Advances in the Study of Pleistocene Imagery and Symbol Use, Part I (Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. Volume 13, Number 4, December 2006)

From a Paleolithic Art to Pleistocene Visual Cultures (Introduction to Two Special Issues on 'Advances in the Study of Pleistocene Imagery and Symbol Use) (pp. 239-249)
April Nowell

Abstract: This paper serves as an introduction to two special issues on advances in the method and theory of Pleistocene imagery and symbol use. In order to contextualize the contributions that comprise these two issues, this paper defines the temporal and geographic scope of Pleistocene imagery, outlines the contexts in which the images are found, briefly reviews the history of interpretation of the images and discusses some of the current trends and future directions of the field.

The Women of Brassempouy: A Century of Research and Interpretation (pp. 251-304)
Randall White

Abstract: The discovery of female figurines at Brassempouy in the 1890's would launch more than a century of debate and interpretation concerning Paleolithic representations of women. The figurines emerged from the ground into a colonial intellectual and socio-political context nearly obsessed with matters of race. This early racial interpretive frame would only be replaced in the mid 20th century, when prehistorians turned to questions such as fertility and womanhood.
The first figurines were discovered in 1892 under rather tortured circumstances in which their very ownership was the subject of a heated dispute between Edouard Piette and Emile Cartailhac. Their toxic relationship would lead Piette, in his subsequent excavations, to be extremely precise about issues of stratigraphic and spatial provenience. Piette's publications and archives enabled Henri Delporte to confirm the Gravettian attribution of the figurines and have allowed the present author to create a map of their spatial distribution within the site.
Technological and microscopic analysis of the Brassempouy figurines resolves some lingering questions about the sex of certain of the figurines and suggests an original context of figurine fabrication and the abandonment of unsuccessful sculpting attempts.

Rock Art and Ritual: An Archaeological Analysis of Rock Art in Arid Central Australia (pp. 305-341)
June Ross, Iain Davidson

Abstract: Rock art researchers throughout the world have explicitly or implicitly invoked ritual as an activity associated with the production of rock art but the articulation between the structure and composition of rock art assemblages and ritual behaviour remains poorly understood. Anthropologist, Roy Rappaport (1999) argued that all ritual, whatever the content or focus, has a universal structure. We review this proposition in the context of ritual studies and propose a method aimed at assessing the potential for identifying ritual structure in rock art assemblages. We discuss an archaeological analysis undertaken on the rock art assemblages in arid Central Australia, which aimed at distinguishing such a ritual structure among engraved assemblages, likely to have a Pleistocene origin, as well as more recent painted, stencilled and drawn assemblages. This analysis, despite its limitations, provides the foundation for developing a model, which will enhance the understanding of the relationship between the production of rock art and ritual.

The Evolution of Theory, Method and Technique in Southern African Rock Art Research (pp. 343-377)
J. D. Lewis-Williams

Abstract: Southern African rock art research has progressed from an essentially denigrating social and political milieu, through an empiricist period, to contemporary social and historical approaches. Empiricism, once thought to be the salvation of southern African rock art research, was a theoretically and methodologically flawed enterprise. Attempts to see the art through an emic perspective facilitated by copious nineteenth- and twentieth-century San ethnography is a more useful approach. It began briefly, but was then abandoned, in the nineteenth century. Today, diverse theoretical and methodological approaches are being constructed on an ethnographic foundation. The centrality of the San in South African national identity has been recognized.

Rock Art Conservation and Tourism (pp. 379-399)
Janette Deacon

Abstract: Rock art conservation has developed hand-in-hand with the increased pace of tourism, yet the two activities tend to remain in opposing camps. Policies and guidelines have been developed for cultural heritage and cultural tourism and there is a widely accepted range of principles in place, but a theory of sustainable rock art tourism is only in its infancy. To mature, the discipline needs research into the interaction of key elements that affect the long-term conservation of frequently visited rock paintings and engravings in their original setting, as well as consideration of social and economic factors that drive tourism and the public interest in rock art.