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.     

A NEW METHOD TO DATE PETROGLYPHS

A new calibrated method based on erosion phenomena is presented for the dating of petroglyphs (rock carvings and engravings) and geomorphic surfaces. In contrast to previous methods of petroglyph dating, which sought to determine the age of various mineral and organic deposits coating the art, microerosion analysis attempts to ascertain the time of mark production itself, by creating a geomorphologically based time frame. The method involves the establishment of calibration curves for the crucial variables to be considered. These are the rock type and climate of a particular region, microerosional indices and age. The theory, practical application, and prerequisites of the method are considered, and the paper concludes by defining the disadvantages and advantages of the method.     

WEST OF THE BEST: ROCK ART AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN THE DORO !NAWAS REGION OF NORTHWEST NAMIBIA

The Northwest of Namibia bears a concentration of rock art that is among the highest in the world. One of the centres is Twyfelfontein, a cluster of sites surrounding a waterhole at the eastern fringe of the Namib Desert, classified as the prime rock engraving site in southern Africa and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Recent prospections in the desert west of Twyfelfontein have resulted in the discovery of engravings and paintings that exceed those at the UNESCO site, both in quantity and quality. Our contribution to this volume in memory of Klavs Randsborg introduces this newly discovered archaeological landscape and discusses the connection between water ‐ a rare commodity in the desert environment ‐ and the rich array of rock art and other archaeological features found here.     

Socioreligious context and rock art in east-central California

Interpretations of rock art typically focus on the symbolic meaning of the art, treating the paintings and engravings implicitly as passive iconographic texts. Rock art, however, is the product of active ritual and ceremony. As such it played an important role in the socioreligious lives of its creators and users. Here I provide a study of the socioreligious contexts of the pictographs and petroglyphs of eastern California, North America, emphasizing the painted art of the Tubatulabal and Coso Shoshone territories and the petroglyphs of the Coso region and using only archaeological data. This requires, first, establishing the chronological placement of this art. Based on a variety of lines of evidence the pictographs and some of the petroglyphs are argued to be historic in age. An ethnography of communications model is then used to provide a conceptual basis for investigating socioreligious contexts and ritual functions of the art. Message content is studied using a factor analysis of painted motif types and an examination of the distribution of sites predominated by certain factors. Two motif complexes, or message content groups, are identified: a Tubatulabal ritual community, employing geometric designs, and a Coso Shoshone community, exhibiting a predominance of representational pictographs. Analysis of message form, channels, settings, and inferred ritual participants suggests that Tubatulabal art resulted from community rituals, in which all the inhabitants of a hamlet would have directly or indirectly participated. Knowledge of the rules for creating and interpreting the parietal art would have been common to all in the community. In contrast, pictographs of the Coso Shoshone were the result of private rituals, with limited numbers of participants and witnesses. The message communicated in the ritual and the painted art would have necessarily been arcane, and few in the community at large may have even known of the creation of this rock art. The Coso petroglyphs, also created by the Coso Shoshone but apparently by a different ritual community within the population, had a different set of rules for ritual actions and symbolic interpretation. The ceremonies creating the engravings were commonplace, yet logically were conducted in private or with few participants, suggesting that the knowledge concerning the means for undertaking and interpreting this type of ritual was widely known throughout the population.     

THINKING ABOUT 'STYLE' IN THE 'POST-STYLISTIC ERA': RECONSTRUCTING THE STYLISTIC CONTEXT OF CHAUVET

Summary.   Over the past decade, new radiocarbon dating from several art caves has conflicted with the traditional stylistic sequence of Palaeolithic art. Using Chauvet as a paradigm, some archaeologists have suggested that stylistic approaches to Palaeolithic art should be rejected in favour of more sophisticated methods, such as AMS radiocarbon dating. Contrary to this proposal, we suggest that the high antiquity of the Chauvet paintings (dated to c .32,000 years BP) does not necessarily imply the end of all stylistic approaches to Palaeolithic art. Taking the recent discoveries (2003) at the site of Hohle Fels and the attribution of the Palaeolithic engravings of the cave of l'Aldène to the Aurignacian (2005) into account, we suggest that the Chauvet paintings can be placed within an Aurignacian stylistic context. Throughout this analysis, we propose some critical thoughts on the concept of 'style' and discuss some ways in which stylistic approaches can be used to improve our knowledge of Palaeolithic art.     

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.     

Knowledge capture and transfer in rock art studies: Results of a questionnaire on rock art decay in Britain

Abstract

Several thousand prehistoric rock art sites are known in Britain, yet the degree of preservation of these engravings remains a poorly researched and undervalued aspect of the historic environment. Our lack of knowledge has severe implications for how we interpret the rock art sites and how we conserve and manage them. The ongoing ‘Fading Rock Art Landscapes’ project aims to address this gap in our knowledge by gathering information on the rate and nature of decay in prehistoric engravings. As part of the project, a questionnaire was distributed to a number of individuals who, for up to thirty years, have been visiting and recording rock art and who have a detailed knowledge of the sites, how they have changed over time and the types of threat to which they are exposed. In particular, the questionnaire aimed to capture individuals' perceptions of how three groups of agents (physical/chemical, animal, human) influenced the degradation of the engravings. The synthesized results reveal common perceptions of a duality in the rate and nature of decay, with a slow background level of erosion caused by physical and chemical agents, over which is superimposed a rapid, variable degradation from the impact of humans and animals.     

珠海宝镜湾岩画年代的界定

珠海宝镜湾岩画年代从其刻凿内容、刻凿手法以及户外摩崖的选择与遗址出土玉石、陶器等形态的比较中,推论距今约4200年～4500年之间。     

Animal engravings in the central Sahara: A proxy of a proxy

The rock art of the central Sahara was created out of the beliefs, traditions and experiences of the engravers and painters. The animal engravings of the Wadi al-Ajal in south-western Libya are used to isolate some of the environmental and cultural/symbolic components that make up the pictorial record. A comparison between the depicted animals and the faunal remains recovered in the area identifies a number of characteristics. The engraving repertoire is dominated by a small number of frequently depicted animals that were of symbolic or economic importance to the engravers. Rare and singular depicted species extend this record to a diverse species spectrum. Although a preferential depiction of herbivores is evident in the data, there is a close match between faunal record and engravings which shows that all larger animals (over ca. 10 kg) that were present in the area were also depicted. The selection of animals in the rock art appears to reflect their visibility in the landscape while also providing a record of changing climatic conditions from savanna to desert habitats. The rock art therefore provides an indirect record of the local environment while also capturing the engravers' perception of animals and landscape.     

A FIELD METHOD FOR INVESTIGATING the DISTRIBUTION of ROCK ART

Summary: Recent studies of prehistoric rock art have analysed its position in the landscape and have suggested that it played an important role in a mobile pattern of settlement. But the distribution of petroglyphs is usually taken as given, with the result that it is difficult to assess the significance of this kind of patterning. We argue that such evidence should be compared with the distribution of uncarved rocks across the surrounding area, and illustrate this procedure by two case studies from northern England. In these examples rock carvings were carefully sited at viewpoints and may have overlooked important routes across the landscape.     

THESE ROCKS WERE MADE FOR WALKING: ROCK ART AT LEIRFALL,TRØNDELAG,NORWAY

One of the largest sites with Bronze Age type rock art in Norway is found at Leirfall in Stjørdal, Nord‐Trøndelag. The site, which consists of five panels, is dominated by footprints but at the same time a great variety of motifs is present. The footprints seem to lure visitors to walk from panel to panel, even across the panels, which are located at three different levels. The main focus is on the middle level, where the main panel (Leirfall III) contains more than 700 rock carvings. The walks between and around the panels are described; at the same time the Leirfall rock carvings are seen in a wider context. Most footprints are likely to represent children and it is argued that the site was used for the performance of public rites during initiations. However, symbols normally found only on decorated grave cists are present, too, particularly on the upper panel, which cannot be seen from below. Death rituals may also have been performed.     

Uranium-series age estimates for rock art in southwest China

We report the first uranium-series age estimates for rock art in China. Calcite bracketing a paint layer was used to constrain the age of a naturalistic outline hunter-gatherer painting in the Jinsha River area of northwest Yunnan Province (southwest China). The rock paintings in this region are unique in style and content compared with other bodies of rock art in China, which are dominated by Neolithic subject matter. The minimum and maximum ages were determined using isochron techniques on multiple samples of calcite from above and beneath the paint layer. A large painted deer head was dated to between 5738 and 2050 years. This painting and underlying flowstone are superimposed on older paintings that suggest the older paintings are at least 3400 years old, if not older than 5738 years. The results indicate for the first time that Jinsha River rock art is older than other forms of rock art in the region and show that rock art likely extends back to at least the transition from the Palaeolithic to Neolithic in this part of China.     

Review

Anders Hagen, Bergkunst. Jegerfolkets helleristninger og malninger i norsk steinalder. (Rock Art. The rock carvings and paintings of hunters in the Norwegian Stone Age.) J. W. Cappelens Forlag A.s. Oslo 1976.     

Revisiting the Parietal Art of Wonderwerk Cave,South Africa

Seen by all who visit Wonderwerk Cave, the rock paintings that adorn its walls have attracted less attention than many other aspects of the site. The paper gives a brief account of their history and significance and of factors that have constrained their study. Graffiti damage and restoration added layers through which researchers would need to delve in order to understand them archaeologically. Pointing to directions for future work, the paper concludes with discussion on a currently debated category of southern African rock art, the “non-entoptic” geometric rock art tradition, to which the Wonderwerk Cave rock paintings would belong. A shift in theoretical focus is advocated for comprehending local contingencies in the formation of rock art “traditions” rather than simply assuming the prior existence of such constructs.     

Digital Technology in Research and Documentation of Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art in South Africa

The use of digital technology to enhance and manipulate photographs of rock paintings affords researchers insights into imagery that was formerly invisible or obscure. Image enhancement and manipulation software have greatly increased the data set available for study. There is a wide range of techniques available in the digital repertoire, depending on the aim of the research. Here, three South African case studies are discussed in which hunter-gatherer rock paintings are enhanced and manipulated to create digital “tracings” using the computer programmes Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop and DStretch. The results obtained with these simple techniques are presented here, because they might prove useful for rock art research elsewhere in the world. It must be noted, however, that these technological developments do not eliminate the subjective nature of recording and interpreting rock art or the necessity of a theoretical framework in which to understand the imagery.     

Rock surface luminescence dating of prehistoric rock art from central Iberia

Rock art paintings are notoriously difficult to date numerically. Recently, luminescence dating has been shown to provide reliable rock surface burial ages in various archaeological settings. Here we use the cross-cutting relationship between a fallen rock and two paintings of the Iberian Levantine (older) and Schematic (younger) styles to constrain the age of the paintings by dating the rockfall event using rock surface luminescence dating. Infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) signals as a function of depth into the buried face of the talus border indicate that the IRSL signal measured at 50°C (IR₅₀) was sufficiently reset to a depth of about 1.6 mm prior to burial. An uncorrected IR₅₀ age of 1.6 ± 0.2 ka was calculated for the rockfall event by dividing the surface equivalent dose (D_e) by the total dose rate. This age was corrected using both conventional and field-to-laboratory saturation approaches to yield indistinguishable ages of 2.7 ± 0.5 and 2.9 ± 0.3 ka, respectively. Since the panel with Schematic art was first available to the artist after the rockfall, we conclude the Schematic rock art at Villar del Humo is younger than ~2.9 ka. The Levantine rock art was painted on a panel constrained by the talus boulder before detachment, and so it is likely to be older than ~2.9 ka.     

Rock art survey in the ancient oasis of Salūt (northern Sultanate of Oman): a variegated iconographic record

The systematic survey of petroglyphs in the area of the ancient oasis of Salūt, in central Oman, highlighted a rich repertoire of representations that are here discussed against the background of Arabian rock art in general. The region displays an extremely rich number of engravings along the slopes of the Jabal Hammah, north of the main site of Salūt. The majority of the petroglyphs find abundant fitting comparisons in the region. The notable exception of the motif of the “man with halberd” is presented, as it appears to be significantly rare and underlines interpretative issues concerning the so-called T-shaped signs, ubiquitous in Arabian rock art. One of its occurrences was radiocarbon dated to before the mid-first millennium BCE. This and other, relative hints for reconstructing the chronological context of the petroglyphs are discussed, indicating that engravings can be broadly dated from the second millennium BCE onwards.     

PETROGLYPHS OF FOOTPRINTS IN THE BRAZILIAN STATE OF MATO GROSSO DO SUL: GENESIS AND STYLISTIC DIFFUSION

The article describes the occurrence of rock carvings in the shape of footprints in rock shelters and caves in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul placing this phenomenon within the archaeological context of the Brazilian Midwestern region as well as the entire continent of South America. Based on available archaeological data the paper reflects upon the possible areas of genesis and ways of diffusion of this distinct rock art style that is seemingly the most prevalent in Brazil.     

Computer vision methods and rock art: towards a digital detection of pigments

A non-invasive procedure for assessing and interpreting the pigments of rock art paintings through computer vision and photogrammetric techniques is presented. The method is designed to document and interpret poorly preserved pigments by making use of advanced techniques of photogrammetry and computational imaging. Two different software solutions that were developed by the authors have been used for this purpose. Finally, two case studies of rock art paintings from Spain have been analysed, which show the reliability of the method.     

Strict solar alignment of Bronze Age rock carvings in SE Sweden? – Critical remarks on an archaeoastronomical case study

A recently published paper proposing a “strict solar alignment” of figurative rock carvings in southern Sweden requires some critical and cautionary remarks. Using the paper “Strict solar alignment of Bronze Age rock carvings in SE Sweden” by N.-A. Mörner as a case study, various pitfalls and challenges in archaeoastronomical investigations are highlighted. Substantiating the idea of a relationship between the orientation of archaeological features such as rock carvings and astronomical events such as sunrise at winter solstice requires accurate and precise determination of (i) the orientation of the archaeological features and (ii) the azimuth of the astronomical event at the time of creation of the rock carvings, taking into account all influencing factors such as changes in Earth orbit parameters, surrounding topography and vegetation. Furthermore, possible motivations or intentions of Bronze Age rock carvers have to be considered. When trying to support a causal link between the orientation of archaeological features and astronomical events, it is indispensable to discuss and exclude possible alternative explanations, related to, for example, rock carving practice and visibility. Taking into account the above issues, there is no evidence for a solar alignment of the Järrestad rock carvings. The issues discussed using the Järrestad rock carvings as a case study are relevant to archaeoastronomical investigations in general.