Rethinking tradition: the rock art stylistic variability in the intermediate period of representations at the high-medium San Francisco River

Abstract

This article presents the main results of the stylistic-comparative analysis carried through in rock art shelters at the north of the Minas Gerais and southwestern of the Bahia: [1] an hypothetical time-line for the regional rock art occurrences, [2] the characterization of the distribution and use of the space by the styles attributed to the intermediate period occupation of supports, and [3] the characterization of the graphical aspects of these styles, whose appearance and disappearance demarcates the observed ruptures of pattern. Allied to the empirical research results, the final quarrel [4] reflect on the methodological implications of the notion of archaeological tradition in rock art archaeology.