Rethinking the Function of Rock Inscriptions, from Northeast Africa to Southeast Asia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Value of Rock Art: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Current Rock Art Documentation, Research, and Analysis, Part I" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Cross cultural comparative rock art research that incorporates local perspectives is scarce. This research is a reflection of fieldwork conducted at two sacred sites in two culturally distinct regions, in Northeast Africa and Southeast Asia, where the practice of communion with rock face has persisted through time. These regions, though culturally and geographically distinct, both contain places associated with sacred landscapes where local people practice traditions passed down through ancestors - representing the persistence of cultural continuity. Traditional rock art research tends to hyper-focus on technical aspects or regional distributions of motifs. This research examines how the cross-cultural observance of contemporary traditions can inform rock art research beyond technical frameworks, elucidating how interaction with rock face persists over time and how local traditions retain knowledge of landscapes in cultural memory. Utilizing indigenous knowledges through collaborative research in both regions, coupled with multispectral imaging and remote sensing analysis, my doctoral research seeks to develop a praxis that incorporates local knowledge systems with archaeological research design. I utilize a tripartite methodology that incorporates traditional rock art methods, landscape archaeology and indigenous ontologies in order to conduct a holistic, inclusive analysis.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• The Value of Rock Art: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Current Rock Art Documentation, Research, and Analysis, Part I

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52035