Analyzing Archaic Rock Art in Northern New Mexico through Landscape Survey

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

My paper will be centered around an archaeology of the ancient indigenous rock art analysis through the landscapes of northern New Mexico. This project utilizes two primary lines of evidence. First, it examines the plant and animal ecology of the Rio Grande Gorge, particularly the so-called natural signs or traces of mammals such as the modern distribution of tracks, game trails, and scat. Second, it examines the ancient human-made signs of the hunt, particularly the hundreds of animal tracks that were pecked on rocks in the Rio Grande Gorge over the past 12,000 years -- by re-visiting rock art sites to study their relation to surrounding features of the landscape. This project, then, will bring together iconography, ecology, and Native American traditions to understand how early hunters "read" the landscape of the Rio Grande Gorge in their pursuit of game. I will re-contextualize the art, facilitating its interpretation and hopefully bringing it to life.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23697