Rock Art Research: A Regional Analysis

Rock art research in the Americas has a long history. Thousands of rock art sites have been discovered and formally recorded and within these sites are countless images. The purpose of this symposium is to place rock art within a geographic and cultural framework. Various kinds or related information my be employed to help differentiate the rock art of one region from another, including rock art character and structure, comparative and historic linguistics, ethnography, ethno-history, population genetics, prehistoric cultural materials, and traditional knowledge. A combination of such data sets may be used to posit ethnic identities, population movements and cultural patterns. Through such efforts, these studies can illuminate meaning and function that captures salient cognitive and ideological elements of Native cultures and furthers rock art research.