Mutual information network of archaeological sites using rock art

INÉS CARIDI; VIVIAN SCHEINSOHN

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Workshop; Latin American School and Workshop on Data Analysis and Mathematical Modeling of Social Science; 2016

Centro latinoamericno de formación interdisciplinaria (CELFI)

The communicative function of rock art and its ability to store information have always been considered by archaeologists. Setting the specific meaning of rock art motifs aside (i.e. types of drawings), in this work we propose that there is information contained in the spatial distribution of the motifs on different archaeological sites. To test this assertion we have studied sites in north-western Patagonia dating from the Last Holocene. Specifically, we have calculated mutual information to formalize correlations between the motives of rock art found in a set of archaeological sites in the region studied, detecting cases in which the presence of a particular motif can be associated with the presence of another one.We have identified clusters of interrelated motifs and then observed the geo-referenced network of archaeological sites associated with each cluster. We have interpreted the connections between the sites as cultural transmission paths. The obtained results have been compared with models of peopling proposed for Patagonia (Borrero 1994-1995). We have found a strong correlation between the sites of the middle and north part of the studied area, revealing a hypothetical population node in the region, well known and travelled by hunter-gatherers. A few connections with the northernmost and southernmost sites of the region allow us to hypothesize that these areas were in a phase of colonization and/or exploration.