Técnica y ejecución de la figura en el arte rupestre levantino. Hacia una definición actualizada del concepto de estilo: Validez y limitaciones.

Abstract

During more than one century of archaeological studies, and especially in Rock Art research, one of the most used criteria for the internal characterization of the archaeological record has been the concept of style. Style understood as the way of doing or the own character the author instils into his work, in which the personal interpretation is combined with the rules regulating the artistic or artisan production in a specific epoch and/or context, and conditioned by the selected technique and means. In Levantine Rock Art studies the stylistic evolution has been traditionally establish by only taking into account the way of designing each single motif. Formal variations have been interpreted in temporary terms, since formal unity has been usually considered synonymous with synchrony and formal changes synonymous with diachrony, and it has been generally accepted that each horizon involve some functional and formal homogeneity. However, these ideas do not bear in mind the potential existence of synchronic variations in either stylistic or technical procedures, due to functional differences and/or to synchronic regional variations related to some mechanisms of identity on diverse scales. But as we have seen throughout this study, the formal evolution of Levantine motifs, and particularly of the human figures, is neither linear nor progressive, but shows a certain regional variability and a discontinuous, dynamic and variable evolution, affecting not only to the most purely formal aspects but also to the technique, thematic and composition ones. With these premises we proceeded to the individualization of diverse graphic horizons on the basis of our regional study of the Levantine human figure, avoiding the imposition of the evolutionary patterns observed in other areas. The importance of the individualized horizons forces us to surpass the traditional consideration of Levantine art as a uniform artistic expression and to go deeply, in the future, into the spatial distribution of the individualized horizons, especially when comparing them with the archaeological register.

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