Rock art in valle Hermoso: first results and contextual setting within the art production in the high Andean area of southern Mendoza

• Published in: Comechingonia. Revista de Arqueología
• Main Authors: Acevedo, Agustín, Fiore, Danae, Tucker, Hugo, Neme, Gustavo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Centro de Estudios Históricos. UA CONICET 2021
• Subjects: rock art; biogeography; spatial organization; High Andean area; southern Mendoza; arte rupestre; biogeografía; organización espacial; área altoandina; sur de Mendoza; Alta; Argentina
• Online Access: https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/comechingonia/article/view/32784

This paper presents the initial results obtained from the first thorough survey of the rock art of Valle Hermoso and analyzes them in the context of the rock art productions of the High Andean area of southern Mendoza (Argentina), which we characterized through a survey of bibliographic information. We follow a biogeographic and social that focuses on the role of rock art as an indicator of spatial hierarchization and as an active tool for social organization, based on its capacity to visually mark the land, communicate information and regulate interactions between human groups. The methods used include univariate statistics, bivariate statistics and visibility analysis (through GIS) for information gathered during fieldwork and univariate statistics for information gathered from bibliographic sources. Results show that both sites in Valle Hermoso have significant features which distinguish them from the rock art sites known in the High Andean area: a high number of motifs, produced by engravings and displayed in open-air boulders. In turn, all the images are tentatively attributed via relative dating to a temporal frame within the final Late Holocene. Based on this, we show and discuss evidence that supports the integration of the valley into the regional processes of circulation of visual information that took place towards this period, involving different geographical and ecological spaces. El siguiente trabajo presenta los resultados iniciales obtenidos a partir del primer relevamiento completo del arte rupestre de Valle Hermoso y los analiza en el contexto de las producciones rupestres del área Altoandina del sur de Mendoza (Argentina), caracterizadas a partir de relevamiento de información bibliográfica. Para ello se adopta una perspectiva biogeográfica y social que focaliza en el rol del arte rupestre como indicador de jerarquización espacial y herramienta activa de organización social, producto de su capacidad para marcar visualmente el terreno, comunicar información y regular las interacciones entre ...