ABSTRACT
Rock-paintings in the karts region of Southeast Meratus, South Kalimantan, among others, were found in the Liang Bangkai kart area, which was in the Mesolithic caves of Liang Bangkai 11 and 12. The findings of rock-paintings in the two Mesolithic caves included paintings of the “Human Face Figures”. The findings of this rock-pantings are new, but research on the meaning of the rock-paintings of “Human Face Figures” has not received attention, so we further researched the rock-paintings. Further research was done using the “Semiotics Charles. S. Peirce” perspective. In “Charles S. Peirce semiotics”, there are three main elements of the study, that is sign, interpretant, and referent. The sign element is identified as rock-paintings, the interpretant is a human supporting rock-paintings, and the referent element can be in the form of religious ceremonial activities, such as burial ceremonies. Between the sign and the referent there is a formal, contiguous, and arbitrary relationship pattern. A formal relationship produces an icon, contiguous produces an index and an arbiter produces a symbol. In this article, we examine the patterns of the relationship between the sign and the referent to reveal the meaning of the rock-painting of “Human Face Figures” at the Mesolithic caves of the Liang Bangkai 11 and 12. The novelty of the research that is the “Semiotics of Charles S. Perce” approach can be used as a reference to examine the meaning of the rock-painting of “Human Face Figures” as a symbol of the spirit of the human face of the dead who has lived in the afterlife.
