“A Mark by Any Other Name . . . ”
Reconciling Historical and Descendant Terms and Concepts for Indigenous Petroglyphs and Pictographs
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19640657 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aaron Wright (0000-0002-0540-6398, Archaeology Southwest), Aaron M Wright (Archaeology Southwest), John R Welch (0000-0001-8820-7150, Simon Frasier University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 1-22 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Antiquity (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/aaq.2025.2 |
| OpenAlex | W7118012182 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 29 |
Since about 1960, the study of petroglyphs and pictographs has escaped the confines of anthropology, art history, and philology and established itself as a discrete field of transdisciplinary scholarship, supported by its own organizations, periodicals, and lexicon. “Rock art research” emerged as the field’s moniker, and “rock art” became the most popular term for describing anthropogenic marks in and on geological surfaces. However, this label has sparked controversy over whether “art” is an accurate, ethical, and inclusive gloss for non-Western and premodern imagery. Although some pragmatic scholars, preservationists, and descendant community representatives accept this nomenclature, others find it imprecise, distracting, and, at times, offensive. We advance this debate with results from two surveys. First, a review of article titles published since 1865 shows that “rock art” is just one of many terms used in the field, and it is one of the youngest. Second, a survey of federally recognized Tribes found strong though not universal dissatisfaction with “rock art” to characterize ancestral petroglyphs and pictographs. As a bridge between field practitioners and descendant communities, we recommend that researchers and organizations work with Tribes to develop and use terms that are respectful, useful, and of mutual benefit
Descendant · Field (mathematics) · Indigenous · Mythology · Philology · Rock art · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Public Spaces through Art
Rock “Art” and Art
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Rock art as art
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Vagueness and ‘Art’
Rock art and rock markings
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Art for Art's Sake in the Paleolithic [and Comments and Reply]
Still no archaeological evidence that Neanderthals created Iberian cave art
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Repainting of images on rock in Australia and the maintenance of Aboriginal culture
Paleolithic Art Studies at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century
Archeological Theory and Method
The Anthropology of Art, After the End of Art
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |