Motifs include a myriad of abstract figures, both of curvilinear and rectilinear kind: circles, spirals, lines, arcs, grids, meanders, squigglemazes, rakes, ladders, zigzags, lattices, sets of parallel lines and the like. They are heavily revarnished and seriously eroded. The markings are distinguished by deeply carved lines on boulders, flat-lying slabs and low cliffs. It has been theorized that, the world over, nonfigurative or noniconic motifs in paleoart preceded representational images, and all motifs created prior to iconic ones are based on phosphenic elements (Bednarik 1994a). Both show an overriding preference for imagery derived from phosphenes, autogenous and involuntary abstract-geometric form constants that are hardwired into the mammalian visual system and are produced by the human brain without external stimuli. Sites are widely dispersed across Arizona, and are divided into two subsets petroglyphs and pictoraphs. This is the Western Archaic Geocentric Tradition. Occasionally there are anthropomorphs and quadrupeds. The majority of this most ancient art consists chiefly of abstract-geometric markings, although there are figurative elements such as atlatls, foot- and handprints, bird tracks, and possible vulvalike designs. The most ancient of Arizona's rock art is thought to have been made between roughly 60 B.C., an era characterized by a new adaptive lifeway pattern involving the gathering of wild foods, supplemented by the hunting of smaller animals. It is possible that, unlike the Palaeolithic groups in Europe and Asia, Paleoindians had strict taboos against the creation of realistic game animals or humanoid figures, which accounts for their production of primarily abstract-geometric designs. All earliest Arizona rock art consists almost entirely of nonfigurative motifs. Why Paleoindians did not depict these big-game animals, when there is clear evidence that they hunted and ate them, will probably always remain a mystery. There is solid archaeological evidence that the earliest occupants of the American Southwest were specialized big-game hunters, generally referred to as Paleoindians, and roaming Arizona prior to 7000 B.C. The term Archaic chronologically alludes to any rock art older than 1000 B.C. As a rule, the Archaic lifeway, distinguished by nomadic bands searching for seasonally available goods (Cole 1990:10), lasted much longer than the accepted time frame for the Archioiconic period of rock art. Within the field of archaeology, the term Archaic is applied in Western North America primarily to a span of human history that follows the Paleoindian period and comprises the five millenia from approximately 6000 to 1000 B.C.
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