ON-SITE AND POST-SITE ANALYSIS OF PICTOGRAPHS WITHIN THESAN PEDRO VIEJO DE PICHASCA ROCK SHELTER, LIMARÍ VALLEY, NORTH-CENTRAL CHILE

MOYA, F.; ARMSTRONG, F.; BASILE, M; NASH, G.; TRONCOSO, A.; VERGARA, F.

Proceedings of the British Speleological Association

British Speleological Association

Lugar: Bristol; Año: 2014 vol. 26 p. 171 - 184

0068-256X

The San Pedro Viejo de Pichasca rock-shelter, located some 70 km east of the provincial town of Ovalle within the province of Limari is considered one of Chiles most important prehistoric sites with dates of human occupation dating to at least 10 ka BCE. The rock shelter standing within the foothills of the Southern Andes Mountains is cut into a semiarid environment. Since the 1960s there has been much archaeological interest with major excavations occurring between 1960 and 1970. As part of an intense survey of the rock shelter walls, archaeologists have discovered and recorded many prehistoric paintings that have been constructed using a variety of organic and inorganic pigments. The different painting styles suggest the paintings represent many generations of community. In July 2013 an Anglo-Chilean/Argentinean team further explored the walls and ceilings of the rock-shelter in order to experiment with different photogrammetric recording techniques, including microscopy, arqueometrical analysys, and post-site digital analysis. This paper includes a synopsis of the long archaeological history of the site, along with observations and scientific analysis on a number of selected painted panels that are located within the central section of the rock shelter. The various scientific methodologies employed assisted in further understanding the underlying mechanisms that would have controlled and manipulated people to paint in this rock shelter.