Ontologies of Rock Art; Images, Relational Approaches and Indigenous Knowledges; 1

__Ontologies of Rock Art__ is the first publication to explore a wide range of ontological approaches to rock art interpretation, constituting the basis for groundbreaking studies on Indigenous knowledges, relational metaphysics, and rock imageries. The book contributes to the growing body of research on the ontology of images by focusing on five main topics: ontology as a theoretical framework; the development of new concepts and methods for an ontological approach to rock art; the examination of the relationships between ontology, images, and Indigenous knowledges; the development of relational models for the analysis of rock images; and the impact of ontological approaches on different rock art traditions across the world. Generating new avenues of research in ontological theory, political ontology, and rock art research, this collection will be relevant to archaeologists, anthropologists, and philosophers. In the context of an increasing interest in Indigenous ontologies, the volume will also be of interest to scholars in Indigenous studies. Chapter 14 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at Ontologies of Rock Art Cover -1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 Illustrations 9 Contributors 18 Foreword: What was an image, there and then? 28 Notes 36 References cited 36 Introduction: Ontology, rock art research, and the challenge of alterity 38 1. Introduction 38 2. Thinking about alterity in rock art studies: An historical overview 39 3. Alterity and the ontological turn 44 4. Conclusion 49 Note 52 References cited 52 Part I: Philosophical and historical perspectives 60 1. Rock art and the aesthetics of hyperobjects 62 1. Introduction 62 2. Hyperobjects 64 3. The coldness of formalism 68 4. The case of rock art 71 References cited 73 2. Rock art and the ontology of images: The ecology of images in hunter-gatherer and agrarian rock art 76 1. Rock art images and hunter-gatherer societies 76 2. Images in the making and the relational ecology of images 77 3. Making a mark: Image making in Neolithic Britain and Ireland 79 4. Image making in the southern Scandinavian late Neolithic and Bronze Age 82 5. Agrarian rock art? 85 6. Ontology from the ground up: Towards an ecology of rock art images 87 Note 89 References cited 89 3. Rock art, shamanism, and the ontological turn 94 1. Introduction 94 2. Shamanism and the first ontological turn 95 2.1 Transformation and personhood 96 2.2 The ontology of images 102 2.3 Landscapes of rock art 103 2.4 Sensorial/affective aspects of rock art 104 3. Radical alterity versus empirical reality 104 4. Ontology and the neoliberal turn 108 5. Conclusion 111 Notes 112 References cited 112 4. Ontology and human evolution: Neanderthal "art" and the method of controlled equivocation 118 1. Introduction 118 2. Neanderthals are us: Conceptualizing Neanderthal art 120 3. Understanding Neanderthal cosmologies: Challenges 123 4. Viveiros de Castro's perspectival anthropology 126 5. The 'art' of the late Neanderthals of Western Europe and the method of controlled equivocation 128 5.1 Late Neanderthals' body ornaments 129 5.2 'Neanderthal rock art' 130 6. Some concluding thoughts 132 Note 134 References cited 134 Part II: Rock art and Indigenous knowledges 142 5. A lesson in time: Yanyuwa ontologies and meaning in the Southwest Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Australia 144 1. Introduction 144 2. The setting and scene 148 3. Understanding: Ontological and epistemic habits 153 4. A lesson in time: Yanyuwa ontologies and meaning 155 5. Final reflection 157 Notes 158 References cited 159 6. Paradigm shifts and ontological turns at Cloggs Cave, GunaiKurnai Country, Australia 162 1. Introduction 162 2. Cloggs Cave: Physical and intellectual setting 162 3. Cloggs Cave: The 1971-1972 excavations 166 4. Re-excavating and redating Cloggs Cave: 2019 168 4.1 The sediment sequence 168 4.2 The dating 170 4.3 The animal bones 170 4.4 The cultural materials 173 4.4.1 Flaked stone artefacts 173 4.4.2 Standing stone 173 5. GunaiKurnai ethnography: Of caves and birds 176 6. Discussion 179 7. Conclusion: Paradigm shifts and ontological turns 182 Note 184 References cited 184 7. Lines of becoming: Rock art, ontology, and Indigenous knowledge practices 188 1. Introduction 188 2. From decipherment to care 189 3. Toward an etiology of ancestral intent 191 4. Lines of becoming: Ontology as ontogeny 194 5. Indigenous epistemologies and relational knowledge practices 195 6. Ancestral presence, distributed agency, and extended mind 196 7. Archaeological interpretation as a relational knowledge practice 200 Notes 201 References cited 201 8. Art, representation, and the ontology of images: Some considerations from the WanjinaWunggurr tradition, Kimberley, Northwest Australia 205 1. Introduction 205 2. Images, representation, and the establishment of meaning 207 3. The WanjinaWunggurr art of the Northwest Kimberley 212 4. Conclusion: Research and ontology in the Kimberley 219 Notes 222 References cited 222 9. Shifting ontologies and the use of ethnographic data in prehistoric rock art research 227 1. Introduction 227 2. Analogy and rock art research: A short historical overview 228 3. A case study: The rock art from Western and Southern Arnhem Land (Northern Territory) 231 4. The 'ontological turn' and ethnographic approaches to rock art 233 5. Some concluding thoughts 242 Note 242 References cited 243 Part III: Humans, animals, and more-than-human beings 248 10. "When elephants were people": Elephant/human images of the Olifants River, Western Cape, South Africa 250 1. Soaqua, elephants, and paintings in the Olifants River Valley 250 2. Images: Painted 253 3. Images: Narrated 259 4. Images: Ethnographic 263 5. Ontological flux in image making 266 Notes 267 References cited 268 11. Images-in-the-makingProcess and vivification in Pecos River-style rock art 272 1. Introduction 272 2. Lower Pecos Canyonlands 273 3. Pecos River-style 276 4. Incarnated images 280 4.1 Inspired art works 280 4.2 Donning the skin of gods 281 4.3 Color engenders life 281 4.4 A woven cosmos 283 4.5 Materiality of color 283 4.6 Transformation processes 284 4.7 Layers of meaning 284 5. Conclusions 286 Notes 287 References cited 288 12. Rock art and relational ontologies in Canada 291 1. Introduction 291 2. Relational ontologies of Indigenous peoples 292 3. The road towards relational ontologies 298 4. Place, image, and relations in Canadian rock art 301 4.1 Landscapes and images 301 4.2 Categories 302 5. Conclusion 304 Notes 305 References cited 305 13. An ontological approach to Saharan rock art 310 1. Introduction: Ontological approaches in the context of Saharan rock art studies 310 2. Permeable essences: Transmorphic beings in Saharan rock art 312 3. Approaching the ontological dimension of Saharan rock art images 317 4. The emergence of African pastoralism from an ontological viewpoint 321 5. Some concluding thoughts 323 Note 324 References cited 324 14. The faceless menPartial bodies and body parts in Scandinavian Bronze Age rock art 329 1. Introduction 329 2. The anthropomorphic figures of the Mälaren Bay 330 3. The allure of the partial and generic 334 4. Discussion: Anthropomorphic figures as vitalist devices 335 5. Rock, art, and water: The foundations of a vitalist technology 337 6. Conclusion 341 Note 342 References cited 342 15. Hunters and shamans, sex and deathRelational ontologies and the materiality of the Lascaux "shaft-scene" 346 1. Introduction 346 2. The materiality of the 'shaft-scene' 346 3. Approaching meaning 351 4. Hunters, shamans, sex, and death in animist ontologies 354 5. Hunting and shamanism, sex and death in the Lascaux shaft-scene 355 6. Conclusion 358 References cited 359 Part IV: Syncretism, contact, and contemporary rock art 362 16. Communities of discourse: Contemporary graffiti at an abandoned Cold War radar station in Newfoundland 364 1. Introduction 364 2. Graffiti and graffiti art 365 3. Archaeologies of graffiti 368 4. Red Cliff 370 5. Photogrammetric methods 372 5.1 Interior handheld photogrammetry 372 5.2 Exterior drone photogrammetry 373 6. Graffiti ontologies 374 6.1 Communities of discourse 374 6.2 Conflictual discourse 375 6.3 Performance of authorship 376 6.4 Crypto-public setting 377 6.5 Multitemporality 378 7. Conclusion 378 Acknowledgements 379 References cited 379 17. More than one world?: Rock art that is Catholic and Indigenous in colonial New Mexico 383 1. Introduction 383 2. Cross petroglyphs as a form of penitent labor 387 3. Sacralisation through accretion 391 4. Conclusions 396 References cited 398 18. Kwipek, Mi'kma'ki: Pemiaq Aqq Pilua'sik Ta'n Tel Amalilitu'n Kuntewiktuk/Continuity and change in Mi'kmaw petroglyphs at Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada 401 1. Introduction 401 2. Mi'kmaw rock art in context 402 3. The Kwipek petroglyphs 404 4. Juxtaposition of the petroglyphs and the syncretism of Mi'kmaw Catholicism 410 5. Concluding thoughts: Marginal landscapes and Mi'kmaw resistance 415 Notes 416 References cited 417 19. Indigenous ontologies and the contact rock art of far west Texas 422 1. Introduction 422 2. The Texas Trans-Pecos 423 3. Three Trans-Pecos rock art sites 424 3.1 Site 1: Meyers Springs 424 3.2 Site 2: San Esteban 427 3.3 Site 3: Hueco Tanks 429 4. Contact art of the Trans-Pecos 430 4.1 Horns and headdresses 430 4.2 Thunderbirds 430 4.3 Plumed serpent, Tlaloc-esque, and 'mask' motifs 431 4.4 European influences: Crosses, horses, cattle, guns, shields, buildings, and priests 433 5. Conclusion: A way forward 434 Note 436 References cited 436 20. When the virtual becomes actual: Indigenous ontologies within immersive reality environments 439 Post-script 453 Note 454 References cited 454 Index 458 Ontologies of Rock Art is the first publication to explore a wide range of ontological approaches to rock art interpretation, constituting the basis for groundbreaking studies on Indigenous knowledges, relational metaphysics, and rock imageries. The book contributes to the growing body of research on the ontology of images by focusing on five main topics: ontology as a theoretical framework; the development of new concepts and methods for an ontological approach to rock art; the examination of the relationships between ontology, images, and Indigenous knowledges; the development of relational models for the analysis of rock images; and the impact of ontological approaches on different rock art traditions across the world. Generating new avenues of research in ontological theory, political ontology, and rock art research, this collection will be relevant to archaeologists, anthropologists, and philosophers. In the context of an increasing interest in Indigenous ontologies, the volume will also be of interest to scholars in Indigenous studies. Chapter 14 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780429321863/ontologies-rock-art-oscar-moro-abad%C3%ADa-martin-porr?context=ubx&refId=3766b051-4754-4339-925c-2a262a505074 Ontologies of Rock Art is the first publication to explore a wide range of ontological approaches to rock art interpretation, constituting the basis for groundbreaking studies on Indigenous knowledges, relational metaphysics, and rock imageries. The book contributes to the growing body of research on the ontology of images by focusing on five main topics: ontology as a theoretical framework; the development of new concepts and methods for an ontological approach to rock art; the examination of the relationships between ontology, images, and Indigenous knowledges; the development of relational models for the analysis of rock images; and the impact of ontological approaches on different rock art traditions across the world. Generating new avenues of research in ontological theory, political ontology, and rock art research, this collection will be relevant to archaeologists, anthropologists, and philosophers. In the context of an increasing interest in Indigenous ontologies, the volume will also be of interest to scholars in Indigenous studies. Chapter 14 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780429321863/ontologies-rock-art-oscar-moro-abadía-martin-porr?context=ubx&refId=3766b051-4754-4339-925c-2a262a505074 "Ontologies of Rock Art is the first publication exploring a wide range of ontological approaches to rock art interpretation, constituting the basis for ground-breaking studies on Indigenous knowledges, relational metaphysics, and rock imageries. The book contributes to the growing body of research on the ontology of images by focusing on five main topics: ontology as a theoretical framework; the development of new concepts and methods for an ontological approach to rock art; the examination of the relationships between ontology, images and Indigenous knowledges; the development of relational models for the analysis of rock images; and the impact of ontological approaches on different rock art traditions across the world. Generating new avenues of research in ontological theory, political ontology and rock art research, this collection will be relevant to archaeologists, anthropologists, and philosophers. In the context of an increasing interest in Indigenous ontologies, the volume will also be of interest to scholars in Indigenous Studies"-- Provided by publisher