Palaeolithic engravings and sedimentary environments in the Côa River Valley (Portugal): implications for the detection,interpretation and dating of open-air rock art

The pre-Magdalenian phase of the Côa River Valley open-air rock art is mostly distributed at the boundary between the rocky valley slopes and the floodplain that correspond to the most favourable geomorphological setting for the preservation of pecked and deeply superposed engravings of the most famous artistic phase of the area. The natural vertical panels of the engraved art located at this geomorphological interface have suffered weathering during two cold events of the Lateglacial. They were buried by several colluvial and alluvial deposits. The reconstruction of the sedimentary and archaeological context of the CôaRiver Valley engraving permits a better assessment of the preservation processes and interpretation of Palaeolithic open-air rock art.     

Rock Art Conservation and Tourism

Rock art conservation has developed hand-in-hand with the increased pace of tourism, yet the two activities tend to remain in opposing camps. Policies and guidelines have been developed for cultural heritage and cultural tourism and there is a widely accepted range of principles in place, but a theory of sustainable rock art tourism is only in its infancy. To mature, the discipline needs research into the interaction of key elements that affect the long-term conservation of frequently visited rock paintings and engravings in their original setting, as well as consideration of social and economic factors that drive tourism and the public interest in rock art.     

Laboratory and in situ assays of digital image analysis based protocols for biodeteriorated rock and mural paintings recording

Rock art paintings, and in general mural paintings, are one of the many elements of cultural heritage complex systems. As the different elements of a system have diverse spatial positions, spatial recording allows understanding their interactions. Thus, a useful approach to mural paintings recording is to understand it as a microcartography issue, managing each element of the system as a cartographic coverage.     

Ethics,politics and practices in rock art conservation

Abstract

Weathering and deterioration of Norwegian rock art has become an increasing area of concern over the last decade, with subsequent increasing efforts towards conservation. This has brought questions onto the agenda regarding the ethics and politics involved in conservation theory and practice. It is argued that such issues have been difficult to debate due to the concept of conservation being regarded as a legal and moral ideal. Referring the situation in Norway to ongoing global debates and perspectives regarding rock art conservation enables us to reveal and discuss some of the fundamental and complex philosophical issues involved. Notions of authenticity which implicitly underlie attitudes to rock art conservation are questioned, and the relationship between ‘green’ politics and rock art conservation is also discussed. A tendency towards uniform solutions and avoidance of critical issues, seen as influenced by strong social-democratic political traditions in Scandinavia, is at odds with the growing realization that most approaches to rock art conservation inevitably have unforeseen and frequently undesired consequences. Rather than further segmenting ethics, politics or practices in rock art conservation, a self-critical and reflective approach is suggested whereby changing concepts of ethics and authenticity are continuously debated.

Aucune loi ne pourra jamais préserver la sacralité d'un lieu … si ce n'est une loi morale, non écrite,adoptée et respectée par chaque individu, un véritable code personnel d'éthique.

(Soleilhavoup, 1994: 14)     

花山岩画岩体开裂机理统计分析

岩体开裂是危害花山岩画最严重的病害,会对岩画造成毁灭性的破坏。为制定有效的灌浆加固措施,在对岩体开裂成因及影响因素分析和现场调查的基础上,做了统计分析。结果表明:1)岩画区共有418处开裂病害,开裂岩体以风化开裂体为主,占69%,且构造开裂体的厚度大于风化开裂体;2)构造开裂体的钙质、钙质与泥质共同充填比例为78%,高于风化开裂体的52%;3)构造裂隙和风化裂隙的张开度均以小于6mm为主,可知当张开度大于6mm时,开裂体将发生剥离掉块;4)风化开裂体的危险性I级、Ⅱ级所占的比例为57%和22%,小于构造开裂体的64%和27%,但风化开裂体多发育于岩画存在部位,易出现开裂和掉块,破坏更大;5)构造开裂体的厚度较大、裂隙连通性好、危险等级高,而风化开裂体厚度较薄、裂隙贯通性差、危险等级较高。本研究结果可为开裂岩画岩体灌浆加固及后期修复提供理论依据。     

青海民和县寺沟峡岩画调查简报

2019年,丝绸之路南亚廊道调查队在青海省民和县寺沟峡内发现了4幅6组个体102个岩画,并对岩画进行了详细的调查、测绘和数字化扫描。从整个岩面的制作技法来看,有直接磨刻法和敲凿法。岩画主要以抽象图案为主,有少量人像、持物人物、鸟等具象形象。其形象与新石器晚期至青铜时代彩陶图案纹饰相似度较高,与中原地区岩画有着密切关系,为研究官亭盆地早期文化提供了新的突破口。     

仙居岩画述论

本文详细介绍了仙居岩画的分布及画面内容,并主要从岩画的刻凿工具、图像特征、民俗学色彩等方面对岩画的制作时代作初步探讨,并从古越先民的农事意识、生活形态、宗教意识等方面对岩画的文化内涵提出了自己的见解。     

广西花山岩画颜料及其褪色病害的防治对策

在自然环境因素的长期作用下,花山岩画颜料褪色脱落。为了治理岩画颜料褪色病害,应用偏光显微镜分析、电子探针面分析、X射线衍射分析、红外吸收光谱分析,系统研究了花山岩画的颜料及其粘合剂成分。结果表明,铁红是花山岩画红色颜料中的基本显色成分,但红色颜料中存在朱砂。颜料粘合剂属植物性的,岩画作成后其中的植物性粘合剂在老化分解过程中分泌出有机酸,其中的草酸与立壁岩石中的钙质发生反应,形成一层水草酸钙。依据现状调查与采访结果,提出了岩画颜料褪色病害及其防治对策。     

水在广西花山岩画风化病害中的作用及其防治对策

花山岩画位于广西壮族自治区宁明县,其保存环境特征是高温潮湿多雨,花山岩画受环境因素作用,岩画颜料及岩石风化明显,风化类型复杂多样,有化学风化、物理风化和生物风化,同时存在、相互影响。它们均与水分有着直接的或间接的关系,因此水的防治是治理岩画风化病害的前提。本工作在水分来源及岩画保存地区地形地貌现场调查的基础上,通过水质分析系统研究了水在岩画风化病害过程中的作用。提出了花山岩画防水治水原则,并结合地质环境和特殊的地形地貌,将整个治水区域划分为山体山顶治水、溶蚀洼地治水、岩画立壁治水三个区域。根据其不同的渗水机制,分别采用盖、堵、排、导相结合的综合防水治水方法。由于岩画病害机理极其复杂,花山岩画防水、治水的难度很大,必须采取区别对待,综合治理的方法。     

Mid-Holocene age obtained for nested diamond pattern petroglyph in the Billasurgam Cave complex,Kurnool District,southern India

India has one of the world's largest and most significant bodies of rock paintings and engravings, yet not a single rock art site or image has been directly and accurately dated using radiometric techniques. Here we report on results from the Billasurgam Cave complex near Kurnool in southern India. Although this cave complex has been investigated archaeologically since the late 1800s, it was not until 2008 that a large petroglyph, consisting of the remains of three nested diamond designs on a stalactite, was noted. In order to determine if this petroglyph had been made recently, flowstone was sampled from on top of and below the engraving. Radiocarbon dating revealed a mid-Holocene age of about 5000 cal BP for the petroglyph, but we cannot rule out the possibility that the engraving is several centuries younger. Similar nested diamond designs at some rock painting sites and on a chert core elsewhere in India have been assumed to be Mesolithic. Our result is consistent with this hypothesis, although we note that it also consistent with the creation of the petroglyph in the early Neolithic. We conclude that the Billasurgam engraved diamond design was probably made by Mesolithic foragers of the Kurnool region and is the oldest surviving form of rock art yet directly dated in southern India.     

Weathering of rock art at two sites in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg,southern Africa

Sediments of the Karoo Basin in southern Africa represent one of the world's finest laboratories for investigating sandstone weathering. The natural breakdown of these sandstones, most notably in the Clarens Formation, is destroying much of the indigenous rock art heritage that exists there. In an attempt to elucidate the operative weathering processes, a range of micro-climatic, rock temperature, rock moisture, rock chemistry, and rock property data have been monitored over a 15 year period at two sites in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg. Results suggest that rock moisture regimes and to a lesser extent, rock thermal regimes exert the most damaging influence on San paintings. It is argued that granular disintegration and the enlargement of existing sandstone pores and bedding planes close to the rock surface, facilitate an increasingly dynamic moisture regime, which leads to an accelerating rate of weathering. Recent technological advances in data collection suggest that a re-evaluation of environmental controls may be necessary before weathering, at a scale appropriate to the deterioration of rock art, can be fully understood. The continued existence of indigenous rock art in southern Africa depends on investigations aimed at the development of techniques for its preservation.     

Identification of pigments used in rock art paintings in Gode Roriso-Ethiopia using Micro-Raman spectroscopy

In this paper we present results on the rock art painting materials from the Gode Roriso rock shelter, located in the eastern Hararghe region of Ethiopia. This analysis included X-microfluorescence, Micro-Raman spectroscopy and microstratigraphy. As far as the results of the analysis are concerned, a white natural wax (beeswax), carbon black and iron oxides (a mixture of haematite and magnetite) along with charcoal particles (forming as a red colourant) have been applied on a natural substrate constituted of granite containing feldspar crystalline forms. Although very much a science-based piece of research, the results have far-reaching outcomes for understanding the sequencing of pigment application.     

浅谈班主任的班级管理艺术

班主任工作艺术是班主任教育思想,教育能力教育风格的综合反映和体现,包括政治理论学习,文化知识积累,心理素质修养,所教学科的深入钻研。班主任工作艺术是教师教育教学实践中刻苦钻研教育教学规律,并仔细琢磨了然子心的结晶。     

The spiral that vanished: the application of non-contact recording techniques to an elusive rock art motif at Castlerigg stone circle in Cumbria

This article describes the recording of stone 11 of the Castlerigg stone circle in Cumbria through two different non-contact techniques: laser scanning and ground-based remote sensing. Despite the unproblematic recording of modern graffiti, neither technique was able to document the spiral photographed and rubbed in 1995. It is concluded that the spiral was most probably painted and has since faded away due to natural events. The discovery and loss of the spiral motif in Castlerigg is seen as a cautionary tale. In particular, it seems to suggest that it is time to take advantage of the novel technologies based on the digitisation of 3D surfaces with millimetre and submillimetre accuracy such as laser scanning and ground-based remote sensing. They offer many advantages to the recording of prehistoric carvings. In addition to avoiding direct contact with the rock surface eliminating the preservation concerns raised by other techniques, both produce high quality images (laser scanning offering a greater potential for this, but at higher cost) having a much higher level of objectivity, and precision and accuracy far beyond those of traditional recording methods such as wax rubbings and scale drawings.