Rock Art Research

Technology is one of rock art’s less explored dimensions, especially petroglyph technology. In this paper we approach the technical dimension of petroglyphs by examining a specific set of formal and metric attributes of their grooves. We apply this approach to the petroglyphs of two styles of rock art found in north-central Chile, one related to hunter-gatherer communities (500–1000 CE), the other to agrarian communities (1000–1540 CE). Our results reveal differences between the technologies used by hunter-gatherers to produce rock art and those used by agrarian societies that are coherent with their distinct social lives. Specifically, we recognise differences in the chaines operatoires that are related to different dynamics of settlement patterns, spatial scales of information flow and the size of each community.