Sequencing the Gordian Knot: Implications of the Pleito Main Cave Superimposition Analyses

Summary

The over-painting sequences at the elaborate rock-art site of Pleito, South-Central California, is one of most complex in the Americas. In a region famous for its polychromatic traditions, including Chumash, Yokuts, Kitanemuk, and other Californian native groups, Pleito stands out as the richest in terms of variety of colours, iconography, and over-painting. This over-painting, or superimposition, offers the 'deepest' data rich relative sequence in the region. Integrated work employing analytical and imaging techniques on the Gordian Knot project over the last few years has aimed to disentangle the sequences found in the Main Cave at Pleito by integrating analytical and imaging approaches. With over a dozen panels, multiple dozens of layers, and hundreds of elements, the results offers a unique view of change-through-time in the iconography of the wider region. As this project enters its final year, we present the first interpretation and implications of the Pleito sequence based upon this comprehensive approach.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 19885