Towards an understanding of Indigenous rock art from an ideational cognitive perspective: history, method, and theory from west Texas, North America, and beyond

Abstract

Many years before the so-called ontological and materialist turns in archaeological and anthropological theory, ideational cognitive archaeologists made progress towards understanding at least some of the meanings of—and motivations behind the creation of—rock art. Working closely with Indigenous groups, and tacking back and forth between ethnographic, neurological, and material-cultural data, researchers were able to challenge the nihilist assertion that “we will never know anything about the original significance of the art.” This chapter considers historiography, theoretical, and methodological developments, and in situ case studies from west Texas, western North America, and beyond. It shows that hermeneutic and cross-disciplinary research into rock paintings and engravings is one of the most effective and compelling ways of understanding archaeology, varied ontological outlooks, and cognitive approaches to material culture, and what happened in the past.