Abstract
Throughout the world, iconic rock art is preceded by non-iconic rock art. Cupules (manmade, roughly semi-hemispherical depressions on rocks) form the major bulk of the early non-iconic rock art globally. The antiquity of cupules extends back to the Lower Paleolithic in Asia and Africa, hundreds of thousand years ago. When one observes these cupules, the inquisitive mind poses so many questions with regard to understanding their technology, reasons for selecting the site, which rocks were used to make the hammer stones used, the skill and cognitive abilities employed to create the different types of cupules, the objective of their creation, their age, and so on. Replication of the cupules can provide satisfactory answers to some of these questions. Comparison of the hammer stones and cupules produced by the replication process with those obtained from excavation can provide support to observations. This paper presents a manual of cupule replication technology based on our experience of cupule replication on hard quartzite rock near Daraki-Chattan in the Chambal Basin, India.
Highlights
Throughout the world there is no reference of replication of cupules on hard quartzite rock till 2002 when we started our own experiments to replicate cupules near Daraki-Chattan ( DC)
Cupule replication is a scientific process for understanding many questions one has in mind concerning their production
It implies that cupule creation by different forms by early humans appears to be related to cultural development deeply embedded in the cognitive development in hominins (Kumar and Krishna 2014) [8]
Summary
It forms the archaic visual manifestations of hominins on bare rock surfaces, which have survived the vagaries of time (Kumar 2014) [1]. Cupules form the major bulk of the early non-iconic rock art (one form of paleoart) globally, and have been recorded on every continent that early humans occupied (Bednarik 2008) [2]. The antiquity of cupules in Asia and Africa extends back to the Lower. Paleolithic, though their production has continued up to the present in some regions of Australia and. Roughly semi-hemispherical depressions, not normally more than ~10 cm in diameter, that were produced on hard rock surfaces by hammer stone percussion South America (Bednarik et al 2005; Kumar et al 2005; Bednarik 2013; Beaumont and Bednarik 2015; Querejazu et al 2015) [3,4,5,6,7].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
