Images in time: an overview of rock art manifestations in the Fiambalá region (Catamarca, Northwestern Argentina)

Abstract

Rock art images and media are of fundamental analytical value during socialization processes where visual preferences are expressed and ways of seeing are constructed (Gell 1998, Morphy 2009, Jones 2007 among others). In each particular context, visual manifestations help to delineate and direct visual lines and body movements occurred in these places (Quesada and Gheco 2011, among others). The production of any visual depiction involves the transformation of specific raw materials into images by means of different techniques and use of specific elements and artifacts. This creative process requires the investment of energy, time, skills, manual dexterity, knowledge and perception (Fiore 2007). This theoretical premise is the basis for our approach to the study of rock art in the Fiambalá region (Province of Catamarca, Argentina) ?Figure 1. The distribution analysis shows that, in this region, rock art is restricted to specific locations within the valley (1400-1800 m.a.s.l.) and in ravines of the ?Sierra de las Planchadas y Narváez? (3500-3000 m.a.s.l.) and ?Cordillera de San Buenaventura? (2700-2850 m.a.s.l.). The sites do not present enough sedimentation to characterize or date the archaeological contexts. There is also no evidence of overlapping images, neither recycling nor marked differences in the shades of patina. Consequently, relative chronological assignment was carried out by comparison with documented images from: (i) rock art in extra-regional sites dated with absolute calibration (Aschero 1999, and others), and (ii) images on other types of materials (ceramic and textile) contained in sites in the Fiambalá region and neighboring areas also temporally calibrated (Basile 2012, 2013). This allowed us to time the production and use of rock art at the different moments of development of peasant communities in the region. There is no rock art related to hunter-gatherer groups, probably due to the effects of the volcanic eruptions (Fernández Turriel et al. 2013, Ratto et al. 2012, Ratto 2013). During the first and second millennium presented here, communities used different ways to define, construct and place the images. Rock arte was usually placed on selected bedrocks either on or near natural pathways that connected settlements located at different altitudinal levels and allowed access to a particular kind of resources or productive spaces (Ratto et al. 2012, Basile 2012).