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A Multi-Scalar Analytical Study of the Chumash Rock Art of South-Central California

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A Multi-Scalar Analytical Study of the Chumash Rock Art of South-Central California Spatial Analysis and Actor-Network Theory: A multi-scalar analytical study of the Chumash rock art of South-Central California. (Volume 1 of 2 Volumes) By Michelle Lynn Wienhold, BA, M.Sc. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Central Lancashire. May 2014 Student Declaration Concurrent registration for two or more academic awards I declare that while registered as a candidate for the research degree, I have not been a registered candidate or enrolled student for another award of the University or other academic or professional institution Material submitted for another award I declare that no material contained in the thesis has been used in any other submission for an academic award and is solely my own work Signature of Candidate Type of Award Doctor of Philosophy School Forensic and Investigative Science II Abstract The aim of this research is to provide a more holistic approach to study Chumash rock art throughout their entire geographic region within South-Central California by applying geographic information systems (GIS), incorporating ethnohistoric and ethnographic data and utilising associated archaeological material under an Actor-Network Theory (ANT) framework. Through a review of past Chumash archaeological and rock art studies, I discuss where previous research is lacking and how that research was fragmentary due to focusing only on specific geographic areas or linguistic regions. As rock art is an artefact fixed within the terrain, I further argue it has a potential connection to the topography--particularly its relationship to Chumash landscapes and taskscapes by applying both formal and informed methodologies at multiple scales. By modifying the tenets of ANT to create a framework that uses the rock art data to define space, analyse its heterogeneity and connectivity and study its topographic entrenchment, this research conceptualises rock art’s networks. To conduct this research, I collated a large body of spatial and descriptive information for 254 rock art sites and associated archaeology. Spatial analyses were performed at multiple scales using GIS as a heuristic to conceptualise site clustering, landscape entrenchment and anisotropic movement for the collated data. While the rock art sites were used to define the multi-scalar spaces, results show that the identity of the sites change throughout space and time where rock art itself is a network and not exclusive to one specific Chumash network. Analysis of the data shows that the topographic setting entrenches the rock art and begins to represent the dynamic assembly of its heterogeneous network relations. Movement through the landscape reflects how the sites were connected or structured within their landscapes and taskscapes. Overall it reflects rock art’s interrelationships to the networked economic, social, ideological and political organisations of the Chumash and their rich ceremonial practices. Therefore, the Chumash rock art networks were as complex, dynamic, variable and heterogeneous as Chumash society and the rock art panels themselves. III Table of Contents Volume 1 Student Declaration ___________________________________________________________ II Abstract ____________________________________________________________________III Table of Contents ____________________________________________________________ IV List of Tables _______________________________________________________________ VII List of Figures ________________________________________________________________ X Glossary _________________________________________________________________ XVIII Acknowledgments __________________________________________________________ XIX Chapter 1 Introduction ________________________________________________________ 1 1.1 Introduction to Fieldwork and Research ______________________________________ 1 1.2 Originality ____________________________________________________________ 12 1.3 Conclusion ____________________________________________________________ 14 Chapter 2 Chumash Society and Current Theoretical Research: A Critical Perspective _____ 15 2.1 Introduction ___________________________________________________________ 15 2.2 Chumash Complexity ____________________________________________________ 18 2.2.1 Chumash Geography ________________________________________________ 18 2.2.2 Palaeo-environment _________________________________________________ 20 2.2.3 Chumash Language _________________________________________________ 21 2.2.4 Chumash Timeline __________________________________________________ 21 2.2.5 Chumash Social and Political Organisation _______________________________ 24 2.2.6 Chumash Material Culture ____________________________________________ 30 2.2.7 Chumash Rock Art __________________________________________________ 34 2.2.8 Chumash Subsistence, Diet and Cuisine _________________________________ 43 2.2.9 Initial Contact (Proto-Historic – Historic) _________________________________ 45 2.3 Theoretical Approaches to Studying the Chumash _____________________________ 47 2.3.1 Evolutionary Theory _________________________________________________ 49 2.3.2 Agency and Environmental Stress ______________________________________ 49 2.3.3 Human Behavioural Ecology __________________________________________ 50 2.3.4 Network Strategies and Wealth Finance _________________________________ 53 2.3.5 Taskscapes ________________________________________________________ 54 2.4 Conclusion ____________________________________________________________ 54 Chapter 3 Rock Art Research Methodological and Theoretical Applications _____________ 56 3.1 Introduction ___________________________________________________________ 56 3.2 Methodological Approaches to Rock Art Studies ______________________________ 59 3.2.1 Scale _____________________________________________________________ 59 3.2.2 Informed Methods __________________________________________________ 64 3.2.3 Formal Methods ____________________________________________________ 68 3.3 Theoretical Approaches to Rock Art Studies __________________________________ 69 3.3.1 Trance shamanism and entoptic/phosphene phenomena (the neuropsychological model) ________________________________________________________________ 71 3.3.2 Archaeoastronomy __________________________________________________ 73 3.3.3 Puberty and other communal rites _____________________________________ 76 3.3.5 Riverine, territory and trail/path markers ________________________________ 77 3.3.6 Event/mythical/historical markers ______________________________________ 78 3.4 Conclusion ____________________________________________________________ 80 Chapter 4 Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Spatial Analysis and Quantitative Analysis in Rock Art Studies __________________________________________________________ 81 IV 4.1 Introduction ___________________________________________________________ 81 4.2 Quantitative Analysis and Spatial Statistics in Rock Art Studies ___________________ 82 4.3 GIS and Rock Art Studies _________________________________________________ 96 4.3.1 Viewshed Analysis __________________________________________________ 96 4.3.2 Least-cost Path Analysis _____________________________________________ 103 4.3.3 Spatial Patterning __________________________________________________ 108 4.3.4 Spatial Analysis and Habitat Association ________________________________ 111 4.3.5 Predictive Modelling _______________________________________________ 112 4.3.6 Landscape Association/Factor Model __________________________________ 114 4.4 Conclusion ___________________________________________________________ 115 Chapter 5 Actor-Network Theory and Chumash Rock Art Analysis: Towards a Refined Theory _________________________________________________________________________ 117 5.1 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 117 5.2 ANT and Its Jargon _____________________________________________________ 120 5.3 Anthropology, Archaeology, Rock Art and ANT: A Review ______________________ 122 5.4 Combining ANT, Landscape, GIS and Rock Art: Modifications of ANT’s Tenets ______ 126 5.5 ANT and the Chumash __________________________________________________ 130 5.6 Conclusion ___________________________________________________________ 134 Chapter 6 Data Acquisition and Creation: Rock art, cultural and environmental variables 136 6.1 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 136 6.2 Chumash Database Creation _____________________________________________ 137 6.2.1 Rock Art Sites _____________________________________________________ 138 6.2.2 Ethnohistoric Village Sites ___________________________________________ 145 6.2.3 Database Creation Results ___________________________________________ 145 6.3 Environmental Variables ________________________________________________ 152 6.3.1 Base Data ________________________________________________________ 153 6.3.2 Derived Datasets __________________________________________________ 154 6.4 Research Questions ____________________________________________________ 157 6.5 Assumptions and Inferences _____________________________________________ 161 6.6 Conclusion ___________________________________________________________ 163 Chapter 7 Rock Art Site Cluster Analysis ________________________________________ 164 7.1 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 164 7.2 Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) __________________________________________ 165
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