Ancestral Symbols and Modern Diagnoses: Conceptions of Health and Corporeality in the Rock Art from El Algodonal (Viza, Peru) and Contemporary Medical Practice

Regalado J.R.M.; Llanos D.M.J.; Becerra A.V.G.; Ubillus J.E.A.; Diaz M.Y.V.; Araujo J.M. · Arqueologia Iberoamericana (2025) · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17449188

Resumen

This study comparatively analyzed the conceptions of health and corporeality represented in the rock art from El Algodonal (Viza, Peru) and those present in contemporary medical practice in order to establish continuities and transformations between ancestral symbols and modern diagnoses. The findings reveal a historical and cultural continuity articulated in three dimensions: rock art representations, intercultural healing traditions, and current biomedical practices. Although each one responds to different frameworks—symbolic-spiritual, community-based, and technical-scientific—all conceive of health as a balance between body, environment, and community. It was found that ancestral practices have not disappeared but rather coexist with biomedicine in a relationship of complementarity and tension marked by cultural differences, access, and legitimacy. In this scenario, the medical technician acts as an intercultural mediator, capable of articulating scientific evidence with traditional knowledge to promote more inclusive health care that is accepted by the community. The central contribution lies in integrating, from an interdisciplinary perspective, ancestral rock art expressions and modern biomedical practices, opening up a horizon of research towards intercultural care sustainable models. © ARQUEOLOGÍA IBEROAMERICANA.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Jaén; Universidad Nacional Intercultural Fabiola Salazar Leguía de Bagua