Rock Art Research

Given that rock art is generally taken to have been made by adults, with studies only rarely venturing to attribute its production to other age groups, we investigate the possibility of children taking part in its execution. Field research conducted in caves and rockshelters in the Peruaçu valley, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, found strong evidence of the scribbles of very small children, made with black crayons, located on the periphery of their exuberant polychrome panels. To substantiate this interpretation, children’s graphic production was studied, taking into account theories of cognitive development during infancy. With the same objective, ethnographic research was undertaken in a pre-school, analysing the drawings of contemporary children, in order to obtain material for comparison. The results seem to support the hypothesis of a universality of the initial stage of infant graphic production and its considerable temporal depth. They constitute another significant contribution from the investigation of rock art, this time to the wider field of studies of the cognitive development of the human species.