Re-present-ing Rock Art

Andean caravan ceremonialism in the lowlands of the Atacama Desert: The Cruces de Molinos archaeological site, northern Chile

Four centuries of rock art exploration and research in Siberia resulted in considerable achievements in documentation, cultural and chronological attributions of style and traditions and learning about ancient ritual practices related to rock art. However, the range of interpretational frameworks has remained rather limited, and the active role rock art played in prehistoric ethno-cultural processes has been overlooked. Rock art motifs and styles have been by default considered as mere markers of ethno-cultural groupings and migrations. This thesis continues a long-established Soviet/Russian tradition of considering rock art sites in their archaeological context but poses and answers new questions which are relevant not only for Siberian but also global rock art research, namely, why rock art was created, why specific styles emerged and why changes in rock art production occurred. These questions are explored through anthropological perspectives on ethnicity, identity, community and symbolism. Aiming to answer these questions, macro ethno-cultural and social processes that took place in East Siberia in the prehistoric period are reconsidered through the development of rock art styles and traditions. Importantly, this PhD is primarily fieldwork based because publications available for the rock art of East Siberia contain only black-and-white drawings and few low-quality black-and-white photographs. This research is focused on East Siberia which lies east of the Yenisey River, and specifically deals with the following regions: 1) Cis-Baikal, an area to the west from Lake Baikal; 2) Trans-Baikal, an area to the east from Lake Baikal which includes Zabaykalsky Krai and Buryatia; and 3) Sakha Republic (Yakutia). This project’s fieldwork was carried out in Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and Trans-Baikal. In total, 108 rock art sites with more than 6,000 designs were recorded. In addition, rock art sites in the Lower Amur River basin and Tomskaya Pisanitsa in West Siberia were surveyed during this fieldwork. Prior to this PhD project, rock art sites of the Upper Lena River in Cis-Baikal were visited by the author to gain better understanding of the area’s rock art. This thesis is focused on three chronological rock art groups: 1) the earliest, possibly Paleolithic rock art, 2) Neolithic rock art, and 3) Bronze Age rock art styles and traditions. The concept of style is employed as an analytical tool to investigate diachronic and spatial patterns. Several rock art styles and traditions, such as Amur, Angara, Selenga and Kyakhta, were better defined, and their chronology was elaborated based on the archaeological record and analogues in art objects from archaeological contexts. Such an accurate placement of rock art in time and space allowed the exploration of the role rock art played in constructing and reconstructing ethno-cultural identities, which contributes to the wider field of archaeology and cultural anthropology. The most important observation made in this research addresses the questions of why rock art is created, why specific styles and traditions emerge and why changes in rock art occur. Rock art sites create and maintain a strong connection between people, their past and their land. Rock art does not just reflect group or individual identities but helps construct them through powerful emotional attachments. The emergence or change of rock art styles occurs in a situation of major cultural changes, the reasons and dynamics of which may vary. The important factor is that people had to protect their tradition, culture and well-being in a situation of threat to their ethno-cultural continuity. In protecting continuity, it is inevitable changes in a rock art tradition occur. It becomes highly important to mark rocks with symbols of now ‘hot’ identity thus expressing belongingness, and those marks remain there for millennia continuing to structure identities of those who claim their belongingness to these places afterward. Specific styles and motifs become these symbols which need to be threefold – exhibiting the connection with the past, expressing a new identity and being perceived by an outsider. Therefore, a rock art tradition/style simultaneously features continuity, change and similarity to other synchronous traditions/styles which is a shared field of interaction. This view explains why rock art styles do not fit into neat culture-historical frameworks and do not have clear-cut temporal and spatial limits. This explanatory framework can be applied elsewhere in any other study on rock art and identity. This PhD thesis not only contributes to Siberian rock art research in a major new way but also shows many new directions for future rock art research globally.

Reviewed by: Rock Carvings in Hong Kong by William Meacham Christopher Davis Rock Carvings in Hong Kong. William Meacham. Hong Kong: Meacham Publications, 2009. 168pp. ISBN 978-9-881-73242-2. Very little is known internationally about the rock art traditions of Southeast Asia, and even less about the rock art specific to the coastal shores of Hong Kong. The majority of the rock art sites discussed by Meacham are located on the islands of Hong Kong in the South China Sea. However, he also includes other known sites in the surrounding region, including those that have been recorded in Taiwan. The catalogue of regional sites makes this book useful to any researcher of rock art worldwide who would like to compare the archaeological contexts and thematic elements in this region to work that has been done elsewhere on cultural practices of rock art and their expression of ideas about local environments and the supernatural. Dual language texts in English and Chinese are accompanied by beautiful photographs, illustrating nearly every other page. All of the rock art images are petroglyphs, although some of the walls where they appear also seem to be stained with red, orange, yellow, purple, or brownish hues. Some stains are polychromatic in adjacent vertical or diagonal bands or spots, and at times the stains appear to be strongly weathered. However, no discussion of the stains (e.g., whether they were artificially applied to the surface of the rock, or if they occur naturally as lichen growth on the surface, or if they are natural hues in the rock matrix) is provided. The petroglyphs are typically referred to as carvings, indicating the author’s belief that abrading the surface with a harder engraver material produced them, although “pitting” designs are discussed as having been formed either naturally or through pecking (p. 84). A few motif terms are used, such as “cup-like hollows” to refer to cupules, and “game-boards” to refer to multichambered geometric patterns to which the author applies a functional analogy from a modern cultural practice of drawing a checkerboard on a surface to play a game. Meacham also attempts to assign the petroglyphs to particular chronological styles based on the presence of any combination of three broad motif categories: geometric, zoomorphic, or emblematic motifs. The challenge of categorizing is due in part to several petroglyphs that begin with one design and continue into another (e.g., blending a zoomorphic design into a geometric pattern along a single engraved line). Other general descriptive terms used by Meacham include: curvilinear, rectilinear, pits, grooves, and swirls. The last term does not appear to differentiate between the continuous spirals or the S-shaped spirals that can be visibly distinguished in the photographs. All rock art images are displayed in either black-and-white or color photographs, and one image is a digital artistic rendition. At the beginning of the book, Meacham informs the reader that the majority of these photos were taken during the 1970s. He does not provide the reader with specfic reasons for the delay in publication and impetus for self-publication here, although they may be implied in his remarks in the appendix [End Page 371] wherein he unleashes frustration with the Antiquities Advisory Board of the Hong Kong and Macau governments for botched attempts to conserve Hong Kong’s rock carvings. He brings attention to the follies of their installed drainage systems, concrete platforms, Perspex encasements, cement blocks, latex molds, and chemical surface treatments, which he suggests were actually detrimental to the preservation of the petroglyphs. These recent conservation efforts also prevent scholars from taking unobstructed photographs of the petroglyphs today. Meacham notes the potential degrading effects these well-meaning but misguided attempts to protect the petroglyphs have not only on the art itself but also on the natural landscape, although he attempts to be even-handed by noting criticisms of his own methods in the 1970s (i.e., highlighting the carvings with chalk to enhance visibility). However, Meacham does not offer any specific alternative methods to preserve the rock art sites, instead suggesting the government should “consult specialists” on the matter. Written in more of an essay style or public presentation style...

Reviewed by: Petroglyphs, Pictographs, and Projections: Native American Rock Art in the Contemporary Cultural Landscape by Richard A. Rogers Phil R. Geib Petroglyphs, Pictographs, and Projections: Native American Rock Art in the Contemporary Cultural Landscape. By Richard A. Rogers. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2018. xv + 398 pp. Figures, color plates, references cited, index. $34.95, paper. Richard Rogers's "rock art" book is unlike any other. This is largely because it is not really about ancient images on stone, the petroglyphs and pictographs of the book title, but is rather a critical commentary on how those images get appropriated, commodified, and interpreted by the dominant Euro-American culture. This distinctive aspect is either its chief attraction or detraction depending upon the reader's point of view. Native American images from the Southwest serve as the raw material for Rogers's critique, no doubt in part because his home institution of Northern Arizona University is centrally located in this mecca for rock art enthusiasts. The issues that he talks about, such as turning ancient rock art images into commodities for sale, are also on full display in the Southwest—who doesn't have some tourist trinket, cup, or piece of clothing with rock art images on it? The source of his arguments might be localized, but his line of critical reasoning can be extended to all regions of the world. As such, this is a book intended for wide readership. A comment by Kelley Hays-Gilpin [End Page 108] on the back cover importunes archaeologists, historic preservation specialists, rock art enthusiasts, park rangers, and others to read the book for its "unsettling messages and useful critical methods." For those who heed this advice, be prepared to be unsettled and challenged, but also at times to simply laugh and muse, "that argument is quite a stretch." Linking the interpretive shift for some Great Basin rock art from hunting magic to shamanism as resulting from a contemporary "crisis of masculinity" is just one example. Still, Rogers presents much to think about. Polly Schaafsma's book Images and Power: Rock Art and Ethics (Springer, 2013) covers somewhat similar ground, but it does so in a slim volume roughly one quarter the size of Rogers's tome. More is not necessarily better, since Rogers could have expressed his cultural criticisms more succinctly. Some of this occurs because four of his eight chapters are expanded revisions of previously published papers, with most of the other chapters used to place them in context by introducing his theoretical approach and then summing up the arguments. The result is considerable redundancy and repetition of his main points. Rogers is keenly aware that criticism is easy (318) and that a critic who watches the game from a lofty booth rather than being down on the hot, muddy field of play is in something of an enviable position. There is critique aplenty but few or no remedies or suggested solutions, even for issues that a communications professor might be readied to attempt fixing, such as finding a suitable replacement for the term rock art. Rogers introduces the debate about this term but leaves it unresolved and sticks with it as part of an "uneasy consensus" rather than putting forward "appealing alternatives" (43). One result of taking Rogers's critique to heart, at least in the extreme, would be to cease all engagement with rock art. I doubt that he would actually advocate for this, and his final chapter makes it clear that he will continue to "collect" rock art and to write about it, at least as concerns its role in contemporary culture, in order to advance his academic career. I can easily envision using this book as a text for a student seminar on rock art and also using chapter 7, "Overcoming the Preservation Paradigm," as a means to foment discussion in a class on heritage resource management. Phil R. Geib Department of Anthropology University of Nebraska–Lincoln Copyright © 2020 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Reviewed by: Images and Power: Rock Art and Ethics by Polly Schaafsma Jack W. Brink Images and Power: Rock Art and Ethics. By Polly Schaafsma. New York: Springer, 2013. xii + 104 pp. Photographs, references, index. $39.95 paper. Polly Schaafsma’s book on rock art and ethics is a thin volume but it packs in a lot of heavy food for thought. This is not a book for people who love to look at rock art images; there are few here, and only as needed to illustrate specific arguments. Instead, this is an in-depth discussion of some of the most complex and contentious issues facing those who study, manage, or have an interest in rock art. The work is strongly and passionately argued and is sure to stimulate debate, the whole point of the Springer series. Schaafsma begins with a discussion of what rock art is, and whether or not it should be called “art.” Her voice on this issue quickly sets the tone for topics that follow. In response to Native Americans who believe that labeling their ancient imagery as “art” denigrates it by equating it with Western secular traditions, Schaafsma argues that to not call it art is a greater disservice, relegating beautiful works to simple “marks on rocks” and diminishing the heritage of the creators and their descendants. The author serves notice that the book will not simply be an impartial review of the debates pertaining to aboriginal rock art; it will be a passionate defense of positions that Schaafsma feels are most ethical. Schaafsma considers differing, and sometimes conflicting, worldviews of Western science and indigenous people. Concepts of time, space, and landscape are discussed, as is the overarching question of whether or not we can begin to understand these concepts—pictured for us by ancient cultures—given the formative underpinnings of the cultures in which the observer has been reared. Western methods of recording and interpreting rock art, including a heavy reliance on ethnography, are contrasted with the understanding of rock art through oral traditions. Schaafsma highlights the value inherent in all approaches, but cautions that that they are very different ways of seeing the world and cannot be expected to correspond. She notes that to discard the voice of the archaeologist (admittedly dominant for two centuries) in favor of solely a native voice simply replaces one form of imperialism with another. It is precisely the issue of making interpretations of rock art conform to certain expected or “acceptable” views of the past that produces the most strongly argued statements. Schaafsma is unequivocal: archaeologists cannot let themselves be pressured into distorting their research-based interpretations of rock art imagery in order to conform with the desires or expectations of relevant interest groups. Violence is a prime example. Many, including the general public, want ancient indigenous cultures to be models of peace. Schaafsma argues that rock art and other archaeological evidence simply don’t support this. There is much more in this book, including an important discussion of who can or should “own” rock art and the point at which it becomes the heritage of humanity, as well as on the widespread appropriation of rock art images for commercial purposes. I was disappointed, however, that the thorny issue of attempting to preserve rock art as opposed to letting it erode away received no more than a passing comment. The book is finely written by a seasoned veteran of the discipline. It is meant to be provocative, and it is, but [End Page 84] it also strives for understanding. Aft er all, the one absolute is that all art produced by human beings is vitally important in defining who we are. Jack W. Brink Royal Alberta Museum Edmonton, Alberta Copyright © 2015 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

In this paper I question the epistemological and ontological assumption that rock art images necessarily equate to representations or semiotic signs and argue that this commonplace assumption underpins notions of rock art images acting as visual or social signals among mobile hunter-gatherer populations. As an alternative, I discuss the ecological and relational connections between rock art images, places, and landscapes. I argue that ecological understandings of rock art images are beneficial for our understanding of both hunter-gatherer and agrarian rock art. Exploring why both hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies make rock art provides leverage for a critical analysis of rock art imagery, reevaluating the ontological assumptions relating to images held by some rock art researchers. The paper explores agrarian rock art in several different contexts in prehistoric Europe, including Neolithic Britain and Ireland, and Bronze Age Scandinavia.

The paper considers rock art sites, statuary and funerary sites of the Okunev culture (the Bronze Age in the Minusinsk Basin) which are known within the territory of the Oglakhty mountainous massif, one of the largest archaeological complexes in the Republic of Khakassia. Among the vast number of rock art images in Oglakhty, only a few are so far attributed to the Okunev culture, which is distinguished by its art. The author introduces into scholarly curculation and describes in detail the effigies on the rocks at Mokhovsky Log, a recently discovered rock art site; and considers the problems of their cultural and chronological attribution, as well as of some other relevant rock art images in the Oglakhty mountains. Statuary sites, which the Okunev culture is especially known for, are also not numerous in Oglakhty: one statue with a face-mask is now lost, and two others that have been recently discovered, were reused as tomb stones in the kurgan constructions of the later Tagar culture. Materials from the excavations of the Okunev burials in the Krasny Yar cemetery are also presented. Excavated by E.B. Vadeckaya in 1972 in the southern foothills of the Oglakhty mountains, the cemetery containedburials of the Okunev culture, both embedded in some barrows of the preceding Afanasievo culture (Krasny Yar I), and forming independent barrows (Krasny Yar II). They belong to different stages of the Okunev culture. Interesting and rare materials have been found in these graves; moreover, for the first time it was stratigraphically traced that at least 100 years passed between Afanasievo and embedded Okunev burials (so, the cultures did not coexist, as was previously thought). The materials obtained from the cemetery require further research by modern methods, as well as their complete publication. The author concludes that in the mountains and foothills of the Oglakhty there are evidences of the existence of Okunev culture at different stages of its development; their small (compare to the sites of other cultures) number is due to the insufficient investigation of the territory; and the prospects for new discoveries and replenishment the body of sources for the Okunev culture are associated with the application of modern methods of revealing and documenting archaeological heritage

The web-based program retro­Reveal has been used primarily for providing improved visibility of documents with faint text, including stamps, currency, music, and so forth. It has yet to be used to its full potential by archaeologists interested in rock art. The plugin DStretch, used on the ImageJ platform, has been the standard for enhancement of faint red ochre rock art images. We introduce retroReveal as a supplement to photographic investigation through comparison of images from four rock art sites in Alberta, Canada. Processing photographs with the two techniques typically yields comparable results, but often with slight differences. In a few cases, retroReveal makes certain features more apparent than is the case with DStretch; in other instances, the opposite is true. Other positive and negative aspects of the two techniques are discussed. Experiments with black pictographs indicate that retroReveal does not perform satisfactorily with these images. Overall, our results indicate that retroReveal should be added to the toolkit for illuminating painted rock art images.

A multianalytical investigation of the physicochemical properties of white rock art pigments at the Nali and Tene Koro sites, Lembata, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Située au coeur de la Caraïbe, l’île volcanique de Guadeloupe, ou Basse-Terre, recèle le plus important ensemble d’art rupestre précolombien des Petites Antilles. Ces manifestations graphiques sont généralement attribuées aux communautés céramistes horticoles très mobiles ayant vécu dans les Antilles au Néoindien entre env. 300 av. et 1200 apr. J.-C. Suite aux récentes recherches de terrain menées sur ces sites ornés de plein-air, de nombreuses données nouvelles ont été acquises. Leur analyse spatiale est proposée ici sur des bases quantitatives afin d’aborder les modalités socioculturelles d’ornementation et de fréquentation des sites ornés et, plus largement, le rapport à l’espace insulaire des sociétés précolombiennes ainsi que leurs interactions physiques et symboliques au sein de ce dernier. Les résultats obtenus font ressortir l’existence de plusieurs contextes topographiques distincts du point de vue de l’altitude et de la distance aux ressources en eau douce (source et/ ou rivière). Ils montrent par ailleurs que les sites côtiers occupent préférentiellement les zones du littoral les plus favorables au niveau pluviométrique, mais aussi les plus proches des îles avoisinantes. Une corrélation directe entre la position topographique des sites ornés, le degré d’élaboration et les dimensions des figures qu’ils comprennent est également relevée. Cette corrélation se traduit par une plus forte proportion de grandes figures élaborées aux embouchures et/ ou près de sources côtières comparativement aux sites de plateau et de rivière. Mis en perspective avec les réflexions actuelles sur la dimension archipélique des territoires précolombiens, ceci suggère une utilisation des sites ornés du littoral par une pluralité de groupes différents dans le cadre de leur approvisionnement en eau lors de trajets interinsulaires ou lors de rassemblements périodiques. Par contraste avec l’art rupestre de l’intérieur des terres, la forte proportion de grandes figures élaborées présentes sur les côtes est alors à envisager comme l’expression performative d’un rapport à des espaces partagés et aux autres groupes humains susceptibles de les fréquenter également.

Austronesians are a genetically-related people, recognized by the similarities in their languages, and with a shared past evidenced by material culture. Research into the origin and migration route of Austronesians has progressed through the disciplines of Linguistics, Archaeology, and Genetics. Out of Taiwan is currently the dominant theory with strong evidence from the three disciplines involved. Consequentially, the Philippines is the first stop of the migrating Austronesians, and therefore the closest link to the homeland in Taiwan linguistically, archaeologically, and genetically. The archaeological approach to understand the Austronesian diaspora has been tracing material culture like nephrite and ceramics. However, rock art as a traceable material culture has been underutilized, especially in places like the Philippines where the rock art is relatively unknown and lacks research. The two rock art styles that have been identified in Borneo, East Timor, and Southwest Pacific and have been linked to Austronesians are the Austronesian Painting Tradition (APT) and the Austronesian Engraving Style (AES). The aim of this research has been to test the validity of APT and AES in the Philippines. An inventory of rock art of the Philippines was needed to enable descriptions and comparisons with the region. This was achieved through low-cost 3D modelling using Structure-from- Motion (SfM) photogrammetry. However, the physical and socio-economic environment in the Philippines makes rock art research a difficult undertaking. One of the challenges of studying Philippine rock art was the geological condition obfuscating the rock art at some of the sites. Remote sensing techniques were used during this research to address the issue. Specifically, an innovative method of combining SfM and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) algorithms was developed so that obscure engraved rock art was made clearly visible. Being able to properly identify the rock art allowed for a more accurate inventory, thereby increasing the reliability of the interpretations. There are 22 verified rock art sites in the Philippines and seven areas with alleged sites. Of the verified sites, four have engravings, 16 have black figures, and two have predominantly orange figures. Four of the sites (three engraving and one painting site) were completely recorded with 3D models which resulted in spatially-linked databases of the three engraving sites. All other sites were described from past publications, museum reports, and empirical observations. By compiling the rock art in an inventory and comparing the inventory to the prescribed qualities of APT and AES, it is evident that APT and AES are not descriptive of Philippine rock art. Furthermore, primary sources of Taiwanese rock art reveal that it is highly unlikely APT originated in Taiwan since there is no known painted rock art on the island. Although the Taiwanese engraved rock art matches the description of AES and could therefore originate in Taiwan, it is inconclusive because the description of AES is too generic. A systematic quantitative literature review of the rock art of Southeast Asia and Micronesia was compiled to ascertain the amount of research conducted and to compare the inventory of the Philippines with the rock art of the region. For example, parallels in anthropomorphic depictions are found within the Philippines and between the Philippines and the region. Aside from determining similarities, conspicuous absences in motifs and styles were also noted, such as hand stencils and painted boats. An example of the unique aspect of Philippine rock art is the textured vulva-forms of Alab because they are not similar to the few other examples of engraved vulva-forms in Southeast Asia. In addition, a summary of Micronesian rock art is provided which might be the first for the region. Micronesian rock art potentially has information of an Austronesian style of rock art. The first colonizers of Micronesia were Austronesians and they remained the sole inhabitants for millennia on some islands until European contact in the 16th century, making the rock art found in Micronesia very likely Austronesian. Cost-effective techniques were emphasized throughout the research, not just as an efficient way to conduct this particular research but also to encourage the continuity of the research into Philippine rock art. Beyond the Philippines, the methods are relevant to any rock art research on a limited budget, which is typical of most rock art projects. It should be noted that the methods employed, while low-cost, were still state-of-the-art for rock art recording. With a baseline of the current conditions of the rock art sites, a longitudinal study can be organised for the quantitative monitoring of change. In addition to answering archaeological questions, the inventory can be used to develop conservation plans and influence government policies.

Rock art is recognized globally as significant cultural heritage. Symbols in rock art capture scenes of daily life from ancient societies, revealing the cultural context of past civilizations and holding significant research value. In the research of rock art symbols, it is necessary to accurately and efficiently segment the symbols in the images to ensure subsequent research on rock art symbols and the construction of symbol system databases. Although existing methods for rock art symbol segmentation can effectively extract symbols from 2D images, they are often time-consuming, labor-intensive, and have low segmentation accuracy of the model. To address these challenges, this study proposes a rock art symbol segmentation method based on an improved YOLOv7-Seg model, which incorporates SE (Squeeze-and-Excitation Networks) and ODConv (Omni-Dimensional Dynamic Convolution) to enhance the model’s focus on rock art symbol features, enabling efficient and accurate segmentation in complex backgrounds. This model facilitates the recognition and segmentation of human and animal symbols in images. The study employs Cangyuan rock art as a case study, validating the model’s accuracy through ablation experiments and comparative analysis. The model achieves an overall AP score of 0.961, with specific AP score of 0.973 for animal segmentation and 0.948 for human segmentation. The results demonstrate that the improved model effectively segments rock art symbols in complex environments, achieving high-precision automated segmentation of rock art symbols. This research lays the foundation for the subsequent unified management of rock art symbols as well as the study of rock art protection and heritage preservation.

The production of rock art was a recurrent practice in pre-Colombian America and continued after the arrival of Europeans in AD 1540 and conquest by the Spanish Empire. Contact rock art associated with this historical moment is known in various regions of the Andes. The main focus of study has been through characterisation, defining relative chronologies and assessing which rock art images are attributable to Indigenous communities. In this work, we explore the contact rock art of north-central Chile through two complementary lines of discussion. On the one hand, we assess how the manufacture of rock art in colonial times articulated with earlier production dynamics. On the other, the co-existence of agrarian and hunter gatherer groups in this region in the 16th century AD allows us to compare how the rock art of these two groups reacted to the imposition of Spanish colonisation. The results enable us to identify similarities and differences in the dynamics of contact rock art in the two groups, related both to Spanish policies and to the historical traditions of native communities. Despite the differences, the new visual productions were incorporated into the ancestral spaces of both the agrarian and hunter gatherer communities.

This article deals with engravings depicting some­ times life­sized Bronze Age metal objects from “closed” burial contexts and “open­air” sites in northern Europe. These rock art images have mainly been used for comparative dating with the purpose of establishing rock art chronologies, or interpreted as a poor man’s” substitute for real ob­ jects that were sacrificed to immaterial gods and goddesses. In this article, these rock art images are pictured from a perspective that highlights the mu­ tual cultural biography of humans and objects. It is argued that the rare engravings of bronze ob­ jects at scale 1:1 are best explained as famous ani­ mated objects that could act as secondary agents, which sometimes allowed them to be depicted and remembered. Moreover, two different social set­ tings are distinguished for such memory practice: maritime nodes or third spaces where Bronze Age Argonauts met before, during or after their jour­ neys, e.g. places where novel technological and/or famous objects entered and re­entered the social realms, and burial contexts where animated objects sometimes was buried at the end of their life­course

The rock art of Caraculo, Namibe province, Angola