monótona y poca variabilidad iconográfica. Es decir, tienen unos rasgos formales muy homogéneos en sus respectivos murales aunque sean dispares entre sí. Por otra parte, en El Ratón y La Pintada existe un proceso de realización prolongado en el tiempo, con distintas fases pictóricas y numerosas superposiciones. Las características de cuatro cuevas pintadas no son suficientes para caracterizar sitios arqueológicos complejos como son los murales pintados de Baja California. Sin embargo, esta comparación orienta en la búsqueda de estas características. De manera provisional y presumiblemente incompleta proponemos que las características que pueden definir los lugares de congregación en la sierra de San Francisco: — Lugares amplios que permitan la reunión de un número importante de gente. — Murales que presenten una considerable variabilidad de rasgos técnicos, estilísticos, cromáticos e iconográficos. — El proceso muralista será dilatado en el tiempo y mostrará diferentes fases. — Probablemente presentarán un tema principal que se complementará en las sucesivas etapas pictóricas y, en algunos casos, se añadirán nuevos temas. Distintos a estos grandes santuarios, podemos encontrar sitios con pinturas que respondan a una temática muy particular, realizados en un momento histórico concreto sin que el uso más o menos continuado del sitio haya requerido ampliar o modificar el mural. Pensamos que corresponden a lugares donde se han celebrado rituales más privados o que han sido pintados por algún motivo muy concreto. Por lo que se refiere al sedimento arqueológico, hemos de advertir que en las cuevas pintadas de estas sierras la potencia estratigráfica es pobre y que el número de excavaciones de que disponemos es escaso. Por eso no nos atrevemos a predecir cómo sería este sedimento en relación con las cuevas pintadas en lugares de congregación. En todo caso, diremos que en El Ratón no hemos identificado disposiciones de material significativas más allá de una concentración del material en hilera paralela a la pared, y que sí hemos documentado unas estructuras de combustión peculiares en cuanto a su función, que pensamos que están relacionadas con los rituales que se llevaron a cabo en este santuario rupestre. Hemos de añadir que la temática representada la cueva de El Ratón muestra una serie de relaciones con temas mitológicos documentados etnográficamente en el entorno cultural, lo que permite una propuesta interpretativa del mural en relación con aspectos astronómicos ligados a los solsticios y, por lo tanto, a la mitología de la renovación estacional y mantenimiento de la periodicidad. Esta propuesta precisa de un estudio más detallado que incluya observaciones in situ en los periodos señalados —especialmente durante el solsticio de verano— y cálculos arqueoastronómicos que abarquen los periodos históricos que nos interese documentar. Para finalizar, presentamos este trabajo del mural de El Ratón como un elemento a tener en cuenta en el estudio global de los Grandes Murales y con la esperanza de crear discusión al respecto. Consideramos que para avanzar necesitamos documentaciones exhaustivas de los murales y el análisis individualizado de los mismos para poder, luego, contrastarlos. Para ello es necesario desarrollar metodologías de documentación que permitan comparaciones parangonables. En este empeño seguiremos trabajando. / The archaeological site of El Ratón Cave: A painted cave in the Sierra de San Francisco (Baja California Sur, Mexico). The painted mural. Albert Rubio i Mora In a previous proposal of this work, we set out five aims which have been developed throughout the present research. These are described below. 1) Recording of the mural painting The visual recording of the mural painting consisted of making a digital carbon copy of the mural using the Photoshop software and with aid of the DStrech plugin. Using this visual record, we have identified 194 motifs of various classes, animal figures, humans, schematic and abstract designs, scattered over five sections in the cave. All of these motifs have been reproduced to scale on the general copy and located in the planimetry of the cave. Additionally, we have compiled a special database for researching the rock art of the Baja California central mountain ranges, or sierras. The aim is to create a resource of standardised descriptions that will allow researchers to compare the formal qualities of the motifs at both the intra- and inter-site levels. In this study, we have included the description of the database and its use, as well as documentation of the data from El Ratón Cave in individual records for each figure. 2) The creation process of the mural The work of recording the painted mural has been useful to establish the order of superimposition of the overlapping figures, which has revealed a chromatic stratigraphy. Determining the order of superimposing images is not without its problems, particularly due to the difficulty of perceiving the pigment background, the colour overlay, and the repainting and modification of the motifs. Using this information, we have been able to establish the sequence of the creation process of the mural. To reconstruct this process, we have also taken into account the composition and formal properties of the figures. The result reveals seven consecutive phases of the painting process. We have detailed the aspects of the record upon which the reconstruction of the work process is based so that it can be assessed. We suggest more specific studies that include making thin prints of some mural sections to corroborate the superimpositions. Finally, we have contrasted our proposal of sequential painting phases at El Ratón with the phases suggested by R. Viñas for La Pintada. We concluded that certain forms which characterize the consecutive phases at La Pintada follow the same pattern at El Ratón. This is better appreciated in the evolution of the profile of the bodies and the position of the quadruped’s feet. 3) Chrono-cultural context For a long time, the Great Murals were considered a relatively homogeneous phenomenon linked to the Comondú culture, which belongs to the latter period of the Baja Californian prehistory. According to the observations made in several rock art sites, our research team noticed that the sequential pictorial phases of some of the panels seemed to contradict that initial assumption and showed that, to the contrary, the painting tradition of the central mountain ranges of Baja California had a long time depth. The recording of La Pintada by R. Viñas and our own research at El Ratón corroborate the hypothesis that there are different painting events in the mural tradition which reflect cultural changes in a long diachronic process. R. Viñas has distinguished various internal phases within the Great Murals. Based on the analysis at La Pintada, he has suggested four Great Mural phases, one pictorial period that includes novel motifs that keep to the elements of the Great Murals, which he has called Great Mural Tradition, and a final phase dominated by schematic and abstract motifs, which is formally removed from the Great Murals. This scheme coincides with our observations at El Ratón, where phases 1 to 3 clearly correspond with the Great Murals, phases 4 and 5 belong to the Great Murals Tradition, and 6 to 7 move away from that tradition. Nevertheless, this proposal is only an initial scheme and the rock art of Baja California is too complex to think that this trend will remain unchanged as more painted sites are recorded. The final phases of the rock art of Baja California belong to the peoples that inhabited the peninsula when the European pioneers arrived. A more pressing issue is to establish the age of the initial and intermediate phases. The direct dates obtained from the paintings suggest an age going back to the early Archaic. The most reliable date, obtained from figure no. 41, the puma, at El Ratón Cave (4,845 +60 BP) is coherent with the range of those dates. However, the issue is not completely resolved. Future dating projects should have well-defined aims. We suggest that radiocarbon dates should concentrate on relating specific figures to the phases of the relative chronology derived from our observations, in order to make sense of the creation process and create a data set that may be compared across mural sites. In the case of El Ratón, our recording can help towards the selection of motifs that could be used for sampling, to test the sequence of pictorial phases. 4) Analysis of the mural’s visual composition The analysis of the visual composition of the mural has thrown light on the associations among figures or internal elements of the paintings, which we interpret as the codes of the mural’s language. To create such codes, the artists seem to have used the iconographic motifs, forms, colours, image overlaps, symmetry relations, location in space, visual lines, sequences, attitude and situation of the motifs. These codes may be identified by their recurrence, contrast, or opposition and become evidently meaningful in the total composition. The codified associations allow us to identify the themes represented in the mural and to distinguish differences between those associations across the various phases. As the research of the murals moves forward we will be able to establish the geographical distribution and historical depth of such codes so that they will become a component that will aid in clarifying the history of the Great Murals of Baja California. We may also be able to observe whether the codes are similar or different across the sierras of San Francisco, Guadalupe and San Borja, in order to obtain a general picture of the Great Mural phenomenon. 5) The function of Cueva del Ratón The painted caves of sierra de San Francisco have often been considered as ‘aggregation sites’. These type of sites, initially defined for the European Palaeolithic, are locations where a numerous group of people convene to carry out a series of rituals and social activities. Thus, they are characterized by a short but intensive occupation. This would somehow be reflected in the archaeological record, leaving some traces of the seasonality that generally typifies such gatherings. Furthermore, the aggregation site should comply with certain conditions to allow the concentration of a large number of attendants, and it should contain portable ritual objects and decorated panels that show singular elements and general motifs. In our opinion, not all painted caves in the region of the Great Murals had the same function. This observation is based on the obvious differences between the various types of painted caves that are known in Sierra de San Francisco. For example, a cave like La Pintada – with over a thousand figures, varied themes, a mural with several creation phases and a large extension – is not the same as the small crevices scattered across the various cliffs with only a few paintings, or the medium-sized rock shelters that contain panels with relatively few figures and one theme. For now, we do not have a fixed set of criteria to categorise the different types of painted caves, or the aggregation sites. In the case of El Ratón Cave, we have contrasted our data against the data from the sites of La Pintada, La Serpeinte and El Porcelano, and we have been able to observe certain meaningful similarities and differences. First, the caves of La Pintada and El Ratón are big and both have a gallery that would allow the gathering of a large group of people. La Serpiente cave is a cliff crevice that can allow access to only a small number of people, and El Porcelano is a medium-sized cave with not much space for a gathering. If these morphological characteristics are seen side by side with the properties of each site’s paintings, we observe that El Ratón and La Pintada share several common traits , whereas this is not the case with La Serpiente and El Porcelano. The caves of El Ratón and La Pintada both show a considerable range of stylistic properties and techniques, an extensive colour palette and iconographic repertoire, to the point that their percentages are quite similar. In contrast, El Porcelano and La Serpiente show a great internal homogeneity of stylistic properties and techniques, an almost monotone colour palette, and little iconographic variety. That is to say, the formal properties of each site’s paintings are very homogeneous, although very different between them. Furthermore, El Ratón and La Pintada reflect a long creation process with different painting phases an numerous superimpositions. The characteristics of just four painted caves are not enough to embody the complex archaeological phenomenon that is the Great Mural rock art of Baja California. However, our observations can guide our search for such criteria. Provisionally and presumably incompletely, we suggest certain characteristics that may define the aggregation sites in the sierra de San Francisco: - Large sites that allow the gathering of a great number of people. - Murals that show considerable variability of techniques, styles, colours, and motifs. - The creation process will have a long time depth and will show several work phases. - Are likely to depict a main theme that will be expanded upon in successive painting stages, and in some cases, new themes will be added. In contrast to the large sanctuaries, there are sites with paintings that portray a singular theme, painted in one single historical moment. Even if these sites were sometimes used continuously over time their murals were not extended or modified. We think that these sites may have been used to celebrate more private rituals or were painted with a very particular aim. Regarding the archaeological sediment, we must point out that the painted caves of the Baja Californian sierras have a poor stratigraphy and the number of excavations has been scarce. For this reason, we can not make any suggestions as to how the sediment of the painted caves would differ from that of aggregation sites. In any case, we will mention that at El Ratón we have not been able to identify any relevant accumulation of archaeological material apart from a concentration of objects aligned to the cave wall. We also recorded some peculiar combustion structures whose function, we believe, may be related to the rituals that were carried out at this rock sanctuary. In addition, the theme depicted at El Ratón Cave has a series of similarities with mythological subjects documented in the ethnography of the cultural region. This allows us to suggest an interpretive reading of the mural in regards of astronomical topics related to the solstices, and consequently to the myth of the seasonal rebirth and cyclic continuity. This suggestion requires a more detailed study that should include in situ observation of the mentioned dates – especially, the summer solstice- and archaeoastronomic calculations that include the historical period we want to research. --- Finally, we present this study of El Ratón mural as a contribution to the global study of the Great Murals, and with it we hope to open a scholarly discussion. We believe that to move forward in this field we need extensive records of the murals and an individual analysis that can be tested afterwards. To this aim we need to develop recording methods that allow us to make reasonable comparisons. We will keep working towards that end.