Rock art images and archaeological models. Towards a contextualization of the petroglyphs in the Curi-Leuvú Basin. North of Neuquén, Argentine Patagonia

Abstract

In this paper we present new data of sites with engraved rock art in the Curi-Leuvú basin, north of Neuquén Province, Argentina, and discuss them through the archaeological models proposed for the region at different spatial scales. In this way, we integrate the rock art evidence within the general approaches on the use of space in northern Neuquén, and propose a contextualization of rock art production through a comparative analysis with the previously known sites for the high basin of the Neuquén River and the southeast end of the Maule region in Chile. The initial results show that, although they structured their rock art production in a particular way, the human groups that inhabited the Curi-Leuvú Basin during the Late Holocene actively participated in a regional dynamics of production and circulation of shared visual codes and information in the northwest of Neuquén.