Palaeolithic rock art in Europe is traditionally associated with karstic environments. Nonetheless, the origins of symbolic behaviour “in situ” are considered to be a practise evident in both closed spaces (e.g. caves) and in open-air sites and rockshelters. This presentation focuses on rock art research conducted between the Tagus and the Guadiana rivers. Caves generally tend to preserve precious information about past human behaviour and occasionally unique symbolic remains which imply complex abstract thought. On the other hand, open-air rock art sites, particularly those located alongside rivers in Western Iberian Peninsula, stand as exceptional evidence of how widespread has been that behaviour in different landscapes, as demonstrated by the Late Pleistocene preserved common iconography. Here, we present this connection based on the results of two ongoing projects, the FirstArt and the OcrezArt. These projects will be presented briefly, using two key sites as case studies: the Escoural cave and the Ocreza river. Furthermore, the methodology applied to rock art research will be presented, together with the shared Upper Palaeolithic iconography of the sites, with a particular focus on zoomorphic figurative motifs. Finally, the importance of the current data in the context of Western Iberia and Southern Europe will be discussed.

First Author: Dionysios Danelatos

Co-Authors: Sara Garcês, Hipólito Collado Giraldo, George Nash, José García Arranz, Hugo Gomes, Virginia Lattao, Pierluigi Rosina, Telmo Pereira, Luiz Oosterbeek

Keywords:
Rock art
Symbolism
Karstic environments
Open-air sites
Methodology
Palaeolithic