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Rock art in the world Rock art has been documented on all inhabited continents. The term 'rock art' describes both paintings and engravings on natural rock surfaces. It is used here out of convention and is not intended to imply any aesthetic or value judgement in the sense of Western art traditions. The terms 'rock paintings' or 'pictographs' refer to drawn, painted or printed imagery on rock surfaces, while scratched, incised or abraded marks are referred to as 'rock engravings' or 'petroglyphs'. In Europe rock art is known from all ages of human settlement, the earliest dating to the Old Stone Age, the Palaeolithic. The elaborate Palaeolithic paintings in the caves of southern France and northern Spain with their bison, horse, deer and mammoth motifs, and their mysterious 'signs', are widely known. These sites count among the oldest known rock art, with paintings in the recently discovered Grotte Chauvet dating to more than 30.000 years ago.[1] The apparently Palaeolithic petroglyphs of the Côa valley in Portugal, which depict wild fauna such as horses, ibexes and aurochs, have only recently been recognised. In contrast to the well-known cave art, the imagery of the Côa valley is found on open-air rock surfaces (Martinho Baptista 1999). Rock art of an equally early or even earlier date is also to be found in other parts of the world. On the Australian continent, for example, rock engravings have been dated to more than 30.000 years ago.[2] Australian rock art of later periods encompasses hand stencils, zoomorphic, anthropomorphic, and geometric motifs as well as contact period imagery. Instances where rock art has been made until recently and where a living memory exists as to the significance of the motifs and the circumstances of rock art making, are of great interest for an understanding of prehistoric rock art traditions. For example, in some instances aboriginal Australians attribute meanings to seemingly simple geometric designs: circles could signify a camp, a ceremonial ground, a fireplace or a female breast.[3] Australian Aborigines also interpret some rock art as scenes from their legends and myths, in this way linking the Dream Time with today's world. Such ethnographic information is only available in exceptional circumstances, however. Most rock art remains silent. | |
