Hunter-gatherer rock art in two regions of Central-Southern Patagonia (Argentina): contrasting visual themes, techniques and landscapes

Abstract

In this paper we present a comparative discussion on several issues about hunter-gatherer rock art in two regions of central-southern Patagonia: Extremo Sur del Macizo del Deseado (ESMD) and Margen Norte del Río Santa Cruz (MNRS). The landscapes, bedrocks and topographies of both regions are compared, showing clear differences in the availability of rock surfaces on which to produce rock art: ESDM is characterised by a great number of caves and rockshelters, on which most rock art images have been painted, while MNRSC is characterised by large extensions of open-air basalt walls, on which most rock art images have been engraved. This may be related to the fact that ESMD?s topographies offer greater chances for the conservation of the paintings, while the open-air walls of MNRSC do not offer such shelter, and thus the choice of making engraved images in these bedrocks may have been linked to the higher conservation chances that such technique offers for images displayed in open air walls. The depicted themes and motif types repertoires of each region are presented and compared, showing the existence of some inter-regional similarities which suggest that visual communication occurred at some degree at an inter-regional scale, which is consistent with the existence of hunter-gatherer mobility and contact between both regions. However, such comparison also shows the existence of visual, technical and landscape construction differences in both regions, thus suggesting that in spite of the above mentioned inter-regional contact, visual communication mostly occurred at intra-regional scales.