ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to contribute to the discussion of what might be Bronze Age rock art in Northern and Central Portugal and its social and symbolic role. Based on a critical analysis of what are considered the two best-known rock art styles in the region (the Atlantic and Schematic arts), in parallels with objects found in archaeological contexts and in rock engravings outside the Iberian Peninsula, the author proposes the individualisation of figurative art, characterised by a new corpus of signs emerging in the early Bronze Age. She also highlights the fact that the introduction of this new figurative grammar is in accordance with the structural changes that take place at the beginning of this period.
