Rock Art and Sacred Landscapes (One World Archaeology Book 8)

Social and behavioral scientists study religion or spirituality in various ways and have defined and approached the subject from different perspectives. In cultural anthropology and archaeology the understanding of what constitutes religion involves beliefs, oral traditions, practices and rituals, as well as the related material culture including artifacts, landscapes, structural features and visual representations like rock art. Researchers work to understand religious thoughts and actions that prompted their creation distinct from those created for economic, political, or social purposes. Rock art landscapes convey knowledge about sacred and spiritual ecology from generation to generation. Contributors to this global view detail how rock art can be employed to address issues regarding past dynamic interplays of religions and spiritual elements. Studies from a number of different cultural areas and time periods explore how rock art engages the emotions, materializes thoughts and actions, and reflects religious organization as it intersects with sociopolitical cultural systems. Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction to Rock Art and Sacred Places....Pages 1-10 Rock Art and Spirituality: Is the Rock Art of 30,000 Years Ago a Window to the Spirituality of the People of the Paleolithic?....Pages 11-24 Silence of Signs—Power of Symbols: Rock Art, Landscape and Social Semiotics....Pages 25-47 The Rock Art of Chinamwali and Its Sacred Landscape....Pages 49-66 Rock Art and the Sacred Landscapes of Mainland Southeast Asia....Pages 67-84 Spirituality and Chinese Rock Art....Pages 85-102 Conflict on the Frontier: San Rock Art, Spirituality, and Historical Narrative in the Free State Province, South Africa....Pages 103-115 Spiritual Places: Canadian Shield Rock Art Within Its Sacred Landscape....Pages 117-137 Concepts of Spirit in Prehistoric Art According to Clifford Duncan, Ute Spiritual Elder....Pages 139-161 Old Man Owl: Myth and Gambling Medicine in Klamath Basin Rock Art....Pages 163-176 Trance and Transformation on the Northern Shores of the Chichimec Sea, Coahuila, Mexico....Pages 177-193 Deer: Sacred and Profane....Pages 195-206 Religious Organization in the Late Ceramic Caribbean....Pages 207-232 Communication and Thought in Rock Art: A Discussion of the Spiritual World of Rock Art in Colombia....Pages 233-252 Spirituality in Rock Art Yesterday and Today: Reflections from the Northern Plains and Far Western United States....Pages 253-273 Back Matter....Pages 275-284