Rock-art and relationships: an introduction

Abstract

This paper introduces to the Before Farming readership a selection of 14 rock-art-centric papers arranged around three key human relationships. These comprise the relationships people have with other people (colonialism), relationships people have with places (landscape), and relationships that people have with other animals and with plants (ecology). Rock-art1 is a theoretically-informed artefact capable of illuminating aspects of past and contemporary human behaviour in new and insightful ways. The papers presented in this and the next two issues of Before Farming were originally presented at the Australian Rock Art Research Association (AURA) conference held in Alice Springs, Australia, July 2000. The issues these papers address represent and extend contemporary anthropological and archaeological concerns with time, place and identity. We hope that the papers will also provide material for contemplation, contestation and questing.