The act of creation - tangible engagements in the making and ‘re-making’ of prehistoric rock art
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-04-14

The long-term tradition of rock art investigation in Iberia relied, to a large extent, on the use of recording techniques that imply a close interaction between subject and object. However, until the last decade of the 20th century, studies concentrated on classifying what was inscribed on rocks - the motifs – and were particularly interested on their shapes, sizes, types and execution techniques. Yet, as the paradigm shifted into a major focus on the placement of rock art in the wider landscape, a new generation of students kept using traditional recording techniques in research grounded on entirely new perspectives, in which rock art was perceived as a dialogue involving the imagery, the natural backdrop and particular features in the landscape. Recording rock art by direct tracing, for instance, implies spending time on site, replicating the original gestures of who created the imagery in the past. Hence, it enable us to unveil subtle details of his or her skills and behaviour as well as the techniques and implements employed in the process of painting or carving signs on rocks.
This paper discusses how rock art research, as praxis, may allow us to capture a glimpse of how mind, body and matter come together in the primordial act of creation, drawing on recent investigation at two Portuguese sites belonging to different prehistoric art traditions: the Schematic Art painted rock shelter of Lapas Cabreiras, in Côa Valley, and the Atlantic Art carvings at Monte Faro. It goes further to examine how the processes involved in the making of rock art ultimately assists us to thinking about how matter was collected, manipulated and used to create the settings in which visual images played a major role in the life of prehistoric communities in the Neolithic. 

Lara Bacelar Alves, University of Coimbra, Portugal