On the Shouders of Giants, 20th International Rock Art Congress IFRAO Book of Abstracts - Unraveling the Sequence of Rock Art Superimpositions in Cerro de los Indios 1 (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina)

Congress

Summary *

This paper focuses on rock art manifestations in Cerro de los Indios 1 (CI1), ashelter in the Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, occupied by hunter-gatherer groups throughout the last 4000 years. Stylistic traits of certain motifs suggest a longer, more continuous occupation of the site than previously established. This triggered the question as to whether the execution of art could have been an independent activity, or if it changed throughout time as the use of CI1 varied. To approach this,an analysis of superimpositions was proposed. The way motifs were executed over preexisting ones can provide information on different decisions taken regarding previous manifestations; these attitudes are likely to have varied as relationships between groups and their environment were altered. For this analysis, the photographic record of CI1 art processed with DStretch was traced on vector graphics software, dividing in layers each tonal series as found in the superimposition sequence. By choosing which layers to make visible, it became possible to observe how subsequent occupants treated the preexisting motifs, and therefore identify if the moments of the sequence corresponding to variations in the use of CI1, manifested changes in the perception of the preexisting art. Information provided by the agent in SIGEVA