Forms and relationships: A diachronic analysis of visual communication in the rock art of hunter-gatherer groups from the southern end of the Deseado Massif (Patagonia, Argentina)

The aim of this article is to discuss the scope and limitations of the visual communication concept applied to rock art. To this end, the presence/absence of visual composition rules in the rock art of Viuda Quenzana (south-central Patagonia, Argentina) is assessed, and its variations through time are discussed. To do this, we analyze the structural characteristics of the composition rules underlying the production of 367 motifs, distributed among 39 panels from 11 sites, and their changes or continuities across the evaluation of five color strata. The results show that the rules related to the visual characteristics of the images (shape and technique) have greater weight on the potential encoding and decoding of visual information than the rules related to the display of images in bedrocks and their relationships with other images.