Theme:
1. Artefacts, Buildings & Ecofacts
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Rock Art, Landscape, and Settlements - Study of Context and Placement
Content:
To enhance our comprehension of human past cultures it becomes essential to take into consideration all the possible archaeological data, among which rock art (and an in-depth analysis of it) is acquiring a new importance. In particular, in those areas where archaeological remains are scarce and rock art is one of the few (or only) evidence of human presence. It is especially important where the environment makes it hard to preserve the traces of a given culture (high mountain or rocky areas), or where the natural processes have destroyed them (i.e., floods, earthquakes). Then the panels with paintings (pictographs) and petroglyphs can be the main carriers of information about the presence of people in a particular place, its chronology, demographics, migrations, and cultural transformations.
This session emphasizes the study of rock art in the context of its relationship to human settlements and the surrounding terrain, including water bodies, mountain peaks, and other landscape features and elements of the natural environment. All these elements often formed a certain coherent whole in ancient and historic human cultures, also constituting elements of the so-called sacred landscape. Aspects of the analysis of rock art in the context of showing its dynamic character and role as an important element of the landscape will also be raised.
Today, a more comprehensive understanding of rock art and its relation to settlement and landscape is possible with the extensive use of digital methods of documentation and spatial analysis including Geographic Information System/GIS as well as subsequent analysis and visualisation (including virtual) of rock art. The application of digital methods as well as theoretical approaches of rock art in the context of landscape-settlement features are also welcomed in this session. We invite papers that deal with the landscape context of rock art from prehistoric and historic cultures in Europe and other parts of the world.
Keywords:
Rock art, Landscape, Rock art and archaeology, Settlements, Digital documentation, Spatial analysis
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Radoslaw Palonka (Poland) 1,2
Co-organisers:
Paolo Medici (Italy) 3
Paweł Polkowski (Poland) 4
Affiliations:
1. Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Krakow
2. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
3. Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici
4. Archaeological Museum in Poznan
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