Abstract
Located in northeastern Arizona (USA), Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO) presents a unique story of both geologic and human history. Though perhaps most well-known for its abundant petrified wood and being part of the Painted Desert, visitors are often surprised when they discover PEFO hosts many ancient petroglyph sites. Over the years, many attempts have been made to record the petroglyph sites, but nothing has been done to assess their geomorphic stability. To address this shortcoming, we employed the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) to assess geologic stability and (potential) deterioration of rock art sites in PEFO. Used for more than a decade as a triage for researchers assessing which rock art panels/sites are in the most danger of eroding, RASI uses a rank-based system to assess over three-dozen rock decay parameters, resulting in an overall condition analysis of a rock art panel. The findings can then be grouped together by site location to gain a clearer understanding of overall decay processes responsible for (potential) erosion. This study highlights RASI, its use as a low-cost, non-invasive, rapid field assessment technique, and assesses the geomorphic stability of five major petroglyph sites in the Petrified Forest National Park.
Highlights
Cultural heritage management involves the blending of science, history, art, architecture, and policy with historically important and environmentally sensitive heritage sites, especially those in arid environments, remaining susceptible to human interaction and induced deterioration in addition to natural stresses [1,2,3]
With the specific locations of many rock art sites remaining confidential, this paper only presents data from five publicly known sites in different areas of the park: Lacey Point, Puerco Pueblo East, Puerco Pueblo West, Twin Buttes, and Rainbow Forest (Figure 1)
This article demonstrates that the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) serves to inform cultural resource managers when making conservation and protection decisions concerning historically important and environmentally sensitive heritage sites
Summary
Cultural heritage management involves the blending of science, history, art, architecture, and policy with historically important and environmentally sensitive heritage sites, especially those in arid environments, remaining susceptible to human interaction and induced deterioration in addition to natural stresses [1,2,3]. RASI assessments incorporate multiple stone decay aspects, including general condition of the host stone, its substrate, vulnerability to perceived and inherent decay processes, and external/internal influences. This project’s goal centered on creating a much-needed baseline for the thousands of petroglyph panels in Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO), Arizona, USA, with the aim of monitoring and reassessing the sites across different time frames to help PEFO’s cultural resource management team make informed decisions regarding irreplaceable rock art and inscriptions that have endured increased tourism, human contact, climate change, and time. Before offering a succinct conclusion, site assessment results are presented for several key locations within the park, with specific attention focused on the dominant rock decay processes affecting and influencing each site
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