Images, codes and communication: an analysis of rock art in the Southern Deseado Massif (Patagonia, Argentina)

In this paper, we assess the composition rules underlying the relationships between rock art motifs and bedrocks, by comparing a total of 1.273 motifs and 76 motif types (MT) recorded at 33 sites in two archaeological localities of south-central Patagonia (Argentina). Our analyses show that: a) the display of rock art motifs on the bedrocks do not follow clear visual composition rules; b) out of the total number of MT, both localities only share 14, which would entail the existence of low levels of communication between them. We discuss this regarding the different potential relations that each locality may have had within wider mobility and information exchange circuits at a regional scale. In turn, the 14 shared MT represent more than 60% of the rock art production of each locality, which implies a clear emphasis on the selection of specific portions of the repertoires for the artistic production in each locality. It is argued that visual communication generated by hunter-gatherers in both localities would have been more fluid and less regulated than expected according to the general terms of communication theories, in accordance with a low degree of social control, characteristic of this type of societies.