Archaeology of Art: Theoretical Frameworks

Abstract

This essay provides an overview of the main theoretical frameworks used in the archaeology of art and outlines their main contributions and limitations. These frameworks can be defined as sets of concepts used by researchers to approach the analysis and interpretation of visual imagery in the archaeological record, which includes materials such as rock art (petroglyphs, paintings and geoglyphs), portable art (decorated tools and artefacts with no practical-mechanical function), sculptures, friezes, body ornaments (beads, pendants, etc.), pottery decoration, etc. These theoretical frameworks have varied along the history of archaeology according to factors such as: a) ontology: the way "art" is defined and conceived from each specific theoretical perspective; b) epistemology: the way art analysis and/or interpretation is carried out, i.e. whether is uses induction and/or deduction, whether it focuses on qualitative descriptions and/or searches for quantitative patterns, whether it uses one or more lines of independent evidence (e.g. image data, technical data, spatial data, archaeofaunal data, ethnographic data, etc.); c) the topics which are central to each framework, which are reflected by the questions asked about the materials under study and by the concepts used to describe, explain and interpret them; d) methodology: the practical ways in which data are collected and variables are measured in the field, analysed in the laboratory, and presented within the academic community. Some theoretical approaches to art stem from wider archaeological theoretical frameworks (e.g. culture-history, processual, post-processual, evolutionary-ecological, see below) and thus their concepts are mainly applications of their particular conceptions about past human cultures to the analysis and interpretation of artistic materials in the archaeological record. Other approaches derive from the application of theoretical frameworks generated in other disciplines than archaeology, such as anthropology, linguistics or sociology (e.g. structuralism, semiotics, historical materialism, see below). Finally, others focus particularly on the development of hypotheses about art's functions (e.g. shamanism, art as landmarks along caravan routes, etc., see below) which have been developed to tackle specific cases-studies. In sum, a total of 15 theoretical frameworks of the archaeology of art are critically reviewed, explaining their links to the wider frameworks they are related to and providing a synthesis of their main concepts, their advantages, limitations and applications to actual case studies.