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.