Placing Ideology

Abstract

The inland and interior regions of south-central California are distinctive from the coastal plains in the numbers and distribution of rock art sites. Here I examine rock art in its landscape context in relation to village sites, seasonally occupied sites, and natural resources. In looking at three rock art rich landscapes, analysis demonstrates a pervasive association across inland and interior south-central California between bedrock mortars and rock art. The implications of this persistent correlation suggest something more than accidental sharing of space between ritual and subsistence activities. The employment of visual media within important subsistence and habitation contexts argues for an indigenous ideological expression related to vital inland and interior land-use practices. The nature of that ideological display remains fuzzy, but minimally this highly visible display of vibrant media in the form of pictographs should be seen as a projection of some form of authority at the most important locales within some terrestrial south-central California landscapes.