Graphic traditions and cultural interaction: Palaeolithic portable art from inner Iberia

Abstract

The last thirty years have witnessed an important increase in the number of Palaeolithic artistic manifestations in the inlands of the Iberian Peninsula. This increase has made possible to fill the void that had been generated beyond the traditional areas of study for Palaeolithic art. Whereas in the 1990s the attention focused on the open-air parietal phenomenon, excavations carried out in the inner lands of the Iberian Peninsula have continued to provide new data on portable art in the region. This work presents a review of the evidence of Palaeolithic portable art available for the archaeological record of Inner Iberia, intended to identify the cultural dynamics of its last hunter-gatherers. Through this review a diachronic interpretation of the chronological sequence is provided, thus proposing the coexistence of two different graphical traditions in Inner Iberia, based on the geographical distribution of its symbolism and the rhythms of interaction identifiable in its mobiliary art. The result is a general view in which the rates of graphic interaction tend to intensify as the Upper Palaeolithic reaches its terminal stages.