Rock Art And Ontology: Patterns Of Hohokam Imagery

Abstract

Although the Hohokam produced a number of rock art sites that feature a variety of images, rock art scholars have yet to explore how often different types of images occur at these sites or how they are associated on individual rock features. As such, the purpose of this project was to analyze the glyphs at two Hohokam rock art sites, South Mountain and Tumamoc Hill, to look for possible patterns in how often an image occurs at each site, and how often it co-occurs with other types of glyphs at the same site. By examining these topics in relation to the ontology of identity, this project revealed that the Hohokam tended to utilize the same types of images in their rock art at both sites, but used them with different frequencies. In addition, the cooccurrence of different glyphs types tended to strongly correlate to the numerical occurrence of the image at the site. This could indicate that the Hohokam ontologically situated themselves within a broader regional context, but expressed the individual identities of their communities through the frequency that they used the different images.