Rock art and technology. A spatio-temporal proposal from the upper basin of the Limari river, north central Chile.

BASILE, M; VERGARA, F.

Archaeologies of Rock Art South American Perspectives

Routledge

Lugar: London; Año: 2018; p. 53 - 82

The relevance of considering the spatio-temporal dimension of the technology of rock art relies upon the fact that it allows us to understand the production of this materiality from a perspective that does not disaggregate the spatial from the temporal. Beyond the chronology and the sequences followed in order to produce rock art, the very process of making a petroglyph has its own temporality ( sensu Munn 1992 ), something that varies according to its technology ( Vergara et al. 2016 ) and which is expressed through rhythms. As noted by Lefebvre, rhythms are bodily, material, and spatial interactions that constitute a whole ( 2015[1992 ]). It is through rhythms that we make sense of a place, recognizing that space is fi rst of all enacted through physical gestures and movements (Lefebvre 2008[ 1974 ]). Therefore, it is important to explore an alternative way of thinking the technology of rock art capable to embrace the spatio-temporal dimension of its production. In the light of this, we have developed a methodological proposal to approach the spatio-temporal aspects of the technology of rock art, by assessing the rhythms and the spatial architectonics of making petroglyphs. Therefore, this work stands as a theoretical and methodological exercise by which we attempt to bring into rock art discussions new pathways through which to think about this materiality. We take as a study case the engravings of Ponio 5, a rock art site located along the Ponio River, in the upper basin of the Limarí Valley, north-central Chile (31° Lat. S, 71° Long. W). For that purpose, we construct two analytical units: repetition and aggregation. While the fi rst focuses on the scale of the motif and considers the techniques, length, depth, continuity, and the presence or absence of cortex in the groove, the second one focuses on the level of the rock and considers the number of petroglyphs per block, as well as the materiality of the blocks, taking into account their particularities in terms of colour, size, hardness, and type of rock (outcrop or isolated). On the other hand, the spatial architectonics is approached by analysing the distribution of repetitions and aggregations. Therefore, this paper uses the technical rhythms and its spatial architectonics as points of departure to discuss the spatio-temporal dimension of the practice of making petroglyphs.