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Land Use, Land Ideology: An Integrated Geographic Information Systems Analysis of Rock Art Within South-Central California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David W. Robinson*
Affiliation:
School of Forensic and Investigative Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, PR1 2HE (email: DWRobinson@uclan.ac.uk)

Abstract

While rock art is global in distribution, it remains a media fix in placed within particular physical environments. Because of this, it can be examined using various spatial approaches and technologies. By integrating a variety of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications to examine the location and position of rock art in relation to both natural features and other archaeological deposits, a detailed understanding of the positioning of rock art can be advanced. In this case, I employ this methodology to address the presence that rock art exerted within the Emgidiano/Hulkuhku Chumash landscape of South-Central California. In so doing, I demonstrate that specific research questions concerning rock art in public or private contexts can be addressed, and that in this example, the pictographs of the Hulkuhku were visibly integrated within the intimate confines of the most important economic places in the landscape, showing that subsistence and symbolic practices were conjoined through ideological media.

Resumen

Resumen

Mientras que el arte rupestre es global en su distribución es, al mismo tiempo, un medio inscrito en espacios físicos particulares. Por esto, es posible examinarlo usando varios tipos de análisis espaciales y otras tecnologías. La integración de una variedad de aplicaciones de los sistemas de información geográfica (GIS) para examinar la localización y posición del arte rupestre en relación al entorno natural y a otros depósitos arqueológicos nos permite avanzar hacia un entendimiento detallado de la localización de este arte. En este caso, se ha empleado esta metodología para analizar la influencia ejercida por la presencia de arte rupestre dentro del paisaje Emgidiano/Hulkuhku Chumash de la California sur-central. Con esto, queda demostrado que se pueden testar hipótesis específicas sobre el arte rupestre en contextos públicos y privados, y que en este ejemplo, los pictogramas de los Hulkuhku estaban visiblemente integrados dentro de los confines íntimos de los lugares con adscripción económica más importantes en el paisaje, mostrando que las prácticas simbólicas y de subsistencia estaban unidas mediante el medio ideológico.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2010

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