Developing Animal and Human Relationships in Prehistoric South India: A Spatial and Contents Analysis of Petroglyphs at Maski, Karnataka

Abstract

This thesis is the result of an in-depth investigation into the rock art of a local region in South India. It has explored the significance of tangible landscape placement in rock art production, a form of visual culture which remains intangible in many aspects of meaning. This thesis elaborates on current forms of archaeological knowledge in South India, generated through social understandings of landscape, contrasted against current knowledge of rock art in South India. It provides a means to intersect rock art documentation with archaeological research projects within an Indian context in a cost effective and widely applicable manner. A spatial analysis regarding the wider contexts of rock art sites, comparing their spatial proximity to variable natural and anthropogenic landscape features demonstrate the ubiquity of rock art production in this region of South India, associated with developed and ephemeral prehistoric habitation patterns. Additionally, a close scale analysis of technical details at panel level reveal different methods of continual interaction with motifs subsequent to their initial production phase, along with enhanced visualisations of motif forms. Overall, this thesis makes suggestions about the role of rock art in visualising developing relationships with animals and humans throughout the prehistoric period in South India, with a particular focus on cattle motifs. This thesis argues that the nature of that relationship is a continually transformative one, extending beyond the prehistoric period. Results presented in this thesis supports the integration of rock art documentation and analysis into other archaeological research projects within the Indian subcontinent, providing an added dimension to the complexity of archaeological human-landscape interactions.