Resumen de The Earliest rock art in Far Western North America
We have developed a suite of 67 chronometrically-dated rock engravings, based on 106 independent assays, from the Mojave Desert region of California, USA. These ages have recently been crosschecked, blind-tested, re-sampled and evaluated by two analysts using the VML and CR techniques.
The most conservative interpretation, based on independently verified chronometric ages, is that the engraving sequence extends from 11,100 to 250 YBP; that is, from Paleoindian to protohistoric times.
Less certain evidence suggests that the tradition minimally may be 15,100 years in age. Fully 18% of our dates are greater than 9,000 years old (the Paleoindian period), indicating that the Native American rock art tradition extends back to the Terminal Pleistocene. The earliest art assemblage includes a mix of geometric and representational motif forms, disproving claims for an evolution from abstract to iconic imagery in the region.
