Rock Art and Memory in the Transmission of Cultural Knowledge (eBook)

This book shares timely and thought-provoking methodological and theoretical approaches from perspectives concerning landscape, gender, cognition, neural networks, material culture and ontology in order to comprehend rock art's role in memorisation processes, collective memory, and the intergenerational circulation of knowledge. The case studies offered here stem from human experiences from around the globe-Africa, Australia, Europe, North and South America-, which reflects the authors' diverse interpretative stances. While some of the approaches deal with mnemonics, new digital technologies and statistical analysis, others examine performances, sensory engagement, language, and political disputes, giving the reader a comprehensive view of the myriad connections between memory studies and rock art. Indigenous interlocutors participate as collaborators and authors, creating space for Indigenous narratives of memory. These narratives merge with Western versions of past and recent memories in order to construct jointly novel inter-epistemic understandings of images made on rock. Each chapter demonstrates the commitment of rock art studies to strengthen and enrich the field by exploring how communities and cultures across time have perceived and entangled rock images with a broad range of material culture, nonhumans, people, emotions, performances, sounds and narratives. Such relations are pivotal to understanding the universe behind the intersections of memory and rock art and to generating future interdisciplinary collaborative studies.


Dr Zubieta will precede the proposed edited book. Her general aim for this book is to address contemporary debates and discussion around how the intersection of rock art and memory can advance our knowledge of rock art research and interpretation. Her interest in this topic has been nurtured from her contact with indigenous peoples and colleagues throughout her academic positions (see CV). In particular, her work on rock art as a mnemonic device in girls' initiation rock art in south-central Africa (Zubieta, 2006, 2016) has been the primary influence in her career to pursue this line of research. Leslie graduated in archaeology with distinction in the National School of Anthropology and History (Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, ENAH) in Mexico City (2002). She obtained an MSc (2004) and PhD in rock art studies in the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa (2009). Leslie has enjoyed research stays in Austin (United States), Paris, Périgueux and Toulouse (France). Throughout her professional career she has participated in various projects in Australia, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique and Zambia. Her research focuses on rock art, cultural material, gender and memory. One of her main contributions is her study of how Chewa women created and used rock art as a mnemonic device in south-central Africa, attesting that art has a fundamental role in the intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge. In particular, her attention has focused on the functionality and symbolic intersection of rock art and plastic arts in the initiation ceremonies of girls in Chewa society. She is currently a Marie Sklodowska- Curie Postdoctoral Fellow leading the MEMORISING H2020 project funded by the European Commission, which deals precisely with the intersections of rock art, memory and acoustics.