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A Systematic Quantitative Literature Review of Southeast Asian and Micronesian Rock Art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2019

Andrea Jalandoni*
Affiliation:
Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Australian Research Centre of Human Evolution, Gold Coast campus, Griffith University, Queensland 4222, Australia
Paul Taçon
Affiliation:
Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Australian Research Centre of Human Evolution, Gold Coast campus, Griffith University, Queensland 4222, Australia
Robert Haubt
Affiliation:
School of Arts & Social Sciences, Lismore campus, Southern Cross University, Military Road, East Lismore, New South Wales 2480, Australia
*
(a.jalandoni@griffith.edu.au, corresponding author)

Abstract

Even though Southeast Asia is one of the most densely populated regions of the world, its rock art is relatively unknown, and the rock art of Micronesia is even less so. As a starting point for comparing Philippine rock art within the region, a systematic quantitative literature review (SQLR) was conducted to assess the current body of accessible publications. The SQLR resulted in 126 viable references, and characteristics of those references were quantified and analyzed to ascertain the qualities of research published to date. The SQLR results show that scholarship in Southeast Asian rock art is increasing and that the research is dominated by Australia-affiliated scholars. It also quantitatively affirmed that the most noted color for rock art in the region is red and the most commonly identified motif is anthropomorphic. Many motifs found elsewhere in Southeast Asia are notably absent in the known corpus of Philippine rock art. Finally, we discuss SQLR methodology and propose integrating collaborative semantic web applications to increase efficiency and relevance.

A pesar de que el Sudeste Asiático es una de las regiones más densamente pobladas del mundo, su arte rupestre es relativamente desconocido, y el arte rupestre de Micronesia lo es aún menos. Como punto de partida para comparar el arte rupestre Filipino en la región, se realizó una revisión sistemática cuantitativa de la literatura (SQLR por sus iniciales en inglés) para evaluar el cuerpo actual de publicaciones accesibles. El SQLR dio como resultado 126 referencias viables, y las características de esas referencias fueron cuantificadas y analizadas para comprobar las cualidades de la investigación publicada hasta la fecha. Los resultados de SQLR muestran que la investigación en el arte rupestre del Sudeste Asiático está aumentando y que la investigación está dominada por académicos afiliados a Australia. También afirmó cuantitativamente que el color más destacado para el arte rupestre en la región es el rojo y el motivo más comúnmente identificado es el antropomorfo. Muchos motivos encontrados en otras partes del Sudeste Asiático están notablemente ausentes en el corpus conocido del arte rupestre Filipino. Finalmente, nosotros discutimos la metodología SQLR y proponemos integrar aplicaciones web semánticas colaborativas para aumentar la eficiencia y la relevancia.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright 2019 © Society for American Archaeology 

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References

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