Using the Rock Art Stability Index to facilitate management of rock art in Wadi Rum, Jordan

Abstract

The Wadi Rum Protected Area (WRPA) in Jordan, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an iconic desert landscape and significant for both its natural and cultural heritage. The most notable form of cultural heritage in the Wadi are the thousands of petroglyphs on the local Umm Ishrin sandstone. Tourist activity, however, poses a threat and potentially accelerates the decay of this resource beyond natural rock decay rates. Therefore, in an effort to better manage this cultural resource, a large sample of these rock-art panels have been examined by an international team funded under the USAID/SCHEP program, and scored based on the degree of decay they have undergone using the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI). RASI has five general categories that rate geological stability, rock decay processes - past, present and impending - and rock-coatings; the variables within each category are scored on a scale of zero to three, corresponding to “Not Present”, “Present”, “Obvious,” and “Dominant”. This method of scoring is suitable for use by experts and non-experts alike, and data collection can be conveniently accomplished using ESRI’s Survey123, a form-centric and field-friendly mobile application. Through the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) such as ArcGIS Online, these data can then easily be organized, analyzed, represented, and shared. In an effort to better direct attention to those panels that need the most immediate care, and to validate the RASI methodology, my research focuses on using statistical analyses of correlation to highlight any relationships between processes of decay.