ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains some of the meanings and motivations behind the production and consumption of rock art by using ethnographic texts and analogy. It argues that rock art regions are more usefully defined by the presence and absence of ethnographically informed motifs than by formal aesthetics or style'. Although little has been published on the archaeological deposits or rock art of the Trans-Pecos or Mpumalanga, neighbouring areas are famous for their rich archaeology, impressive rock art corpuses, and academic publications. Mpumalanga is adjacent to well-known regions in which the rock art has been convincingly situated in an overarching, shamanistic framework; we know why many specific images were created, and by whom. In Texas, the Trans-Pecos is adjacent to several regions that also share many definitive characteristics through time and across space, including belief in a tiered cosmos.
