ROCK ART PAPER - No. 1. PAGE 1
Maarten van Hoek December 2003| HOW TO DRAW ATTENTION
ANOMALIES IN ANIMAL ORIENTATION: METHOD AND MEANING IN ROCK ART STUDIES Text and graphics copyright by Maarten van Hoek, 2003 ABSTRACT Directional anomalies in rock art deserve special attention and should be recorded more meticulously than merely labelling examples as inverted imagery. Therefore, the first objective of this paper is to present a method to record such anomalies and to establish the degree of the divergence. Such a recording model should be unbiased and for that reason departs from the situation in the natural world in which mammals are observed in their normal position, that is, walking on all fours. The second objective of the paper is to summarise the possible interpretations of the phenomenon. However, it must be emphasised that when it comes to the interpretation of inverted animal imagery in rock art, the natural world is clearly a most inappropriate model. The cultural context ultimately determines whether an apparent deviant position truly represents a directional anomaly. It is moreover suggested that the underlying reasons for the creation of directional anomalies is that they expressed special beliefs and served to draw one's special attention. INTRODUCTION Nowadays there is a class of trained specialists whose only job is to attract the attention of the general public often with one message only: buy, buy and buy again. These messages are both oral and, above all, visual. In prehistoric times, certain people, often specialists as well, also tried to draw one's attention, in a similar general manner, but for completely different reasons. No doubt oral and/or acoustic methods will have existed then too, but the vicissitudes of archaeological preservation mean that we are today left with mainly visual signifiers of this attention-giving process to observe and interpret. One of the richest sources of information about prehistoric peoples and societies is their rock art. Also in rock art there exist ways to draw one's special attention, like the use of aberrant size and/or colour, the depiction of exotic items or animals or to manipulate the direction and orientation of the image. Orientation and direction are important aspects of human and animal life. Few people consciously realise that it is gravity that controls a significant part of our directional awareness. Gravity makes that trees grow vertically and that many mammals move horizontally. Thus verticality and horizontality are deeply ingrained in our minds, also on unconscious level, creating a directional norm. Often we use directional opposites to express special thoughts or to reach different goals. This is most evident in sign language, in which direction is often of paramount importance. It notably makes a big acoustic difference whether you push the forward button on a recorder or the rewind button (indicated by signs based on horizontal opposites), and almost everybody will understand the difference between a message starting with 'smiley' or with a 'sad smiley' (symbols involving vertical opposites). The direction of a sign can even make the difference between life and death. This literally was the case in the Roman Empire. At the end of a duel in the arena, 'thumb up' meant that the emperor showed mercy with the defeated, but 'thumb down' resulted in the immediate killing of the loser. Rock art can also be regarded as sign language. However, as textual literacy and visual literacy are very different, rock art cannot be 'read' in the same way as a language, a text or code. A text can never accommodate the simultaneous and multiple associations that a rock art panel van evoke. Thus, the visual 'language' of rock art is often hard to understand as it may convey several non-visual, highly metaphorical messages. Unfortunately the meaning of those messages is often lost in time. But there are three general ways to acquire information about the meaning of rock art imagery (Taçon & Chippindale 1998; Chippindale 2001). Informed knowledge or ethnography (an insider informs the researcher) is the most reliable source. The two other methods, the formal method (the rock art image itself and perhaps associated archaeology 'informs' the researcher) and the method of analogy (one rock art image is interpreted by comparing it with, for instance, an ethnographically explained example) are less reliable but still useful. Although several rock art regions (especially southern Africa, Australia and parts of North America) have compiled large and detailed bodies of ethnography, many of which relate directly to the art, informed knowledge directly referring to or explaining directional anomalies is scarce. Many publications even completely lack informed knowledge relating to inverted imagery. Rock art, especially iconic art, is often orientated or directional by virtue of its subject matter. Humans are normally depicted head-up and animals are oriented (walking) to the left or to the right on a rock surface. Therefore, it can be held that most iconic rock art depicting humans and animals reflects the normal situation of those living beings, corresponding with the biological 'rules' of horizontality and verticality. Yet, we find examples in rock art that clearly deviate from the normal (biological) position. Every western observer will perceive an engraving of an inverted animal on a vertical outcrop wall as upside-down and therefore as an anomaly. But the cultural background of the manufacturer will determine whether the inversion can be interpreted as an anomaly. Therefore, two levels of examination may be distinguished. The first objective of this paper is to present a method of recording directional anomalies. This recording demands a method that objectively describes the rock art image and its position on the rock surface. During this stage there should be no question of interpretation. The second level of observation concerns the interpretation of the inverted image. In this respect it must be realised that rock art is hardly ever an unproblematic rendering of normal life. It is more likely a universal manifestation of much differing cultures, each culture possibly interpreting upside down imagery quite differently, possibly even as natural or as normal. In fact, is there ethnographic evidence of what rock art manufacturers found natural and unnatural? In San rock art of southern Africa for instance, most animal and zoomorphic images were believed to be real Spirit World creatures, emerging from the Spirit World, existing behind the rock face, into this world (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990). Thus in San rock art many orientations and shapes were possible and, more importantly, expected to appear in rock art. Rock art in general hardly ever will be accidental, and therefore such directional anomalies probably will also have a high degree of intent. Therefore, after having objectively established the degree of the directional anomaly, it will be attempted to summarise the possible meanings of the inverted imagery. It is quite likely that such directional anomalies often convey a very special message and probably touch on a deeper meaning. RECORDING DIRECTIONAL ANOMALIES IN ROCK ART LIMITING THE SUBJECT The proposed method of recording anomalies is primarily limited to one of the most 'dynamic' elements in rock art, notably animals. In real life, animals obey the rule of horizontality and therefore any directional anomaly in rock art can easily be detected and compared with the 'normal' situation. Moreover, animals often show movement, clearly display direction and simultaneously are subject to various directional anomalies in rock art. However, it still proves to be necessary to further limit the range of animals, as not every species is suitable to establish a directional anomaly with. Most fish normally swim in a horizontal position, but there are so many natural deflections that it has been decided to exclude fish from this survey. Although amphibians and reptiles do show movement and direction in rock art, they almost invariably have been depicted from above and are therefore of no use when looking for directional anomalies. Illustrative in this respect is the gecko that easily can move around upside-down. Snakes are often depicted in side view and usually have no extremities (although, at Toro Muerto, Peru, most snake engravings are depicted from above and many have appendages from the head). Therefore, snakes are of little use to establish directional anomalies, although there are instances where the inverted position of the head of the snake seems to point to an intentional inversion of the animal (Van Hoek 2001). Also excluded are flying animals as they can dive and swoop through the air. However, there are instances where flying birds may show directional anomalies, for instance the bird engravings of Rosario, Chile (Van Hoek 2002). On the other hand, non-flying birds, like emu (for an inverted example in northern Australia see Taçon, Fullagar, Ouzman & Mulvaney 1997: 959) and ostrich, are suitable to determine directional anomalies with. To conclude, this paper mainly focuses on mammals living on land with distinctly developed extremities used for walking. METHOD OF RECORDING Having limited the subject matter to a few animals species, it proves also necessary to introduce a model with which it can be established whether a rock art image indeed involves a directional anomaly. There are four often interactive factors that play an important role in determining the degree of the alleged anomaly. Most important are the slope of the rock surface that has been painted or engraved and the position of the animal figure in relation to the gradient and accessibility of that rock surface by manufacturers and observers. The next two steps cover the regional distribution and the graphical/physical context. 1. THE ROCK SURFACE First of all I would like to exclude all moveable rocks from the discussion in this survey. Even when there is a fragment of doubt about the in situ character of a stone, it cannot be established with certainty if indeed a figure was originally intended to express directional anomaly. For instance, a small boulder may have an animal added in a horizontal position after the boulder was moved, leaving another animal, originally executed in a horizontal position, in a tilted position. Also, torrential rains, earthquakes and even strokes of lightning can displace and break apart very big boulders, which can lead to a false impression of 'in situ-ness'. Therefore I will mainly focus on fixed rock surfaces. However, drawings of fixed rock art surfaces with no information regarding the gradient are of no use in determining directional anomalies. Therefore, the first step in a recording model should be to establish the gradient(s) of the decorated rock surface. This may be done accurately by measuring the exact gradient, or the various slopes may be grouped. Figure 1 shows an 'ideal rock shelter' featuring eight gradient-groups that have been abbreviated for matters of convenience (See FIGURE 1 on this page). Figure 1 also gives an indication of the probability that a figure indeed displays a directional anomaly. On slopes ranging between 61º to 151º it is almost 100% certain that a figure was intended to display a directional anomaly. The gradient is so steep that the manufacturer and the observer are forced into only one possible viewing position. However, theoretically it is possible that an artist lying on the stomach on a horizontal surface executed 'reversed' figures on the much sloping or vertical edges of the rock (positions indicated by the arrows in Figure 1, assuming that lines A and B indicate accessible horizontal rock surfaces). Scherz (1986: 33) also suggested that the artist could have been lying on the ground and painted an animal on a vertical wall in a normal position from his or her point of view. In all those cases it is most likely, however, that the manufacturer will have realised that future observers would appreciate the figure as upside-down or tilted and therefore it can be held that directional anomaly was probably aimed at after all. Anomalies on SC and especially SS slopes are often inconclusive and on horizontal or nearly horizontal surfaces and ceilings the probability of intent is reduced to 0 %. The gradient is too low to force the manufacturer/observer into one single position. Consequently, horizontal surfaces often feature animals and human figures that have been executed apparently haphazardly across the rock's surface, many appearing upside-down or tilted in first instance. Which figure will appear upside-down then depends on the direction by which the rock is approached. Moreover, the custom to draw plans with the north at the top, 'forces' the reader into one position, which may be completely different from the manufacturer's position. Non-informative drawings of rock art panels may therefore lead to wrong conclusions about orientation (see for instance Skotnes 1998: 323). It would be most useful if plans or descriptions of rock art panels include information that explained the orientation. I will give an example to illustrate this. In general, horizontal surfaces are of no use to detect directional anomalies, but inverted imagery, executed on horizontal (or slightly sloping) ledges (LE in Figure 1) and efficiently blocked at one side, has a 100% certainty of being intentional. Good examples are two individual engravings of inverted humans on horizontal ledge C in the Hilina Pali Cave, Hawai'i (drawing by Cleghorn [1980] in: Lee & Stasack 1999: 54). Only because Cleghorn included a clear section of the engraved cave walls, the true character of the inversion was revealed. However, in most cases such detailed information is lacking. This pleads for accurate recording of the gradients (or the proposed gradient-groups) of the rock art panels, either in the text (caption) or in the drawing. FIGURE 1. Hypothetical rock shelter, showing the various slopes. The stick figure represents a rock art image of a stylised human in an inverted position. Key to Figure 1: LE = Ledge.................................... 0-30º HZ = Horizontal.............................. 0º NH = Nearly Horizontal.................... 1-30º SS = Steep Slope............................ 31-60º NV = Nearly Vertical........................ 61-89º VW = Vertical Wall.......................... 90º VO = Vertical Overhang.................... 91-120º SC = Steeply sloping Ceiling............. 121-150º NC = Near-Ceiling........................... 151-179º CL = Ceiling................................... 180º |
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