When Worlds Collide Quietly: Rock Art and the Mediation of Distance

Narratives of the New World seldom begin without a bold pronouncement and an adventurous journey, yet the archaeology of rock art proposes a more nuanced account of the cross - cultural past: a new ground where the encounters, effects, and discoveries are felt on all sides. This chapter considers how researchers might discern processes of " contact " in less immediately obvious images. Focusing on a specific assemblage, this chapter explores the distances, both sociocultural and geographical, that Indigenous people traversed in making rock art. It is suggested that not only does rock art record a history of cross - cultural exchange, but it also actively mediates an outcome.