Replication in Rock Art Past and Present: a Case Study of Bronze and Iron Age Rock Art in the Altai, Eastern Eurasia

Abstract

Change to rock art has been treated as an unforgiveable act in many contemporary cases; however, rock art in many parts of the world was most likely not created with the intention that it would endure for eternity unaltered. This paper highlights three ways in which the rock art creation process has been ‘replicated’ in the past and present. These forms of replication behaviours—of form, place, and action—are identified in the case study of the rock art of the Bronze Age and Iron Age Mongolian Altai. Additionally, examples of modern imagery that represent continuity of tradition are also presented. I argue that the cognitive processes suggested by these forms of replication have been influential in forming the rock art record, and they can be used to explore contemporary, regional worldviews. In eastern Eurasia, replication behaviours in rock art reference place-making strategies and regional cosmological traditions that see the landscape as occupied by non-human beings. The goal is to provide a constructive framework by which alteration and change can be considered innate aspects of the archaeological record, as opposed to mere vandalism, in our interpretation of prehistoric rock art.