- Introduction: Towards an Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art
- Interpretative Frameworks and the Study of the Rock Arts
- North European Rock Art: A Long-Term Perspective
- The Rock Art of Sub-Scandinavian Europe
- The Archaeology of Rock Art in Northern Africa
- The Rock Art of Sub-Saharan Africa
- Rock Art of Northern, Central, and Western Asia
- The Rock Art of South and East Asia
- Australia’s Rock Art Heritage: A Thematic Approach to Assessing Scientific Value
- Rock Art of the Pacific: Context and Intertextuality
- Rock Art of North America
- Rock Art in Central and South America: Social Settings and Regional Diversity
- Tracing Symbolic Behaviour Across the Southern Arc
- Signalling Theory and Durable Symbolic Expression
- The Psychology of Graphic Perception
- European Palaeolithic Rock Art and Spatial Structures
- Art and Environment: How Can Rock Art Inform on Past Environments?
- Images of Animals in Rock Art: Not Just ‘Good to Think’
- Plants Before Animals?: Aboriginal Rock Art as Evidence of Ecoscaping in Australia’s Kimberley
- ‘Enigmatic Images from Remote Prehistory’: Rock Art and Ontology from a European Perspective
- Rock Art, Music, and Acoustics: A Global Overview
- The Production of Ethnographic Records and Their Use in Rock Art Research
- Rock Art and Ethnography in Australia
- Rock Arts, Shamans, and Grand Theories
- A New Framework for Interpreting Contact Rock Art: Reassessing the Rock Art at Nackara Springs, South Australia
- Creolization in the Investigation of Rock Art of the Colonial Era
- Out of Time and Place: Graffiti and Rock Art Research
- Memory, Materiality, and Place in Ojibway Rock Art Performances
- Rock Art as Cultural Expressions of Social Relationships and Kinship
- Bodies Revealed: X-ray Art in Western Arnhem Land
- Rock Art and Aesthetics
- The Science of Rock Art Research
- Recording Rock Art: Strategies, Challenges, and Embracing the Digital Revolution
- GIS in Rock Art Studies
- 3-D Modelling in Rock Art Research: Terrestrial Laser Scanning, Photogrammetry, and the Time Factor
- Archaeomorphological Mapping: Rock Art and the Architecture of Place
- Taphonomy on the Surface of the Rock Wall: Rock-Paint-Atmosphere Interactions
- Characterizing Rock Art Pigments
- The Use of Harris Matrices in Rock Art Research
- Radiocarbon Dating in Rock Art Research
- Optical Dating of Rock Art
- Uranium-Thorium Dating of Cave Art
- Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights in Rock Art: A Case Study of Australian Indigenous Art
- The Conservation and Management of Rock Art: An Integrated Approach
- Rock Art Tourism
- Past Images, Contemporary Practices: Reuse of Rock Art Images in Contemporary San Art of Southern Africa
- The Use and Reuse of Rock Art Designs in Contemporary Jewellery and Wearable Art
- Visiting Gonjorong’s Cave
Abstract and Keywords
When telling stories through rock art, the artist formed an intimate relationship with the audience through the act of conveying such stories. Ethnographic evidence in many parts of the world suggests that the artist is merely a device through which stories are transmitted from rock surface to audience, whereby the artist becomes an intermediary within the act of performance through the medium of the brush, chisel, and finger, thus creating a theatre of performance. During this performance, the artist used many devices to either conceal or promote the narrative; one of the props used within this performance would have been the panel on which the art was performed, placing figures into spatial context and observing the rules of grammar. This chapter explores how early artists selected and used various rock surfaces, utilizing the rock face’s colour, texture, placement, and natural topography to mimic the surrounding landscape.
Keywords: radiocarbon, topology, scape, landscape, environment, performance art
Department of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Bristol, England
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- Introduction: Towards an Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art
- Interpretative Frameworks and the Study of the Rock Arts
- North European Rock Art: A Long-Term Perspective
- The Rock Art of Sub-Scandinavian Europe
- The Archaeology of Rock Art in Northern Africa
- The Rock Art of Sub-Saharan Africa
- Rock Art of Northern, Central, and Western Asia
- The Rock Art of South and East Asia
- Australia’s Rock Art Heritage: A Thematic Approach to Assessing Scientific Value
- Rock Art of the Pacific: Context and Intertextuality
- Rock Art of North America
- Rock Art in Central and South America: Social Settings and Regional Diversity
- Tracing Symbolic Behaviour Across the Southern Arc
- Signalling Theory and Durable Symbolic Expression
- The Psychology of Graphic Perception
- European Palaeolithic Rock Art and Spatial Structures
- Art and Environment: How Can Rock Art Inform on Past Environments?
- Images of Animals in Rock Art: Not Just ‘Good to Think’
- Plants Before Animals?: Aboriginal Rock Art as Evidence of Ecoscaping in Australia’s Kimberley
- ‘Enigmatic Images from Remote Prehistory’: Rock Art and Ontology from a European Perspective
- Rock Art, Music, and Acoustics: A Global Overview
- The Production of Ethnographic Records and Their Use in Rock Art Research
- Rock Art and Ethnography in Australia
- Rock Arts, Shamans, and Grand Theories
- A New Framework for Interpreting Contact Rock Art: Reassessing the Rock Art at Nackara Springs, South Australia
- Creolization in the Investigation of Rock Art of the Colonial Era
- Out of Time and Place: Graffiti and Rock Art Research
- Memory, Materiality, and Place in Ojibway Rock Art Performances
- Rock Art as Cultural Expressions of Social Relationships and Kinship
- Bodies Revealed: X-ray Art in Western Arnhem Land
- Rock Art and Aesthetics
- The Science of Rock Art Research
- Recording Rock Art: Strategies, Challenges, and Embracing the Digital Revolution
- GIS in Rock Art Studies
- 3-D Modelling in Rock Art Research: Terrestrial Laser Scanning, Photogrammetry, and the Time Factor
- Archaeomorphological Mapping: Rock Art and the Architecture of Place
- Taphonomy on the Surface of the Rock Wall: Rock-Paint-Atmosphere Interactions
- Characterizing Rock Art Pigments
- The Use of Harris Matrices in Rock Art Research
- Radiocarbon Dating in Rock Art Research
- Optical Dating of Rock Art
- Uranium-Thorium Dating of Cave Art
- Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights in Rock Art: A Case Study of Australian Indigenous Art
- The Conservation and Management of Rock Art: An Integrated Approach
- Rock Art Tourism
- Past Images, Contemporary Practices: Reuse of Rock Art Images in Contemporary San Art of Southern Africa
- The Use and Reuse of Rock Art Designs in Contemporary Jewellery and Wearable Art
- Visiting Gonjorong’s Cave