Rock Art and Radiance: Archaeology in the Public Domain as Life-Long Learning.

The re-invigoration of storytelling in academic and public spheres allows rock art to offer opportunities to various publics, of which archaeologists are part. But how exactly this process of archaeology as lifelong learning is to proceed is not always clear, particularly in the United States. Until the last half decade of the twentieth century, rock art as an archaeological research field within U.S. archaeology has had something of a Cinderella status. Perhaps the difficulty in age-determining the imagery has been an impediment. Perhaps the difficulty of excavating rock art has also hindered rock art's academic acceptance. Fortunately, this academic apartheid is waning and rock art is contributing strongly, primarily in terms of theory. Whatever the position of rock art research in the academic context, rock art has always figured prominently in the public imagination. This paper discusses rock art as a contested resource, presents a case study from South Africa, considers rock art and identity, and discusses rock art sites as nodes for tourism. (Contains 25 references and 8 figures.) (BT)