ROCK ART AS A MECHANISM FOR SAFEGUARDING TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) refers to culturally transmitted systems of knowledge, practice and belief accumulated over generations through coadaptation processes between humans and nature. In many cases, TEK is a matter of survival as ancient and contemporary communities require TEK to navigate and thrive in their worlds successfully. More recently, TEK has become a valuable concept for worldwide ecological conservation. Devastating colonial processes across the globe have critically threatened elements of Indigenous biocultural heritage, causing the loss of TEK. Rock art and its associated ecological knowledge have been one of the tangible and intangible biocultural heritages most critically impacted by colonial incursion. The association between both has been rarely recorded in most parts of the world, requiring imperative efforts to maximise its conservation. While the role of Elders and oral histories as cultural mechanisms helping to retain TEK has previously been discussed, rock art, as deep-time evidence for human-environment interactions, has not been explored as a mechanism for safeguarding TEK. This paper outlines the critical role of rock art as a mechanism for safeguarding, maintaining and acting as a reservoir of TEK. As neither theoretical nor methodological approaches linking rock art and TEK exist, this research develops these analytical frameworks for the first time by explaining how TEK is encoded in rock art. I highlight the importance of this approach for enhancing conservation strategies for intangible and tangible biocultural heritage related to rock art and for cultural and ecological conservation.