TRACCEpetroglifos Archives - Page 2 of 4

Tag Archive for petroglifos

The Status of Sector-X – Toro Muerto, Peru

January 21, 2022 Academics, Featured, South America No comments

Toro Muerto es el sitio de arte rupestre más grande de los Andes, conocido desde 1953. En 2018, un equipo de investigación polaco-peruano inició el Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica – Toro Muerto (PIA-TM) e inspeccionó una parte informada anteriormente, pero no inspeccionada en el extremo norte del sitio. Se llamaba Sector-X. Este estudio intenta analizar el arte rupestre del Sector-X considerando especialmente el estado del Sector-X dentro del Complejo de Arte Rupestre de Toro Muerto. Para lograr esto, mi estudio se enfoca principalmente en la ocurrencia y distribución de un petroglifo de un ave específico que es exclusivo del Valle Central de Majes en el sur de Perú.

By Maarten van Hoek

Why Selecting Mollebaya Chico ?

January 6, 2022 Academics, Featured, Landscape, South America No comments

This paper again demonstrates that in the area of the Majes Rock Art Style (Arequipa; southern Peru) many sites are firmly and ritually connected with at least one of the Sacred Mountains (the Apus) of the area. Those volcanoes play an important role in selecting spots for rock art production. Mollebaya Chico is one of those sites.

By Maarten van Hoek

The Rock Art of La Caldera, Southern Peru

January 5, 2022 Academics, Featured, Landscape, Rock art SOS, South America No comments

By Maarten van Hoek

Updating the Rock Art near Huaca Blanca, Peru

December 2, 2021 Featured, Protection – Salvaguardia, Rock art SOS, South America No comments

Many rock art sites are easily destroyed, also in Peru, especially because of road constructions or mining activities. This paper describes three petroglyph sites near the village of Huaca Blanca in northern Peru. Especially Huaca Blanca has already been partially destroyed by unwanted quarrying. This paper offers a brief inventory of what is (was!) available during our surveys. The thumbnail to the right shows a prehistoric petroglyph next to recent damage.

By Maarten van Hoek

Palamenco and the Shooting Male

September 4, 2021 Academics, Featured, South America No comments

Palamenco is a petroglyph site in the coastal area of Northern Peru. It has some special images, including an image of what I interpreted as a “shooting male”. This petroglyph is unique for Palamenco and possibly for Latin America as well. It is compared with more or less similar examples around the world.

By Maarten van Hoek

Petroglyphs and a New Geoglyph in the Sama Valley

June 4, 2021 Academics, Geoglyphs, South America No comments

The Sama Valley in southern Peru has only a few rock art sites. This article describes one of those sites, which is located at Coropuro on the south bank of the river. It has a interesting collection of petroglyphs, some of which might be linked to a previously unnoticed geoglyph nearby.

By Maarten van Hoek

The Cíceras “Carcancha-Bird” Petroglyphs – Majes, Peru

May 22, 2021 Academics, South America No comments

The Majes drainage in southern Peru boasts the largest collection of rock art in the Andes, especially because of the abundance of petroglyphs at the Toro Muerto and Alto de Pitis. Importantly, both sites have numerous bird petroglyphs of different types. Yet there are other sites in the Majes drainage that also have idiosyncratic bird imagery. One of those sites is Cíceras, which is the subject of this study. I focus on a specific type of bird petroglyphs, for which I tentatively suggest that they have a special transcendent proficiency.

By Maarten van Hoek Read more

War and Weapons in Majes Style Rock Art?

May 16, 2021 Academics, Featured, South America No comments

This study investigates the possibility whether rock art images in the Majes Valley of southern Peru indeed depict weapons or conflicts between humans. The bio-archaeological excavations and research at Uraca (Majes Valley) by Beth Scaffidi and Tiffiny Tung suggest that the rock art of especially neighbouring Toro Muerto conveys a preoccupation with violence (Scaffidi and Tung 2020). However, the current study demonstrates that there is not any proof or any convincing graphical context confirming “violent events in nearby petroglyphs”.

By Maarten van Hoek

Contextualising the Geoglyph of Huacán, southern Peru

April 8, 2021 Academics, Geoglyphs, South America No comments

Arequipa in southern Peru is very rich in rock art. This study investigates the relationship between the Majes Rock Art Style and the geoglyphs (not a form of rock art, though) in the area. It proves that several geoglyphs are directly related with the petroglyphs of Toro Muerto and also that they are located on ancient routes to and from the Majes Valley. Arequipa en el sur de Perú es muy rico en arte rupestre. Este estudio investiga la relación entre el Estilo del Arte Rupestre de Majes y los geoglifos (no una forma de arte rupestre) en el área. Demuestra que varios geoglifos están directamente relacionados con los petroglifos de Toro Muerto y también que están ubicados en las rutas antiguas desde y hacia el Valle de Majes.

The Enigma of the “Feathered Homunculus”, Peru

February 2, 2021 Academics, Featured, South America No comments

Rock art images often include unexpected and enigmatic elements. This study investigates the petroglyphs of especially anthropomorphic figures in the Majes Valley of southern Peru that have an unanticipated feather-element; a long groove (sometimes slightly curved) with a row of parallel but shorter grooves attached to one side only. This study will describe the petroglyphs of the several types of biomorphs featuring a feather-element, focussing however on the “Feathered Homunculus”, as well as their surprisingly limited distribution.

By Maarten van Hoek

Enfrentando los dibujos… ¡otra vez! (Perú)

August 24, 2020 Academics, Featured, Imaging, South America, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.46 No comments

With great interest I have watched the YouTube Video called: Charla Rupestre: Los Petroglifos de Chillihuay. Arequipa, Perú by Maritza Rodríguez Cerrón and Daniel Chumpitaz Llerena (21 August 2020), two leading Peruvian archaeologists who have intensively surveyed the important rock art site of Chillihuay in southern Peru. However, a couple of those drawings in their 2014-paper drew my attention, as they proved to be incorrect (PDF available).

by Maarten van Hoek – rockart @home.nl Read more

The Incomplete Versus The Unfinished

July 8, 2019 Academics, Featured, Geoglyphs, North America, South America, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.44 No comments

Only the manufacturer of a rock art image could reliably have informed us whether a rock art image is unfinished or whether it is incomplete. Unfortunately informed knowledge is often completely unavailable. Then only the image and its graphical and cultural context are available to possibly separate the unfinished from the incomplete. Additionally, the incomplete image may even include something invisible. To address these issues I will use the rich rock art repertoire of the Desert Andes, focussing mainly on Toro Muerto and Miculla, two enormous rock art sites in the south of Peru.

By Maarten van Hoek

The Cupules of the Imaoun Complex, Southern Morocco

April 17, 2019 Academics, Cup marks - coppelle, Featured, Morocco, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.44 No comments

In the area just south of the Anti-Atlas numerous rock art sites have been recorded. However, there are remarkably few rock art panels with cupules in that area. This study describes a surprisingly high number of cupule panels in the Imaoun area, north of the town of Akka in southern Morocco, which represents a true anomaly in this respect.

By Maarten van Hoek

The Saluting Anthropomorph in the Rock Art of the Americas

September 30, 2018 Academics, Featured, North America, South America, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.43 No comments

Although in general complex biomorphic figures in rock art are not suitable to demonstrate diffusion, there is one idiosyncratic anthropomorphic figure the in rock art repertoire of the Americas, which, although it is very rare, has a remarkably wide distribution that might indicate long-distance diffusion. I have labelled this icon the Saluting Anthropomorph. See the UPDATE at the end of the paper.

By Maarten van Hoek Read more

Long Distance Diffusion of Rock Art Motifs in the Americas

September 7, 2018 Academics, Africa, America, Australia, Europe, Featured, Mid-America, Morocco, North America, South America, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.43 No comments

Rock art motifs are found in every inhabited continent. In most cases those motifs develop independently, but it is also certain that specific rock art motifs migrated from one area to another area, sometimes travelling for thousands of kilometres. This study investigates the possible long-distance diffusion of a number of abstract rock art motifs along the Pacific seaboard of the Americas.

By Maarten van Hoek Read more

Indifferent Obliteration of Petroglyph Art

August 9, 2018 Academics, Featured, North America, South America, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.43 No comments

Petroglyphs are often found superimposed by other petroglyphs, but in some cases they have also been (partially) obliterated by hammering, rubbing or polishing of the rock’s surface. This short study investigates a number of cases in North and South America where petroglyphs may have (and in some cases definitely have) been obliterated by such grinding activities. This study therefore strongly recommend to accurately record instances where grinding activities took place, even when there are no petroglyphs visible.

By Maarten van Hoek

The ‘Trophy-Bird’ of Alto de Pitis

June 8, 2018 Academics, Africa, Featured, Morocco, South America, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.43 No comments

This paper provides a few examples of petroglyphs that have drastically been transformed by later rock art manufacturers. However, it focuses on one specific petroglyph, which is found at Alto de Pitis in the Majes Valley of southern Peru; aptly called ‘The Death Valley of the Andes’. In this paper I tentatively argue that the unique ‘Trophy-Bird’ petroglyph of Alto de Pitis initially started off as a ‘trophy’ head, which was later intentionally transformed to symbolise the Supernatural Flight of the Dead towards Apu Coropuna, the Sacred Mountain of the area.

by Maarten van Hoek

Una Actualización del Arte Rupestre del Cerro la Puntilla, Perú

March 4, 2018 Academics, Featured, South America, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.43 No comments

Este artículo trata sobre el sitio de arte rupestre de La Puntilla en el norte de Perú. Aunque pasé este sitio muchas veces no lo he visitado. Sin embargo, el sitio tiene varios paneles muy interesantes con petroglifos – todos reportados por primera vez por el arqueólogo aficionado local, Francisco Gregorio Díaz Núñez – que serán discutidos en este artículo.