A Mark along the Way: Schematic Rock Art and Communication Routes

Hipólito Collado Giraldo

doi:10.3390/arts5030006

Abstract

On the Iberian Peninsula, during the Neolithic age, there was a new cycle of post-Palaeolithic rock art: schematic rock art. This rock art style is said to date from the 6th millennium BCE until the end of the Bronze Age (around the transition between the 2nd and 1st millennium BCE). Schematic rock art has been interpreted from different approaches (religious, semiological, social) according to the different lines of research followed in Spain for more than 100 years. In this article, based on the studies linked to “landscape archeology”, we are proposing an interpretative approach of schematic rock art. For us, this rock art style would have a functional character, landscape marker, reflecting close connections between the places chosen as a support for schematic depictions and ones with survival resources or communication routes between territories.

Highlights

On the Iberian Peninsula, during the Neolithic age, there was a new cycle of post-Palaeolithic rock art: schematic rock art
We experienced many disappointments when arriving at wonderful sheltered places, authentic archetypes of sites that should contain rock art according to those definitions, and where we did not find any trace of rock paintings or engravings
A full view of the results provided by our prospecting work makes it more evident that we faced different situations which, according to our hypothesis, corresponded to just a single motivation: to control the resources in the territory through the symbolization, either exerting the control in their communication routes or strategic enclaves associated with them, making depictions in places related to basic resources for the group subsistence, or indicating those elements related with the economic development existing in the area

Summary

Establishing an Analysis Strategy

Extremadura is a region situated in Southwestern Spain, next to the Portuguese frontier. In this cultural rock system, schematic rock art plays in the context of trading control of the territory and its resources In this respect, schematic rock art should be considered a communication system where the figures depicted are part of a symbolic board inside a group of specific locations (shelters), whose meaning is different depending on the chosen location and the type of audience to which the message is transmitted [10]. Schematic rock art should be considered a communication system where the figures depicted are part of a symbolic board inside a group of specific locations (shelters), whose meaning is different depending on the chosen location and the type of audience to which the message is transmitted [10] Without moving from this paradigmatic approach, and with the aim of deeply studying our proposal, we opt to continue with the line followed by Chippindale [11]. Other constants are recognized: Those related to the typology of figures represented in the shelters, the diachronic limits in their representation, the variability of techniques and pigments used, and the location and visibility of panels where have been represented the figures

Endorsement of the Hypothesis

Diachronic