Special Issue "World Rock Art"

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A special issue of Arts (ISSN 2076-0752). This special issue belongs to the section "History of Arts".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2013

Special Issue Editor

Guest Editor
Dr. Robert G. Bednarik
International Federation of Rock Art Organisations (IFRAO), PO Box 216, Caulfield South, Vic. 3162, Australia
Website: http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/auraweb/web/index.html
E-Mail: auranet@optusnet.com.au
Interests: pleistocene archaeology; epistemology; rock art; prehistoric art; cave art; dating methodology; archaeometry; pleistocene seafaring; human evolution

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The corpus of hundreds of millions of rock art motifs surviving in the world today represents the principal source of information chronicling the cognitive evolution of humanity. It records the world views, concerns, beliefs and communication systems of mostly pre-literate peoples, from the Middle Pleistocene up to the most recent past. It is the largest body available for study that documents the development of the hominin ability of storing memory traces or cultural information external to the brain, as exograms, which is the primary difference between humans and other animals. It precedes systems of writing by up to hundreds of millennia, and it is the main repository of cultural information about nearly all of human history. It amounts to humanity’s longest record of cultural rather than technological evidence. In recent years the study of this immense resource has become an increasingly sophisticated scientific field, supplanting traditional approaches of simplistic interpretation and ethnocentric construal. This special issue of Arts is dedicated to assembling a collection of scholarly articles that will serve as a benchmark for current research and priorities in rock art research. Contributions are invited on any topic demonstrating the present knowledge state of the discipline, from any continent and from the perspective of any related field. In particular this collection is hoped to illustrate the great diversity of world rock art, which reflects the cultural diversity of humanity, and from which ultimately all recent arts derive.

Dr. Robert Bednarik
Guest Editor

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Arts is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. For the first couple of issues the Article Processing Charge (APC) will be waived for well-prepared manuscripts. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

Published Papers (5 papers)

Open Access
Arts 2013, 2(1), 1-2; doi:10.3390/arts2010001
Received: 4 February 2013 / Accepted: 5 February 2013 / Published: 6 February 2013
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Open Access Free, Open Access Review Article
Arts 2013, 2(1), 6-34; doi:10.3390/arts2010006
Received: 22 December 2012; in revised form: 22 January 2013 / Accepted: 23 January 2013 / Published: 8 February 2013
Show/Hide Abstract | Download PDF Full-text (1697 KB)

Open Access
Arts 2013, 2(1), 35-43; doi:10.3390/arts2010035
Received: 28 January 2013; in revised form: 5 February 2013 / Accepted: 6 February 2013 / Published: 8 February 2013
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Open Access
Arts 2013, 2(1), 44-45; doi:10.3390/arts2010044
Received: 4 February 2013 / Accepted: 5 February 2013 / Published: 8 February 2013
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Open Access Free, Open Access Review Article
Arts 2013, 2(2), 46-76; doi:10.3390/arts2020046 (doi registration under processing)
Received: 8 May 2013; in revised form: 10 June 2013 / Accepted: 12 June 2013 / Published: 19 June 2013
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Submitted Papers

Type of Paper: Article
Title:
Fibre Technology, Prehistoric Art and Cognition at Blombos Cave, South Africa
Author:
Judith Cameron
Affiliations: Archaeology and Natural History, CHL. Research School of Asian and Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200 Australia; E-Mail: judith.cameron@anu.edu.au
Abstract:
Despite observations that more than 90% of the artefacts used by hunter-gatherers are made from fibres (Soffer et al. 2000) [17], very little is actually known about the role of fibre technology in human evolution.  The problem arises because fibres, the most fragile of all organics, do not generally survive at early archaeological sites and the occasional depictions of fibres in prehistoric art are invariably undated and ambiguous. The earliest indirect evidence for fibre technology comes from excavations of MSA layers at Blombos Cave in South Africa which produced perforated shells that are thought to have been threaded onto cordage to create prehistoric jewellery suggesting that anatomically modern humans had knowledge of fibre technology at least c. 78,000 years ago. The same stratigraphic sequences also produced ochre blocks decorated with art of unknown meaning.  This paper puts forward the proposition that both the shells and the art are linked to fibres and that the art represents an ancient game using worked fibres.

Type of Paper: Article
Title:
Pleistocene Palaeoart of Asia
Author:
Robert G. Bednarik
Affiliations:
International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO), P.O. Box 216, Caulfield South, VIC 3162, Australia; E-Mail: robertbednarik@hotmail.com
Abstract:
This comprehensive overview considers the currently known Pleistocene palaeoart of Asia on a common basis, which suggests that the available data are entirely inadequate to form any cohesive synthesis about this corpus. In comparison to the attention lavished on the corresponding record available from Eurasia’s small western appendage, Europe, it is evident that Pleistocene palaeoart from the rest of the world has been severely neglected. Southern Asia, in particular, holds great promise for the study of early cognitive development of hominins, and yet this potential has remained almost entirely unexplored. Asia is suggested to be the key continent in any global synthesis of ‘art’ origins, emphasising the need for a comprehensive pan-continental research program. This is not just to counter-balance the incredible imbalance in favour of Europe, but to examine the topic of Middle Pleistocene palaeoart development effectively.

Type of Paper: Article
Title:
Rock Art in Kurdistan Iran
Author:
Jamal Lahafian
Affiliations:
E-Mail: jamal.lahafian@gmail.com
Abstract:
Kurdistan with great potential and resources of pre-history, has numerous petroglyphs in different areas of the province. During the last 14 years and with vast field study, more than 30 sites of rock art have been identified and introduced by the author. In this article we work on general checking of these rock art areas in Iranian Kurdistan.

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Symbolic Behavior (Palaeoart) at Two Million Years Ago: The Olduvai Gorge FLK North Pecked Cobble
Author: James Harrod
Affiliation: Adjunct Faculty, Maine College of Art, 301 Spring Street, Portland, ME 04102, USA; E-Mail: jbharrod@midmaine.com
Abstract: The discussion of whether or not Homo habilis or a sister species engaged in symbolic behavior during the Oldowan period is ongoing. Hypotheses have been suggested from the fields of paleoneurology, linguistics and palaeoanthropology. This study aims to widen the conversation between art and science and substantially lengthen the time-span for the evolution of art. I review typical Oldowan tool-making and tool-use behaviors and based on this I hypothesize characteristics of the Oldowan supramodal conceptual-semantic competence. I then present a visual analysis of the design principles in an Olduvai Gorge FLK North ‘pecked cobble’ dated around 1.8 million years ago. I suggest how an Oldowan palaeoartist applied a holistic repertoire of tool-gesture types to make ‘groove’ and ‘cupules’ on this object. I compare this artifact to a curated ‘found art’ object, a ‘rhomboid core’ from another classic Oldowan site, FxJj1 Koobi Fora. I suggest implications of this analysis for the earliest emergence of language and symbolic behavior. Finally, I suggest how these two examples of Oldowan symbolic behavior (palaeoart) appear to be manifestations of the first ‘meme’ in the two million year evolution of art and culture.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Saharan rock art: local dynamics and wider perspectives
Author: Marina Gallinaro
Affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Antichità, Sapienza Università di Roma, Via Palestro 63, 00185 Rome, Italy; E-Mail: marina.gallinaro@uniroma1.it
Abstract: Saharan rock art, since its first pioneering discoveries in the late 19th century, has captured the imagination of the ‘Saharans’ and scholars, representing for long time the main aim of research in the area. However, the rock art studies in the Saharan regions have been left behind in respect of the development of archaeological and multidisciplinary research carried out in the last decades. After an early important season of studies, corresponding to the first scientific investigations, the research still focussed on chronological and stylistic issues, often carried out without a robust archaeological and anthropological perspective. In the last twenty years the Saharan rock art studies, but for few exceptions, have been carried out in a persistent ambiguity between science and delight. Economic and human efforts involved in rock art have probably been wider than any other research, but the results are still confusing. Rock art is one of the most fragile aspects of the Saharan heritage: it is a non-renewable resource, yet wide affected by natural and anthropic threats, and risking to vanish in few years if not managed in a sustainable way.
Aim of this paper is to trace the way for a (re)study of rock art from the central Saharan range. The artworks will be analysed in their social-cultural context, in the light of the most recent multidisciplinary research carried out in the central Saharan massifs. A set of environmental, archaeological, anthropological and genetic data will be considered in order to define an updated scenario for the earliest appearance and development of artistic evidence in the area. Issues and methods of preservation of rock art sites will be addressed as well. In fact, scholars could play a key role performing a “sustainable study” of artworks - with non-invasive techniques of recording and sampling and with the development of shared research programmes – and most of all disseminating the outstanding value of this heritage.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: The Astronomy of Australian Aboriginal Rock Art
Author: Ray Norris
Affiliation: Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Indigenous Studies, Office: 203-B, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, Epping (ATNF), Sydney, Australia; E-Mail: raypnorris@gmail.com
Abstract: In all forms of Aboriginal rock art (cave paintings, engravings, and stone arrangements), we find examples of astronomical themes, reflecting the significant astronomical component found in Australian Aboriginal cultures. These astronomical components suggest not only ceremonial associations with the sky, but also a deep understanding of the motion of objects in the sky. Here I review the many forms of astronomical rock art and show how the study of rock art can significantly add to our understanding of the intellectual depth and complexity of traditional Aboriginal cultures.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Shades of the Rainbow Serpent? A KhoeSān Animal between Myth and Landscape in Southern Africa – Ethnographic Contextualisations of Rock Art Representations
Authors: Chris Low, Sian Sullivan
Affiliations:
Centre for African Studies, University of Oxford, chris.low@africa.ox.ac.uk; Sian Sullivan Dept. Geography, Environment and Development Studies, Birkbeck, University of London. sullivan@bbk.ac.uk
Abstract: The snake serves as a potent metaphor in many cultures across the world, and is a noticeable global theme in rock art and inscribed landscapes. We mobilise our long-term ethnographic research with southern Africa KhoeSān peoples to situate and interpret the presence of snake motifs in the region’s rock art. We contextualise the snake as a transformative mediator between everyday and shamanic KhoeSān worlds, outlining the emergence and relevance of the shamanistic paradigm that dominates current interpretations of southern African rock art. Ethnographic explorations of experiences of snakes as both an aspect of natural history and the biophysical environment, and as embodiments of multiplicitous and mythical meaning by which to live and understand life, shed light on the presence of snakes and associated snake-themes in southern African rock art. By drawing on ethnographic material we are able to highlight a dynamic assemblage of extant associations between snakes, rain, water, fertility, blood, fat, transformation, dance and healing with explanatory potential for understanding the meaning of these themes in the rock art created by the ancestors of contemporary KhoeSān peoples. Our paper contributes to a live debate regarding the interpretive relevance of ethnography for understanding rock art representations from the past.
Keywords: KhoeSān; rock art; snakes; potency; rain; healing; dance; landscape; shamanism; ethnography

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Rock Art of Saudi Arabia
Author: Majeed Khan
Abstract: It is not only the oil in which Saudi Arabia is rich but it is also among the four richest rock art regions of the world. Hundreds and thousands of petroglyphs, painted rock art  and ancient Arabian isncriptions sites are located  all over the country representing various cultural phases from  the Neolithic until recent past. One can see  the naturalistic, schematic, abstract, mythical, and mystical images representing ancient ideology, thoughts about the metaphysical world, religious entity,  economy, environment, human intellegence and variety of animal type according to particular climatic and environmental conditions. The rock art of Saudi Arabia is the mirror of its rich cultural heritage of so called Bedouin or desert dwellers that surprises the world by its 4000 archaeolgical and more than 1500 rock art sites and placed it among the highly civilized and cultural nations of the world.
Keywords: Rich heritage; petroglyphs; painted  sites; Neolithic; ideology; environment; naturalistic; schematic; mirror; intellegnec; nations

Type of Paper: Article
Title: The cave of Isturitz (West Pyrenees, France): one century of research in paleolithic art
Authors:
Diego Garate 1 *, Aude Labarge 2, Olivia Rivero 1, Christian Normand 1 and Joëlle Darricau 3
Affiliations:
1 TRACES-UMR 5608, Université Toulouse le MIrail; E-Mail: diegogarate@harpea.org; 2 Aulame Médiation en Préhistoire; 3 Association Gaztelu;
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed
Abstract: The cave of Isturitz is one of more important archaeological sites of prehistoric time in Western Europe. The human occupations have followed sequentially one after another inside the cavity from at least the Middle Paleolithic to the Roman age. In 1913, with the beginning of the archaeological excavations by E. Passemard, a calcite pillar next to the original entrance sculpt with a dozen of animal representations was discovered. At the same time, the Magdalenian levels offered an abundant amount of portable art. In the last years, several works have resumed the study of those pieces and also, since 2011, we have created a research team for the study of the parietal figures of the cave and other elements associated like the objects sunk in the walls. The first results shows a deeper knowledge about the artistic activities developed during Upper Paleolithic in the cave.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Amerindian Cosmologies and European Prehistoric Cave Art: Reasons and Usefulness of a Comparison
Author: Enrico Comba
Affiliations: University of Turin, Dept. of Cultures, Politics and Society; E-Mail: enrico.comba@unito.it
Abstract: Several anthropological studies conducted in recent years among different Native American cultures have revealed a series of common features in ontological premises and cosmological frameworks. These features seem to be shared by most of the Native peoples in both North and South America. They include: a system of relationships between humans and non-human beings based on an ontology “of persons” as contrasted to the ontology “of things” typical of the Western attitude towards Nature; a structure of the cosmos made by superposed layers, which express the idea of a reality represented as comprising hidden dimensions and invisible domains; and the key role played by ecstatic practitioners in establishing relationships with and acquiring knowledge from these multiple dimensions of the universe. Here, the idea is suggested that this elements could be profitably utilized to interpret the meaning of Paleolithic cave art, not simply implying a series of typological likenesses, but suggesting the possibility of historic (pre-historic) links. It should be remembered that the main settlement of the Americas occurred in a period (from 30,000 to 20,000 years B.P.) which is contemporaneous with the creation of the masterworks in the caves of France and Spain.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Paleolithic and Mesolithic Rock Art from the Mongolian Altai: The Material and Its Cultural Implications
Author: Esther Jacobson-Tepfer, Professor Emeritus, Department of Art History
Affiliations: University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97405 USA; E-Mail: ejacobs@uoregon.edu
Abstract: The body of Paleolithic and Mesolithic rock art in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia remains unfamiliar to world rock art specialists. This is primarily due to two conditions: the largest concentrations of this material have been documented in now out-of-circulation Mongolian publications; or they have been buried in the publications of large sites dominated by materials from later periods. This archaic material is much too important to remain so ignored. It constitutes the largest and best-preserved body of open-air rock art from Central and North Asia dating back to the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods. Including images of mammoths, rhinoceros and ostriches, as well as aurochs, horses and ibex, the Mongolian material provides visual documentation essential for an understanding of prehistoric culture in this region of the world.
The purpose of the paper is four-fold: 1) to introduce this pre-Bronze Age material in terms of subjects and locations; 2) to consider the sites in question in relationship to each other and to archaic and published sites from both Mongolia and Russia; 3) to consider the implications of this material for the study of Mongolia’s paleoenvironment and, conversely, the manner in which paleoenvironmental studies support the Paleolithic and Mesolithic dating proposed here; and 4) to integrate this ancient material into the long history of rock art and human culture in the Mongolian Altai.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: A Statistical Approach to Chronological Trends in Negev Rock Art: The Har Michia Petroglyphs
Authors: Davida Eisenberg-Degen 1 * and Steven A. Rosen 2
Affiliations: 1 Israel Antiquity Authority, Omer Industrial Park, P.O.Box 271, Building 3D, Omer 84965, Israel; E-Mail: davidae@post.bgu.ac.il; 2 Archaeological Division Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.Box 653; E-Mail: rosen@bgu.ac.il; * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed
Abstract: Negev rock art consists of a rich corpus of motifs formed over millennia. As dating of specific elements is not yet possible, the rock art was analyzed through a statistical approach. Analysis of panels and the reconstruction of engraving phases allowed definition of sequences and patterns reflecting the long term history of the Negev.  Some of the most significant transitions to occur in the Negev are reflected in the rock art, in some senses forming a visual expression of the local history. Thus, both the introduction of the domestic camel and the emergence of Islam are reflected in the rock art, one in depictions of camels and the other in an increase in abstract (non-figurative) motifs. One motif found throughout all engraving phases is the ibex. Although Negev mark makers originated in pastoral societies with a sheep/goat based economy, sheep and goats are rarely present in the rock art and never as a herd. Ibex, which played only a small role in subsistence, is the most common zoomorphic motif and represents a long term trend in the rock art.
Keywords: petroglyph; Negev; chronology; Har Michia

Type of Paper: Article
Title: No reprieve for Tasmanian Rock Art
Author:
Peter C. Sims OAM
Affiliations:
PO Box 692, Quoiba, Tasmania, Australia 7310; E-Mail: tark1@bigpond.com
Abstract: The Australian island of Tasmania, at latitude 42 degrees South, was formed about 8,000 years ago when the sea rose to its present level, following the melting of polar and glacial ice that covered much of the land mass. After that time, the Aboriginal rock art around the coastline developed independently of mainland Australia, with its form being basically linear with some naturalistic figures and a predominance of cupules. The petroglyphs and one lithophone occur on various rock substrates varying in hardness from granite to sandstone. Many sites exist along the western coastline that borders the Southern Ocean where the landscape has changed little since the arrival of Europeans in 1803. The significance of this Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural heritage along what is now known as the Tarkine Coast, named after an Aboriginal band that once inhabited the area, was recognised by the Australian Government in February 2013 when a 15,000ha strip, 2km wide, was inscribed on its National Heritage Register, one of 98 special places listed in the country. This paper is based on the results of 40 years of field recording of the Tasmanian Aboriginal rock art sites, many of which remain unpublished.
Keywords: Australia; National Heritage Site; Tasmania; Tarkine Coast; Aboriginal Rock Art

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Recurrent Images in Northwest Catamarca: An Initial Approach
Authors: Mara Basile * and Norma Ratto
Affiliations:
Museo Etnográfico, UBA - Conicet, Moreno 350 (1091), Argentina; E-Mail: mara_basile@yahoo.com.ar; * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed
Abstract:
Through the production of rock art manifestations people deployed on the rocks their visual preferences, setting through them a significant part of their ways of seeing, imagining, thinking, experiencing and building the world in which they lived. In addition, images and the media where they are deployed and from which places and landscapes are configured, are not static but are subjects to interpretation, reinterpretation and transformation over time. In this line of argument, the same image can have different meanings depending on the contexts in which it participates and on who is "looking" at it and to who it is "looking". However, there are certain kinds of images that are recurring and have a wide temporal and spatial dispersion within Northwest Catamarca.
In this framework, our aim is to start discussing which networks of relations configure these images of wide temporal (I to XV centuries, approximately) and spatial span through the analysis of some specific categories: zigzags, surrounding crosses -single or double- camelids and human figures.
This time we address a number of manifestations engraved in panels or blocks of various raw materials located on different environments and altitudinal levels. In some cases we will work from primary information resulting from our own studies in the framework of the research project that we developed in the valley of Fiambalá (Dept. Tinogasta) or from an archaeological impact assessment study in the Hualfin valley (Dept. of Belén). In other cases we resort to secondary information through the analysis of published material by other colleagues in the southern Puna (Antofagasta de la Sierra Department) and the valley of El Bolson (Dept. Belen).
Thus we will explore the shape and sizes in which the images are resolved, analyze the elements that were selected for representation in each case subjecting data to a numerical treatment. We will also consider the existence or the absence of differential patina that allow us to evaluate temporal discontinuities and time span of certain codes or the inclusion of new images in them.
Finally, we will evaluate how the places where the images were deployed were configured in relation to the types of contexts associated.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Pareidolia in hominids as the probable source of art, religion and science
Author:
Patricio Diaz Bustamante
Affiliations: Researcher in Archaeoastronomy, Taller Taucán Diaguita-Cultural Center; E-Mail: bys.con@gmail.com
Abstract:
Recent discoveries in the field of biology, show evidence that animals such as macaque monkeys (Tsao et al. 2006) and insects such as bees (Avarguès-Weber et al. 2010) can distinguish shapes of faces and body configurations by the phenomenon known as pareidolia, proposed as the likely origin of art, animism and religion (Bustamante et al. 2010).  It is known that animals use landscape features and celestial objects as references for spatial navigation, e.g. insects as Dung Beetles -Scarabaeus satyrus- (Dacke et al. 2013), or migratory birds such as the Ficedula hypoleuca and the Sylvia atricapilla (Mouritsen and Larsen, 2001), and the ability of bees to transmit information regarding position, distance, and relative direction, this in relation to the Sun, (Dyer 2002) are the likely origin of the biological basis of astronomy, thus the use of tools among invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and different types of apes (Shumaker et al. 2011).The use of these capabilities by small-brained animals, suggests that our hominid ancestors, probably with greater brain volume than them, developed more complex applications, tools and sophisticated constructions that could generate the first manifestations of proto-human culture, opening the possibility that when they began to spread through the world, the primary bases for what later would become human culture had already been developed.  Early evidence of this might not have been found yet because there have been no appropriate interdisciplinary methodologies that integrate data from different areas in order to analyse archaeological and paleontological that recognize early sites and trace proto-cultural development. This paper proposes the use methodologies from Archaeology of the Entorno (surrounding) as an analysis tool, based on the study of the site of Las Chilcas, IV Region, northern Chile, 200 BC to 1536 AD (Moyano et al. 2013), providing an example of complex use of an seemingly simple site -that contains similar elements found in early human vestiges such as Rhino Cave, Tsodilo Hills, Botswana, 70,000 - 30,000 AC. (Coulson 2011) linking ritualized behaviour, natural forms of the landscape and probable astronomical observation.
Keywords: Art, rock art, archaeoastronomy, hominids, pareidolia

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Japanese Rock Art from Fugoppe and Temiya Caves
Author:
Masaru Ogawa
Affiliations: Professor, Naruto University of Education, Japan; E-Mail: ogawa@naruto-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
In Japan, we have only two major sites with rock art, that are Fugoppe Cave at Yoichi and Temiya Cave at Otaru, both situate in Hokkaido Island, Northern Japan. For more than 20 years, we, the Japanese Rock Art Research Association (JARA) have investigated there, as co-operation with art historians, archaeologists, geologists and others. In 2003, we published our book only in Japanese. Now, we would like to make known the international colleagues our research results. At the first, I, as representative of JARA, would like to write for MDPI, on several problems from Fugoppe and Temiya, that is, dating, interpretation of figures, situating them in world-wide context and others.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: The rock art of Howz-Māhy region in central Iran
Author:
Ebrahim Karimi
Affiliations: Ph.D. student of Art History, Department of Art and Design, University Technology Mara, Malaysia; E-mail: Ebrahim.karimi13@gmail.com
Abstract:
The Howz-Māhy is a region located in the center of Iran, where a considerable number of petroglyphs can be found in two sites at Ghārā-Tepe I and II. Ghārā-Tepe I is the biggest and most important site and consists of more than twenty panels with a variety of carvings including animals, humans as well as geometric shapes. It seems that the panels have been created in different periods. In addition, various depictions can be found throughout the region situated on the isolated cliffs and the stones on the edge of an ancient pool. The most common depiction is that of ibexes. This region provides great potential for carrying out further surveys that should lead to the discovery of even more engravings.

 

Announced Papers
  1. Lynda D. McNeil, Ph.D.; Research Adjunct Professor; Arizona State University, School of Human Evolution and Social Change
  2. Jack Steinbring, Ph.D.; Mid America Geographic Foundation
  3. Jason Thompson; College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology; University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa
  4. Andrés M. Troncoso; Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago de Chile
  5. Qinglin Yang; Officer of Foreign Affairs, Rock Art Research Association of China, School of Ethnology & Sociology, Minzu University of China, 27 Zhongguancun South Avenue, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China
  6. Arsen Faradzhev; Moscow Centre of Rock Art and Bioindication Research
  7. Arne Ludwig, Ph.D.; Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- und Wildtierforschung, FG Evolutionsgenetik, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, D-10315 Berlin
  8. Duncan Caldwell; Paris, France
  9. Raoni Valle, Ph.D.; Brazil
  10. Ruman Banerjee, Ph.D.; Department of Archaeology and Anthropology; University of Bristol, United Kingdom
  11. Marcela A. Sepúlveda R. marcelaasre@gmail.com, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Juridical Sciences, Universidad de Tarapacá.
  12. Felipe Armstrong, Institute of Archaeology, University College London
  13. Tang Huisheng, Society Development School of Nanjing Normal University 122 Ninghai Road, Nanjing Jiangsu Province, China
  14. Barbara Olins Alpert; USA
  15. Patricia Dobrez; Canberry, Australia.The case for a special category of rock art image (the "Proprio-performative")  for hand stencils and prints. The case will be argued by appealing to concepts derived from cognitive science (e.g. a "sense of agency," a "sense of body ownership," the role of proprioception in self-awareness), with backup from available ethnographic information.
  16. Livio Dobrez; Canberry, Australia. The depiction of motion, with special reference to rock art, in the context of experimental psychology and neurophysiology.
  17. Andrew Thorn; ARTCARE, 2 McCabe Place, North Melbourne, VIC 3051, Australia, email: artcare@iprimus.com.au

Last update: 18 June 2013

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