ROCK ART BIOGRAPHIES: THE CONTRIBUTION OF DIGITAL IMAGING TECHNOLOGIES
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-01-01

Rock art images and panels have been traditionally treated as static symbols and ‘closed’ compositions, while their materiality, fluidity and changing roles in cultural production through time were overlooked. Rock art is the product of the dynamic interplay between people, tools and the rock surface. The properties of the rock panel have the capacity to shape rock art production as much as the skill and knowledge held by the engraver/painter and the social context in which these engagements take place. Furthermore, rock
art panels may accrue complex biographies via multiple engagements.

This paper will present the results of recent research on the ‘biographies’ of Late Bronze Age ‘warrior’ stelae in Iberia by means of digital imaging technologies (e.g. RTI, close range photogrammetry). Focus will be placed on the ‘chaîne opératoire’ involved in their production, as well as on the various natural and anthropogenic post-depositional processes that have contributed to their present state. The results of this research are shedding light on the roles of craftspeople and long distance connections in the making of the ‘warrior’ stelae tradition in Iberia. Despite iconographic standardization there is variability in the techniques and procedures  deployed. Furthermore, stelae can be reworked at later stages and reused in a variety of ways, opening up a debate about the temporality of rock art traditions.


Author(s): Diaz-Guardamino Uribe, Marta (Cardiff University)