As landscape art, the rock art of the central Andes offers clues regarding relationships between ancestor veneration and the negotiation of rights to water. To understand these relationships this book focuses on a large complement of rock art situated in highland Ancash, Peru, (3400-4250 m.a.s.l.).

This thesis focuses on a large complement of rock art on the Fortaleza Ignimbrite (FI), a distinct geological formation, at the headwaters of the Fortaleza and Santa rivers (Ancash, Peru). The pairing of the stratigraphy of carved and painted rock art with the archaeological stratigraphy and radiocarbon results in three puna rock shelters, in both watersheds, and one tomb, down valley in the quechua ecozone, is employed to answer the question of when these works were produced and to develop a typological sequence, and a spatio-temporal map of the styles and traditions for the rock art of the FI, spanning 3,000 years. As landscape art, central Andean rock art offers clues regarding relationships between ancestor veneration and the negotiation of rights to water through time, and as the rock art of the FI sits at the nexus of political, economic and religious realms, and is located at strategic places of power...

This volume, focusing on the ceiling art at Nawarla Gabarnmang, one of the richest rock art sites in Arnhem Land (in Australia’s Northern Territory), presents a new systematic approach to the archaeological recording and documentation of rock art developed to analyse the spatial and temporal structure of complex rock art panels.

Rock art is one of humankind’s most ancient forms of artistic expression, and one of its most enigmatic. For centuries, scholars and other observers have struggled to interpret the meaning of the mysterious figures incised or painted on natural rocks and to understand their role in the lives of their long-vanished creators. The Great Basin of the American West is especially rich in rock art, but until recently North American archaeologists have largely ignored these most visible monuments left by early Native Americans and have given little attention to the terrain surrounding them. In Great Basin Rock Art, twelve respected rock art researchers examine a number of significant sites from the dual perspectives of settlement archaeology and contemporary Native American interpretations of the role of rock art in their cultural past. The authors demonstrate how modern archaeological methodology and interpretations are providing a rich physical and cultural context for these ancient and hitherto puzzling artifacts. They offer exciting new insights into the lives of North America’s first inhabitants. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the petroglyphs of the American West and in the history of the Great Basin and its original peoples.

Paul G. Bahn provides a richly illustrated overview of prehistoric rock art and cave art from around the world.

Like previous series entries, this volume covers rock art research and management all over the world over a 5-year period, in this case 2015-19. Contributions once again show the wide variety of approaches that have been taken in different parts of the world and reflect the expansion and diversification of perspectives and research questions.

Prehistoric rock art is the markings - paintings, engravings, or pecked images - left on rocks or cave walls by ancient peoples. In this book, Paul G. Bahn provides a richly illustrated overview of prehistoric rock art and cave art from around the world. Summarizing the recent advances in our understanding of this extraordinary visual record, he discusses new discoveries, new approaches to recording and interpretation, and current problems in conservation. Bahn focuses in particular on current issues in the interpretation of rock art, notably the "shamanic" interpretation that has been influential in recent years and that he refutes. This book is based on the Rhind Lectures that the author delivered for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 2006.