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An Offprint from

Rock Art Studies

News of the World IV

Edited by

Paul Bahn, Natalie Franklin

and Matthias Strecker
ISBN 9781842174821

Oxbow Books
www.oxbowbooks.com

Contents
Contributors

Preface

ix

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN PLEISTOCENE ART, 20052009

Paul G. Bahn

2.

ROCK ART STUDIES IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES, 20052009

Kalle Sognnes

18

3.

RECENT WORK IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND

Stan Beckensall

31

4.

HOLOCENE ROCK ART OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA, 20052009

Primitiva Bueno Ramrez and Rodrigo de Balbn Behrmann

45

5.

ROCK ART OF THE ALPINE REGION, 20052009

Geoffroy de Saulieu

60

6.

SAHARA, 20052009
Jean-Loc Le Quellec

65

7.

FIVE YEARS OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN ROCK ART RESEARCH

Siyakha Mguni

99

8. THE NEAR EAST

Serge Lematre

113

9.

124

RECENT ROCK ART STUDIES IN NORTHERN EURASIA, 20052009

Ekaterina Devlet

10. ROCK ART IN CENTRAL ASIA: HISTORY, RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

AND NEW DIRECTIONS

Andrzej Rozwadowski and Kenneth Lymer

149

11. ROCK ART RESEARCH IN MONGOLIA, 20052009

Esther Jacobson-Tepfer

164

12. ROCK ART RESEARCH IN INDIA 20002009: METHODOLOGICAL

AND THEORETICAL TRENDS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

James Blinkhorn

196

Contents

13. RECENT ROCK ART RESEARCH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

AND SOUTHERN CHINA

Paul S. C. Taon and Noel H. Tan

207

14. ROCK ART DOWN-UNDER, 20052009: RESEARCH, MANAGEMENT

AND CONSERVATION IN AUSTRALIA

Natalie R. Franklin

215

15. POLYNESIAN ROCK ART RESEARCH, 20052009

Sidsel Millerstrom

235

16. NORTH AMERICAN ROCK ART RESEARCH, 20052009

William D. Hyder

244

17.

257

A CURRENT ASSESSMENT OF CANADIAN ROCK ART RESEARCH

Jack Steinbring

18. CONTINUING PROGRESS IN MEXICAN ROCK ART RESEARCH, 20052009

Carlos Viramontes, William Breen Murray, Mara de la Luz Gutirrez

and Francisco Mendiola

264

19. RECENT ROCK ART STUDIES IN EASTERN MESOAMERICA

AND LOWER CENTRAL AMERICA, 20052009

Martin Knne, Lucrecia Prez de Batres and Philippe Costa

288

20. ROCK ART OF THE CARIBBEAN, 1990s2009

Michael A. Cinquino and Michele H. Hayward

310

21. ROCK ART RESEARCH IN COLOMBIA

Pedro Mara Argello Garca and Diego Martnez Celis

319

22. RECENT ROCK ART RESEARCH IN VENEZUELA

Kay Tarble de Scaramelli and Franz Scaramelli

329

23. ROCK ART STUDIES IN BRAZIL, 20052009

Andrei Isnardis and Andr Prous

338

24. RECENT ROCK ART STUDIES IN BOLIVIA

Matthias Strecker

349

25. RECENT ROCK ART STUDIES IN PERU

Matthias Strecker

355

26. IMAGES MADE ON STONE: ARGENTINA, 20052009

Dnae Fiore

364

27. ROCK ART IN CHILE, 20052009

Marcela Seplveda R. and Daniela Valenzuela R.

386

Preface

Paul G. Bahn, Natalie Franklin and Matthias Strecker

The present volume is the fourth in the series Rock Art
Studies, News of the World which began in 1996. Its aims
are to present a synthesis of the status of rock art research
in different regions of the world, provide information
about recent projects, publications, prevailing research
objectives and methods, and enable rock art researchers
to relate their findings in a specific region to mainstream
research results.
Region
Pleistocene rock art worldwide
Northern Europe
Iberian Peninsula
Alps, Italy, Balkans
Northern Africa and Sahara
Southern and Tropical Africa
Angola
Arabian Peninsula, Levant and Anatolia
Northern Eurasia
Siberia and Central Asia
Mongolia
Far East
India
SouthEast Asia
Australia and New Guinea
Polynesia
North America
Mexico and Central America
South America
Caribbean islands
Colombia
Ecuador
Venezuela
Brazil
Peru
Bolivia
Argentina
Chile

Vol. 1
pp. 114
pp. 1628
pp. 2934, 3540
pp. 4158
pp. 5970
pp. 7184
pp. 8594
pp. 95104
pp. 105125
pp. 105125

pp. 127132
pp. 133140
pp. 141144
pp. 145162
pp. 163172
pp. 173184
pp. 185202
pp. 203206
pp. 207214

pp. 215220

pp. 221224
pp. 225229

Most contributions published in the four volumes of

the series consider the distribution of sites, chronology,
interpretation, new surveys and publications, management
and site conservation.
The list below reveals the worldwide coverage though
unfortunately not all rock art areas have been dealt with
adequately, and for some regions or countries the editors
could not achieve continuous reports in all volumes.

Vol. 2
pp. 111
pp. 1224
pp. 2535
pp. 3644
pp. 4458, 5973
pp. 7481

pp. 8287
pp. 88118
pp. 88118

pp. 119122
pp. 123126
pp. 127132
pp. 133146
pp. 147164
pp. 165177
pp. 178195, 196213

Vol. 3
pp. 115
pp. 1636
pp. 3751

pp. 5288, 8996

pp. 97111

pp. 112119
pp. 120137
pp. 138178

pp. 179184

pp. 185212
pp. 213225
pp. 226234, 235240
pp. 241255, 256273

Vol. 4
pp. 117
pp. 1830, 3144
pp. 4559
pp. 6064
pp. 6598
pp. 99112

pp. 11323
pp. 12448
pp. 14963
pp. 16495
pp. 20714
pp. 196206
pp. 20714
pp. 21534
pp. 23543
pp. 24456, 25763
pp. 26487, 288309

pp. 214220

pp. 231241
pp. 221226
pp. 227230
pp. 242251

pp. 274279

pp. 294308
pp. 280282
pp. 289293
pp. 309319

pp. 31018
pp. 31928

pp. 32937
pp. 33848
pp. 35563
pp. 34954
pp. 36485
pp. 38698

Preface

As pointed out in the Prefaces to the preceding volumes,

the articles reflect varied approaches to rock art studies,
the authors different experiences and backgrounds, and a
certain difference in the way several years of new research
is presented. We believe that it is an advantage rather than
a shortcoming that a variety of approaches are included in
this collection.
In the present volume, there are inevitably a few gaps
in coverage, as usual, but a number of earlier gaps have
been filled or refilled as some new and reliable contributors
have come on board alongside the stalwarts who have
contributed to each volume. Readers will note that, while
relatively little has happened in some areas over the five
years in question, a great deal has occurred in others. One
particularly important piece of new research is presented
by Katja Devlet in her chapter on Northern Eurasia and

involves her fascinating experiments in developing solid

criteria for differentiating the pecking marks made on
rock by stone tools and metal tools. Stan Beckensall, in
his chapter on Britain and Ireland, highlights the advances
owed in this region to new recording techniques, and the
presentation of databases on the web. Rock art studies
are clearly going through a period of scientific and
technological development, which will have an enormous
impact on the quality of recording and dissemination such
as D-Stretch and other photographic image enhancement
techniques. At the same time, many authors are concerned
by problems of preservation and vandalism, and underline
the crucial importance of educating local people, and the
young, about the importance of this fragile and finite
heritage. This aspect too will be of increasing importance
in years to come.

23. Rock Art Studies in Brazil, 20052009

Andrei Isnardis and Andr Prous

In this presentation of the research carried out in Brazil
during the past few years, we should first note that rock
art studies, which were very numerous in the 1980s
and the early 1990s, have become much rarer, despite
the exponential growth in the number of archaeologists
during the last decade. In fact they have increasingly
devoted themselves to programmed research linked to the
requirements of large-scale infrastructure works. On the
one hand, this has made it possible to reach new regions
that were hitherto unknown archaeologically; but rock art
sites, which are often located in regions of difficult terrain,
far from zones liable to flooding and main roads, are only
rarely touched or taken into account. Nevertheless a few
discoveries have been made, and some new regions have
opened up to exploration, such as central and western
Amazonia. Even in central and northeast Brazil, which one
might have thought to be well known, one is now verifying
the existence of some new assemblages. On the other hand,
young researchers are revisiting sites that have long been
known and are applying new perspectives to them.

Research centres
The principal centres of academic research on Brazilian
rock art are still the same: i.e. the Federal Universities of
Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte), Pernambuco (Recife) and
the FUNDHAM of So Raimundo Nonato (state of Piau). In
these two Federal universities (as well as in the Universities
of Rio de Janeiro UFRJ and of So Paulo USP, which
do not yet have any rock art specialists in their ranks), the
students can now do Masters or Doctorates in Archaeology,
which makes it possible to process more systematically
the information from sites located by the programmes of
rescue archaeology. This is making possible the emergence
of a generation of young researchers which is renewing
and diversifying perspectives. It should be noted that D.

Vialou, of the Institut de Palontologie Humaine in Paris,

has a cooperation agreement with the University of So
Paulo. However, it is the Federal University of Pernambuco
that is producing most of the Masters and Doctorates from
rock art projects; between 2005 and 2010 a doctoral thesis
(Kestering 2007) and four Masters (Limaverde 2006;
Amaral 2007; Barbosa 2007; Valls 2007) were defended
there, all of them on sites in the northeast of the country. A
private institution, the Instituto de Arqueologia Brasileira
(IAB), continues to study rock art in the Serra do Cabral
(MG). A few other research centres are just starting to
study regional rock; such is the case, among others, of
the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Federal
University of the state of Bahia (Salvador), the Federal
University of the valleys of Jequitinhonha and Mucuri at
Damantina (state of Minas Gerais) and the University of
Santa Maria (Rio Grande do Sul, in the far south of Brazil).
In Amazonia, where until now a single researcher (from
the Emilio Goeldi Museum of Belm) was carrying out
research on the rock art of the eastern region, the Institute
of Amazonian Research (INPA) is beginning to support
research in central and western Amazonia. In the state of
Tocantins (southern Amazonia) the Nucleo Tocantinense
de Arqueologia has started to collect documentation which
should make possible a comparative study of the rock art
assemblages of this state.

Geographic expansion and the increase

in regional knowledge
Prospections have been extended to a few new regions
where rock art was unknown or had merely been mentioned;
others systematise the documentation of research that has
already been carried out. Hence, C. Etchevarne and his
team have systematised the information on 110 painted
and engraved shelters in the state of Bahia (which covers

23. Rock Art Studies in Brazil, 20052009

Map: Brazilian states and known rock art areas.

339

340

Andrei Isnardis and Andr Prous

Fig. 23.1. Engravings on the Rio Negro (state of Amazonas). Photo: R. Valle.

567,000 km) in a splendid, amply illustrated book. The

text gives the history of research in this state one of the
richest in rock art in the Federation and describes the
landscapes, and the themes and techniques represented,
in each site.
In the middle valley of the rio So Francisco, L. Ribeiro
(2006; 2007) shows the extension, in the state of Bahia, of
stylistic assemblages which had already been recognised
in that of Minas Gerais (certain assemblages are made up
of geometric figures like the So FranciscoTradition;
others have figurative themes like the Montalvania
complex and the Agreste tradition). Farther downstream,
C. Kestering (2007) has recorded sites which present some
very beautiful complex geometric figures, which can be
attributed to the Caboclo style which itself was earlier
defined father south. The Caboclo figures thus extend for
more than 1300 km, from the south of the state of Gois to
the north of that of Bahia. In the same state, F. Comerlato
(2007) has undertaken a detailed recording of the very big
engraving site of Lagedo, which contains a high number
of depictions of animal tracks and of cupmarks. Entire
regions or states of northeast Brazil, hitherto neglected by
archaeologists, have their rock art recognised and studied
by young researchers. In the state of Cear there are not only
figures similar to those of certain traditions of the middle
So Francisco (depictions of spearthrowers, schematic
anthropomorphs recalling the Montalvnia complex) but
also scenes typical of the Nordeste tradition defined in
Piau (Limaverde2006). In the centre of the state of Rio
Grande do Norte, V. dos Santos Jr (2005) has noted that
all the sites present the same general themes, but that two
mutually exclusive emblematic figures make it possible to

distinguish two significant assemblages. To the northwest of

Amazonia, the valley of the Rio Negro is being explored by
R. Valle (2007; 2001) who has identified two assemblages
of engravings (Fig. 23.1), one made up of geometrised
human faces which recall an Amazonian style, while the
other comprises zoomorphic figures. In the extreme north
of Amazonia, the basin of the rio Trombetas has begun to
be studied by researchers from the University of Minas
Gerais, to verify the relationships that exist between the
rock art of the Guianas and that of the Lower Amazon. One
finds painted sites on the heights, and anthropomorphous
engravings on rocks that are periodically flooded at the
level of the waterfalls. To the south of Amazonia, the site
of Pedra Preta de Paranait has recently been discovered.
It contains zoomorphic engravings; one of them depicts a
snake formed by deep cupmarks and measuring 36 m it
is probably the biggest figure in Brazilian rock art.
In central Brazil (state of Minas Gerais) the first systematic
rock art recordings have been carried out in the region of
Jequitai (Tobias Jr 2010 ), while V. Linke and A. Isnardis
have completed the prospection and study of the sites of
Diamantina, which began in the previous period, showing
the existence of a greater stylistic and thematic diversity than
that which had initially been recorded (Fig. 23.2). Tas Lima
(2007) has carried out a general revision of the rock art sites of
the far south of Brazil, where the engravings are similar to the
pisadas (tracks) style of Argentina. Even in regions that were
thought to be well known, new discoveries have enhanced te
rock art inventory, such as in the Serra da Capivara, where
the FUMDHAM researchers have found a great number of
discreet engravings, which had escaped the first observations
(Abreu et al. 2009) and which form an intermediate moment

23. Rock Art Studies in Brazil, 20052009

341

between the earliest and most recent paintings. Very close to

the Serra da Capivara, the painted shelters of the Serra das
Confuses, currently being studied by C. Abreu Henriques,
show a predominance of geometric graphisms that are
perhaps linked to the So Franciscotradition; they are totally
distinct from the assemblages that characterise the Capivara
Park. The stimulus given by the FUMDHAM (Fundao do
Museu do Homem Americano) to the prospection for rock
art in the state of Piau can be seen in the inventory of 1400
painted or engraved sites in this single state of 252,000 km
(Cruz 2009).
On the lower rio Oriximina (state of Par), the formation
of a sub-aquatic archaeological team has made it possible
to record an engraved site covered by the river because
of the rise of the waters of Amazonia during the recent
Holocene (Pereira and Barbosa 2009), opening a new
frontier to research into river sites.

The main approaches to graphic assemblages

Rock art and ethnicity
In this phase of discovery of new rock art territories, most
researchers are applying the approaches that were already
developed during previous years, trying to recognise
local styles of traditions that that have been proposed
by researchers since the last quarter of the 20th century.
They strive to establish migration routes to explain the
diffusion of thematic assemblages such as that of the
Nordeste tradition (Martin et al. 2009), or to establish new
chrono-stylistic frameworks in the most isolated regions
(Valle 2011). The research directed by the University of
Pernambuco is trying to establish the graphic profiles of
the rock art assemblages, analysing the choice of supports,
the distribution of figures in space, the articulation of
themes, the use of perspective, etc. The aim of the research
is, most often, to define assemblages whose homogeneous
themes or at least the emblematic elements and the
stylistic traits may express cultural identities (Valls 2007).
One could then determine the population movements, or
the extension of territories eventually modified by the
upheavals caused by climatic changes (Kestering op. cit.),
the existence of frontiers between populations bearing
distinct traditions (Limaverde 2006).
These works are thus maintaining the perspective of
Guidon and Pessis, who believe that the graphic unity of a
rock art assemblage suggests the ethnic unity of its authors.
This assimilation is, however, debatable (Prous 1999), and
various Brazilian ethnographic examples show that distinct
groups can share a common graphic repertoire (Muller
1993; Barcelos Neto 2001). The painted scenes showing
anthropomorphous figures, typical of the Nordeste tradition,
continue to be considered as simple recordings of daily or
ritual life.
A few pieces of research are tackling a specific aspect
of themes within a single tradition; for example. Animal

Fig. 23.2. Engravings at Monjolos (region of Diamantina,

Minas Gerais). Photo: V. Linke.

depictions, human depictions, female figures (Buco et al.

2009; Guimaraes 2009), and warrior images (Morales
2009).

Classifications revisited
Among the researchers at the University of Minas Gerais,
one finds a more critical reflection with regard to the
classifications (traditions, styles, complexes) that were
proposed during the 1980s/1990s, based on themes and the
forms of representation. Some authors (Ribeiro 2006; Linke
2008) note that these categories favour the resemblances
between rock panels, but leave their differences in the
background. Traditions and styles have been useful in
making it possible to recognise great regional and interregional assemblages; on the other hand, however, these
categories lead to the underestimation of micro-regional
or local variations. L. Ribeiro (2006) shows that, on the
middle course of the rio So Francisco, some groups
which present different themes (the authors of the figures
of the Montalvania Complex and the So Francisco
Tradition) may nevertheless share the same cultural
universe and certain graphic elements. In the centre of
Minas Gerais, studying the neighbouring regions of Jequitai
and Diamantina, researchers have tried to understand the

342

Andrei Isnardis and Andr Prous

Fig. 23.3. Superimposition of paintings at Jequitai (Minas Gerais). Photo: R. Tobias.

complex framework that united successive populations

and their respective graphic repertoires, because one sees
numerous borrowings and reinterpretations (Tobias Jr 2010;
Linke and Isnardis 2008) (Fig. 23.3).
Seen from this perspective, it is not a matter of
questioning the utility of the stylistic units that have already
been defined, but of making them more supple and showing
their reciprocal relationships.

Rock art in the framework of landscape

archaeology
The last decade saw the development of various perspectives
that can be grouped under the heading of landscape
archaeology. The insertion of the landscape as an analytical
category had already been underway for some time (Baeta
et al. 1992; Maranca 1983/84), but it really began to be
expressed from 2000 onwards (Isnardis 2004; Comerlato
2005), particularly among the researchers in the state of
Minas Gerais. The thesis by A. Isnardis on the valley of the
Rio Peruau (state of Minas Gerais) involved attempting the
insertion of the sites of each rock art tradition and style into
the landscape (Isnardis 2004). During these last few years, V.
Linke, in collaboration with A. Isnardis (Linke 2007; 2008;
Isnardis and Linke 2010), has considerably developed and
enriched this approach by trying to understand the cultural
construction of the landscapes through the decoration of the
shelters in the region of Diamantina, in the mountain chain
of the Espinhao. Analysing the natural characteristics of
the landscape on the basis of numerous variables, V. Linke

seeks the preferential choices (position in the topography,

orientation, visibility, etc) made by those responsible for
the painting of each chrono-stylistic assemblage. Hence
she identifies the criteria which determine the presence
or absence of decoration in each type of painted shelter.
She verifies the existence of different choices between
certain chrono-stylistic units, but also of reoccupations and
superimpositions by others; one can even see the systematic
integration of early figures by later units (Fig. 23.4).
Amaral (2007) and Kostering (op. cit.) also discuss the
choice of sites to decorate (Fig. 23.5), but only do so in
relation to the changes in climate and environment which
more or less facilitated their accessibility in different
periods (Fig. 23.6).
One contrast between the rock art themes and styles
in geologically diverse neighbouring regions had already
been noted in the state of Bahia in the 1980s (Beltro
and Lima 1986), where the themes and traditions present
in the limestone caves were different from the rock art
assemblages painted in quartzitic rockshelters. A researcher
from Minas Gerais, Rogrio Tobias Jr (2010), reflects on
a similar phenomenon observed in the region of Jequitai.
Do the differences between these graphic expressions
result from political frontiers between inhabitants of the
limestone and quartzitic zone, or from the fact that the
same prehistoric painters decorated karstic galleries and
disintegrated quartzitic walls differently? The author
supports the latter hypothesis, and tries to characterise the
behaviour of the painters faced with the different kinds of
sites and supports.

23. Rock Art Studies in Brazil, 20052009

Fig. 23.4. Zoomorphic paintings at Diamantina. Photo: A.

Isnardis.

343

Fig. 23.5. Painting at Sento S (region of Sobradinho, Bahia).

Photo: C. Kestering.

Other perspectives
Other studies go beyond the simple definition and
description of the chrono-stylistic assemblages in order
to try and establish a relationship between the rock art
inventory and other types of archaeological remains. For
example, the comparison between the themes painted on
ceramic vessels and the figures painted in the rockshelters
of eastern Amazonia (Pereira 2009); or the correlations
between the plant remains found in silos and food remains
buried in the painted shelters, and the cultivated or wild
plants depicted on the walls (Prous and Freitas 2009).
Another paper claims to see, in the astonomical depictions
painted within a radius of 300 km around the meteor
crater of Panela (state of Bahia) the graphic recording
of the fall of the great Tupana meteorite 3200 years ago
(Barreto 2009).
Without succumbing to the temptation of interpreting
prehistoric graphisms on the basis of readings by presentday natives, the archaeologists who work in Amazonia in
contact with indigenous groups emphasise the symbolic
dimension which the current natives of the rio Negro
give to the rock art assemblages (Valle, pers. comm.), or
report the perception totally different from that of the
archaeologists which the Waxuyana of Brazilian Guyana
have of the depicted figures (Jcome and Prous ms.). These
archaeologists, influenced by the perspectivism of the
ethnological school of Viveiros de Castro, are inspired by
the indigenous philosophical conceptions in their approach
to the graphisms: for example, the absence of ontological
distinction between human beings and animals; or the
symbolic importance of elements of the landscape.
The researchers of Minas Gerais analyse in particular
the dynamics of the production of the graphics: the
reconstruction of the gestures and the sequence of the
lines. The incorporation of earlier figures to form, with
new graphisms, new compositions (Fig. 23.7). One even
observes especially in the region of Diamantina the
recuperation of the painted lines from earlier figures to

Fig. 23.6. Engravings that are submerged seasonally, Rio

Negro. Photo: R. Valle.

form new figures (Isnardis 2004; 2009; Isnardis et al. 2008;

Linke and Isnardis 2008).

Archaeometry: dating and analyses of pigments

The important question of the antiquity of the paintings
of the Serra da Capivara (state of Piau) has still not been
settled. Dating by TL and EPR, carried out by Brazilian

344

Andrei Isnardis and Andr Prous

Fig. 23.7. Progressive development of a panel through superimposition of figures, Diamantina. Photo: A. Isnardis

laboratories on the calcite layers that cover several

paintings, indicates ages between 19,000 and 43,286 BP,
whereas 14C dates mostly propose recent Holocene dates
for the same figures. However, a date from the Toca das
Moendas indicates a minimum age of 31,860 210 BP for
a painting under calcite. These differences show well the
limitations of these methods; the presence of recent organic
matter has been verified on the walls studied (microscopic
algae and lichens which could contaminate the samples
dated by radiocarbon) whereas the sampling of calcite for
EPR and TL, carried out by scraping, is apparently also
not totally reliable (Pessis et al. 2010).
Some researchers from the University of Rio de Janeiro
are currently trying to apply to prehistoric paintings the new
method of dating pigments by palaeomagnetism (study of
intrinsic magnetisation), a method already tested in Mexico.
The first tests, carried out with a SQUID magnetometer
in the site of Santana do Riacho (state of Minas Gerais),
have made it possible to verify that the method could be
applied to the pigments of this site, but the results are not
yet available (Ribeiro Costa et al. 2007). In central Brazil,
the earliest indications of pictorial activities consist of the
presence of pigments, which abound in layers dating to
between 11,000 and 10,000 BP in decorated caves; the

oldest figures which are buried and thus well dated are no
older than 10,000 BP (Prous 2009).
As for the question of whether Pleistocene fossil species
are depicted in Brazilian paintings, the figures in the state
of Bahia which have been interpreted as extinct animals
are not at all convincing (Faure et al. 2009; Prous 2010).
The texts are sometimes contradictory about the presence
of paintings of extinct animals in the Serra da Capivara.
Whereas a summary suggests the existence of extinct
species, the communication of the palaeontologists who
are working in the region claims that the paintings only
depict present-day species, although they disappeared from
the region when it became very dry (Faure et al. 2009).
A few pigment analyses have made it possible to verify
the presence of organic matter, probably used as binders, in
the paintings of the valley of the rio Peruau (David 2009).
In the south of Brazil, researchers from the state of Paran
have used portable EDXRF equipment to compare the
elements that constitute the paintings made in the cave of
Jaguaraiaiva during two periods of the Holocene (Appoloni
et al. 2009). In the state of Piau, physical analyses have
made it possible to determine the mineralogical components
of the pigments at several sites (Cavalcante et al. 2009).

23. Rock Art Studies in Brazil, 20052009

Dissemination of research
The main specialised publications of this period are acts of
congresses. Seven communications were presented at that
of the Brazilian Archaeological Society held in Belm in
2007 and have been published in hyper-text. Several dozen
communications on Brazilian rock art were also presented
at the International IFRAO Congress held in So Raimundo
Nonato in 2009, and 35 of them have been published in
hyper-text. It is obligatory for the texts of Masters and
Doctoral theses to be placed on the Internet. It is, however,
regrettable that legislation does not make it obligatory in
the same way to publish reports of rescue archaeology,
which are generally not available to researchers.

Informing the general public, and patrimonial

education
A few works of synthesis have been published, aimed at
the general public as well as at researchers.
M. Jorge, A. Prous and L. Ribeiro (2007) published a
bilingual book whose aesthetic value does not detract from
the interest of its documentation. It shows the variety of
rock art expressions in the whole of Brazil. The text presents
the main regional assemblages and the relative chronology
of the figures when this is known. An abundance of
information allows the general public to question received
ideas about rock art.
Another book (Prous 2007), which forms the first
volume in a collection on Brazilian Art History, is aimed
at non-specialist educators. It presents the different forms
of prehistoric graphic expression in Brazil (sculpture,
painting, engraving, ceramic art) as well as the principles
of interpretation. It stresses the diversity of prehistoric
cultures and of their manifestations, and mentions the
fundamental elements of traditional indigenous thought.
A. Vialou has edited a third book, likewise richly
illustrated, on the rock art region known as Cidade de
Pedra (City of Stone) in the south of the Mato Grosso
(Vialou 2006). The description of each site brings to light
the existence of themes that are common to the whole
region, but also the presence of emblematic graphisms in
each of them.
Legislation makes it obligatory for projects of rescue
archaeology to include activities aimed at promoting the
notion of patrimony, which makes it possible to mention
rock art in the regions where it exists. One should stress
the importance of the intensive work by the FUMDHAM,
which has disseminated information on rock art to schools
and the general public in the state of Piau.

Tourism, parks and preservation

Natural and archaeological parks in at least seven states
(Santa Catarina, Gois, Minas Gerais, Par, Parana,
Piaui, Mato Grosso) contain rock art sites. The principal

345

problem in the preservation of these rock art assemblages

is the fact that the management of the parks is entrusted
to organisations that are charged with the preservation of
natural assemblages (IBAMA, Fundao Chico Mendes
for the federal parks; Institutes peculiar to each state, for
the other conservation units), whereas the protection of
archaeological sites archologiques is the responsibility of
the Services of the Federal Patrimony (IPHAN). There is
still no coordination between these organisations to ensure
efficient management (Borges et al. 2009).
Archaeological tourism has profoundly transformed life
in the little town of So Raimundo Nonato; in addition to the
training of guides, the FUMDHAM has developed a craft
industry that diffuses the local rock art themes, and is already
on sale in numerous places in Brazil. Tourism now offers
concrete possibilities for development around the natural and
archaeological parks, but the training of guides, the infrastructures and protection measures are still insufficient, with
the exception of the Park of the Serra da Capivara.
Brazils accelerated economic development during these
last few years has accentuated the impact of industrial
projects on natural and cultural patrimony: the extraction
of iron ore is threatening various rock art sites, especially
in the state of Minas Gerais. But it is the construction
of hydroelectric installations (on the rios Madeira and
Araguaia, in particular) which poses the most serious
problems. The dam project of Santa Isabel, on the Araguaia,
would bring the submersion of the island of dos Martirios,
the countrys biggest known open-air engraving site and
the first prehistoric art site to be mentioned by Portuguese
colonists who attributed the drawings to depictions
of the Crucifixion; indeed, there is a legend that Saint
Thomas came to Brazil (Fig. 23.8). Despite the existence
of legislation that is highly favourable to the protection of
archaeological sites, the management organisations have
great difficulties in having it respected, and the pressures
exerted by large economic groups are very strong. Even
the indigenous groups have probems in imposing the
preservation of sites linked to their history; the other
communities are generally little motivated to preserve
archaeological sites.

Reflections on these last few years

The last five years have seen a diminution in the number
of scientific publications about rock art; on the other hand,
the number of Masters and theses has grown. So in the next
few years one will be able to count on a new generation,
made up of specialised researchers. A few new physics and
chemistry laboratories are starting to associate themselves
with teams of archaeologists, which makes it likely that
there will be developments in archaeometry. Wherever rock
art sites are located in indigenous territory or its vicinity,
the communities are now associated with the research.
However, it should be noted that, although rock art is
claimed as a cultural patrimony by certain groups under

346

Andrei Isnardis and Andr Prous

Fig. 23.8. Engraved depictions of axes, Island of dos Martrios (rio Araguaia, state of Tocantins), Photo: A. Prous.

Fig. 23.9. A native Kaxuyana in front of the paintings of Itxuruni, basin of the Trombetas. Photo: Mission archologique
franaise.

threat from modern society (for example, by the Xakriaba

and the Borun of Minas Gerais), the sites are feared and
their paintings attributed to malevolent beings in certain
isolated regions for instance, among the Kaxuyana of
the rio Katxuru (close to the frontier with Surinam), who
we had great difficulty in bringing to the painted shelters
located on their territory (Fig. 23.9).
The extension of research into new parts of the immense
Brazilian territory and the intensification of studies in
certain regions show on the one hand the great geographical
diffusion of certain stylistic assemblages that were already
recognised at the end of the 20th century, and, on the other,
the impressive diversification of the rock art manifestations
through space and through the millennia. It will take
more time to have an overall view of this heritage, which

fortunately is starting to attract the interest of the general

public and of local authorities.

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