Abstract
Paintings and engravings on cliffs, boulders, and the walls of rock-shelters and caves often can be better understood by thinking about them with gender in mind. Who made images on stone? What kinds of people do anthropomorphic images represent? More important, what can rock art tell us about the gendered lives and gendered worldviews of ancient peoples? This chapter explores the often complicated gendered dimensions of rock art iconography, technology, style, and landscape placement. All art is gendered, be it images that represent bodies or those that are abstract. Art is gendered by codes of production, who produces it and who consumes it. (Dowson 2001 :321).
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | A Companion to Rock Art |
| Publisher | John Wiley and Sons |
| Pages | 197-213 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781444334241 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 23 2012 |
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Keywords
- Complicated gendered dimensions of rock art iconography, style
- Cultural roles of making rock art, in shaping gender identities
- De-gendering rock art, stereotypes by cultural interpretation
- Engendered approaches, sex categories as socially constructed
- Engendering rock art
- Gender and social identities, structures, work roles and kinship systems
- Gender as cultural values inscribed on sex, as structuring principle in all cultures
- Gender intersecting with age, ethnicity, sexuality, and work roles
- Making rock art, as part of puberty rituals in several cultures
- Understanding paintings and engravings of caves, with gender in mind
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Arts and Humanities(all)
Cite this
Hays-Gilpin, K. A. (2012). Engendering Rock Art. In A Companion to Rock Art (pp. 197-213). John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118253892.ch12