Animated images: images, agency and landscape in Kilmartin, Argyll, Scotland

Description/Abstract

Although the temporality of the landscape has become a major concern for archaeologists, the temporal quality of art images has not been fully appreciated. This issue is especially pressing when we analyse prehistoric rock art in a landscape setting. This article offers a critique of current semiological approaches to prehistoric art and suggests an alternative in the study of signs as indexes as proposed by the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. An indexical analysis of prehistoric rock art and its relationship to monuments in the landscape of Kilmartin, Argyll, Scotland provides an enriched understanding of the relationships produced by marking the landscape.