Introduction
The term motif is perhaps the most widely used in archaeology art, in both rock art studies and portable art. This is a category of analysis that has dominated the field through all its theoretical and methodological perspectives (Fiore 2009). However, few authors have focused on defining it, often assuming its highly intelligible meaning. Overall, there seems to be an implicit or explicit agreement among specialists that consider the motifs are graphic and conceptual units of visual speech, though many disagree about their formal and semantic definition.
Definition
Motif is an expressive and consistent component of design, characterized by their shape, color, size, position, orientation, texture, etc. (Fiore 2009). Motifs integrate bigger compositions while they articulate spatially and meaningfully with other elements. It is then an expression unit and, as such, expresses a particular view of the world; thus, it is valid to be used as a unit of analysis (Aschero 1988).
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Further Reading
Loendorf, L. 2001. Rock art recording. In Handbook of rock art research, ed. D. Whitley, 55–79. Oxford: AltaMira Press.
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Gordillo, I. (2020). “Motif” in the Archaeology of Art. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_1628
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