Uranium-series dating rock art in East Timor

At many sites throughout the world rock art paintings have been covered by naturally deposited calcite laminations, which we demonstrate can be individually dated by recently improved uranium-series methods. Here we report the application of multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to measure the ages for carbonate coatings that bracket red pigment at Lene Hara cave, East Timor, which could be evidence of human painting. These analyses establish the feasibility of dating milligram samples of finely layered calcite deposits associated with archaeological evidence of human occupation. In addition to confirming an age of less then 6300 years for the visible red paintings on the carbonate surface we also report a substantially older age of 24,000 to 29,300 years for a similar, older red pigment lamination providing possible evidence for an earlier painting episode.     

广西花山岩画颜料脱落和褪色原因分析

花山岩画是研究我国百越民族古代社会历史最重要、最直接的资料,岩画颜料脱落和褪色是岩画的主要病害。任何文物发生病害既与其制作材料和工艺有关,也与其保存环境因素相关。本工作在花山岩画制作材料和工艺分析研究以及区域环境特点分析的基础上,分析并讨论了岩画颜料脱落及褪色发生的原因。结果表明,岩画颜料层病害主要是受物理风化(温差变化、高湿度与光辐射)、化学风化-溶蚀作用和胶结材料老化引起;颜料褪色是由于岩画颜料表面覆盖泥质薄膜和颜料胶结材料老化导致颜料颗粒脱落致使颜料色彩饱和度降低,岩画颜色变淡变暗。     

Re-examination of Ancient DNA in Texas Rock Paintings

An unsuccessful attempt to study ancient DNA from Pecos River genre rock paintings located in shelter 41VV75 in the Lower Pecos River region of southwest Texas is described. We were unable to extract any ancient DNA from these Pecos River genre rock paintings, casting doubt on a previous study that reported extraction and characterization of ancient DNA in paint samples of the same genre at the same site.     

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.     

谈清宫皇帝后妃油画半身像

油画对于中国来说是一个外来的画种,经过美术史家多年的努力,它东传的时间和途径已然大致明确。但研究中还是有很多缺环。近些年来对清朝宫廷绘画实物及相关资料的发现,为欧洲油画东传的过程提供了更多的信息。本文通过对流传至今的清宫油画作品进行梳理,提出一些想法,或可补充关于"西画东渐"的叙述。     

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.     

A Pigment Characterization Approach to Selection of Dating Methods and Interpretation of Rock Art: The Case of the Mikinak Site,Lake Wapizagonke,Quebec, Canada

Dating is perhaps the most frequently asked question in rock art studies, but still one of the most difficult to answer. However, chronology is vital in order to understand and interpret rock art sites. Unfortunately, attempts at dating the Mikinak site, at Lake Wapizagonke, Quebec, Canada were unsuccessful. But a multi‐instrumental protocol applied to characterize paintings shows that at least three different paint recipes were employed to create the site. These may reflect three different phases of paintings, and that at least three different artists contributed to the production of this site.     

山东青州龙兴寺部分北齐佛造像石材及朱砂颜料分析研究

山东青州龙兴寺窖藏佛教造像出土于1996年,造像雕刻技艺精湛,数量多,贴金彩绘丰富,展现出一种特殊的佛教造像艺术特征。一些佛像由于长期掩埋和历史上遭到破坏,彩绘发生了褪色、变薄、起翘等现象。为了弄清佛造像彩绘颜料和结构,本研究采用三维视频显微镜、显微拉曼光谱分析、扫描电镜-能谱、偏光显微镜等仪器分析颜料的结构和化学组成。分析结果表明,龙兴寺佛造像红色颜料为辰砂(Hg S)与铅白(2PbCO_3Pb(OH)_2)混用;地子主要为铅白,经过对该批出土佛造像残碎的石块做薄片处理做偏光显微分析,得到造像石材的主要矿相为含菱铁矿、生物碎屑、白云石的泥晶灰岩(灰岩即石灰石)。     

西藏拉萨大昭寺转经廊壁画制作工艺研究

古代壁画是一定时期政治、经济、文化、艺术和科技发展水平的物质反映,因此,利用现代科技分析手段提取其信息并将之与古代文献结合,则可逆推其制作工艺和判定其制作时间,进而确定其历史价值、科学价值和艺术价值,为艺术史研究和保护修复提供信息。本工作利用拉曼光谱(Raman)、偏光显微镜(PLM)、扫描电子显微镜与能谱仪(SEM-EDS)、红外光谱(FT-IR)和X射线衍射(XRD)在西藏大昭寺转经廊壁画样品分析中获取的信息,结合文献,确定西藏拉萨大昭寺转经廊壁画绘制于清代晚期至20世纪80年代之间。此幅壁画地仗使用了阿嘎土,与文献记载一致;白粉层使用立德粉、碳酸镁和方解石等,与文献记载用白胶浆或者黄胶浆相异。同时发现壁画颜料采用藏族传统绘画配色方法。     

Neolithic rock art in context: Landscape history and the transition to agriculture in Mediterranean Spain

Rock art is one of the most salient features of Neolithic societies in eastern Spain and an explicit form of landscape history. This paper summarizes current debates of Mediterranean rock art chronology and interpretation and explores the contextual differences in two areas of Neolithic settlement with rock art: the Canyoles Valley (Valencia) and the Alcoi Basin (Alicante). Large-scale survey of the Canyoles Valley resulted in a clearer understanding of agricultural land use during the Neolithic that contrasts with evidence from the Alcoi Basin. By analyzing Neolithic rock art in its archaeological context, we discuss the significance and limitations of rock art analysis for understanding and characterizing landscape histories and the transition to agriculture in the region.     

The Discovery of Dhambalin Rock Art Site, Somaliland

Dhambalin, a sandstone rock shelter, was discovered in autumn 2007. The unique site holds polychrome paintings including the first sheep paintings in Somali archaeology. There is an extraordinary originality in the paintings, particularly those of the sheep and goats. There are unusual quality images and styles of humpless cows of which some are headless. The fauna depicted include antelopes, dogs, giraffes, snakes and a turtle, some of which are associated with human figures wearing what appear to be headgears and holding bow and arrows in hunting scenes. Relative dating is possible perhaps through the superimposition of various styles of paintings. Also the site shares some similarities with the Neolithic or protohistoric Arabian–Ethiopian Style in the Horn of Africa. Hence, there is a need for a multidisciplinary approach to the ritual landscapes, religion and identity in the Horn of Africa. With its richness of fauna, including unambiguous depictions of sheep and various styles of depiction of bovine, the new site of Dhambalin will no doubt play a major role in shedding light on pastoral cultures and pre-historic symbolism in the rock art of the Horn of Africa.     

岩画断代研究——科技考古学领域中一个亟待解决的问题

探索和研究表明,岩画断代问题仍然是困扰岩画研究的难题之一,其主要原因是岩画本身不能够提供可供断代的直接依据。本文综述了目前岩画断代研究中经常使用的自然科学和考古学方法及其存在的问题,提出应用AMS14C是今后研究我国岩绘画断代问题的首选方法,解决岩刻画的断代问题则主要有赖于微腐蚀方法。     

The painting of the Etruscan “Tomba della Quadriga Infernale” (4th century BC), in Sarteano (Siena, Italy): technical features

This work presents the results of an investigation of the painting technique used in the Etruscan tomb “Tomba della Quadriga Infernale”. This tomb was discovered in Sarteano (Siena, Italy) in October 2003 and dated back to the second half of the 4th century BC. Red, dark red, pink, yellow, white, black, and grey colours were used in the tomb in order to create paintings, which now represent a very precious record of the Etruscan art of wall painting in a hypogeal environment. The technical features of the painting were revealed by stratigraphy using optical and electronic microscopy. The components and preparatory layers of the painted areas were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). XRD, SEM-EDS, and optical microscopic techniques were also used for mineralogical analysis of the rock substrate. The SEM-EDS and FTIR analyses showed that red and yellow ochre, calcite, and vegetable charcoal were used to paint the walls of the tomb: the pigments, either alone or mixed together, were utilized to produce pure colours (red, yellow, white, and black) and intermediate tonalities (pink, dark red, and grey). SEM-EDS, FTIR, and XRD highlighted that the painting was made on a preparatory layer of calcite, applied onto a levelling material made up of calcite, clay minerals, quartz, and iron oxides. GC/MS analyses revealed that egg was used as an organic binder to disperse the pigments.     

四川会理县大坪遗址Ⅲ区新石器时代遗存发掘简报

2018年8月至2019年10月,为配合金沙江下游河段的乌东德水电站建设,四川省文物考古研究院等对位于四川会理县新安傣族乡马鞍桥村的大坪遗址进行了考古发掘。遗址Ⅲ区发现包括灰坑、窑址等在内的数十座新石器时代晚期遗迹,出土大量陶片,为研究城河流域乃至金沙江中下游地区新石器时代晚期考古学文化谱系及陶窑技术提供了重要实物资料。     

Landscape Construction and Long-Term Economic Practices: an Example from the Spanish Mediterranean Uplands Through Rock Art Archaeology

We argue in this paper that Levantine rock art in the Spanish Mediterranean basin allows us to ‘map’ the economic landscape of its makers. Rock art would be the ‘monumental’ side of a dual process of landscape construction: on the one hand, rock art is the first ‘cultural’ action on the landscape beginning in the Early Neolithic; on the other hand, the first evidence of active modification of the Mediterranean vegetation comes from this period. But this evidence as well as other kinds of archaeological remains are still relatively scarce in the uplands; rock art is therefore the most complete type of evidence we can use to support an early use of the Mediterranean upland environment. We use statistical and geographical analysis, together with archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic sources and pollen data, in order to support the idea of early use and exploitation of the Mediterranean uplands since the Neolithic, and into contemporary times.     

First absolute dating of Andean hunter-gatherer rock art paintings from North Central Chile

We report the first absolute dating for rock paintings by Andean hunter-gatherer groups. Analysis by Raman spectrometry of remains of black paintings from the center-north of Chile (30° lat. S) allows for the identification of carbon as the raw material. Radiocarbon dating situates these paintings between 1623–1431 BCE and 80–240 ACE, dates that are supported by other lines of independent evidence. These results are consistent with proposals that suggest the appearance and popularization of rock art in various places in the Andes for the temporal transect of 3000–1000 BCE. Finally, these new datings are added to the scant corpus of absolute dates for rock art that exist in South America.     

广西宁明花山岩画颜料胶结材料分析研究

花山岩画是研究我国百越民族古代社会历史的重要资料。岩画颜料中胶结材料分析是判断岩画制作工艺、岩画颜料脱落、褪色原因以及岩画病害治理的重要依据。本工作利用三维视频显微镜和材料显微镜、红外光谱仪、激光拉曼光谱仪、气相色谱质谱仪(GC-MS)等,主要分析了花山岩画颜料胶结物成分。结果表明,岩画颜料胶结材料为植物性粘合剂;颜料样品中含有分布均匀的草酸钙,草酸钙的形成与颜料使用植物性粘合剂有关。     

中国新石器时代的人地关系及其特点

地理环境对中国新石器时代文化的影响作用表现为对文化发展历程的影响、对文化发展速度的影响、对文化特征的影响、对文化格局的影响、对中华文明早期发生发展的影响等5个方面,中国新石器时代先民对于自然环境的利用与改造体现在农业生产活动的开展、采集渔猎经济的存在、家畜饲养业的发展、对居住地的选择、因地制宜的居宅建筑、生产生活用具的制造、对原有生态系统的干预等7个方面。新石器时代的人地关系具有人对地依赖性强、地对人制约严格、相互作用极为直接等特点。     

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。     

从另一个角度去看--张彦远《历代名画记》之体例的独创性

张彦远的《历代名画记》是中国美术史上出现的最早一部上自上古传说时代,下迄唐武宗会昌元年兼具科学性、全面性、系统性于一体,又将史与论相结合、理论与实际相结合的绘画通史。它所开创的通史体例在古代绘画史论著作中具有典范意义。