Testing tools: an experimental investigation into technical and economic aspects of Levantine rock art production

Abstract

For over a century, scholars have presentedseveral proposals regarding the paint application tools used to createLevantine rock art. However, such proposals have largely rested on theoreticalassumptions and inductive inferences that have not been rigorously tested. Inthis experimental investigation, we compiled these hypotheses and crafted 60tools that were tested through systematic experiments to assess theirperformance and technical affordances for the creation of images with techno-visualfeatures equivalent to those of the Levantine paintings. These experimentsallowed us to obtain analytical parameters with independent validation, whichwere used as diagnostic criteria to analyse the rock art from nine siteslocated in eastern Spain. Results reveal that out of 60 tools, only 10 –fivehair brushes, three plant brushes, and two feather brushes–afforded theproduction of images with techno-visual features highly similar to those of thearchaeological paintings. Subsequently, we employed these tools to paint 10full-size replicas of Levantine motifs, aiming to explore their potential rolein the toolkit of prehistoric painters. Drawing on the data from both thesystematic and the replicative experiments, and taking into account the levelof labour investment required by the technical operations that permeate theproduction of the paint application tools, we suggest that Levantine technologywas not based on an economic logic aimed at minimizing the costs associated withproducing the images, but rather on a perspective where the priority wascreating paintings with specific techno-visual qualities that reinforced theinformation transmitted through the graphic code.