Rock Art Research

Negotiating’, ‘interpreting’ and ‘representing’ indicate lifeway, culture and art, respectively, each in relation to a given ecological sphere of activities. This article has a theoretical basis in phenomenology, understood as a particular kind of analysis of human experiences. Its concern is cognitive, the ways in which hunter-gatherers ‘know’ their world via everyday practice, cultural expression and, specifically, art. The type activity we have chosen to investigate and which connects varied aspects of our argument is ‘tracking’, that is, reading the land for ‘traces’ of whatever may be hunted or gathered. We begin with introductory information regarding indigenous Australian hunter-gatherers, on which the article is focused, then turn to a phenomenological analysis of the tracking experience with support from cognitive psychology as well as from research on relevant biological mechanisms. Cultural expressions of lifeway are considered under the heading of indigenous ‘Dreamings’ in a section which gives an account of anthropological work on the subject. Finally, we consider indigenous Australian rock art and acrylics, foregrounding the mediating role of sand drawing, its connection with tracking, and the associated concept of ‘trace’. We suggest that trace feet shed light on the genesis of image-making and the telling of stories in visual terms.