Rock Art Recording Research Articles

FREQUENCY, PHASES AND CHRONOLOGY OF ROCK ART: SPATIOTEMPORAL STUDIES OF THE ALTA ROCK CARVINGS, NORTHERNMOST EUROPE

SummaryThe rock art of Alta, comprising more than 7000 rock carvings, is dated by shoreline chronology. It is unparalleled in Europe. The well‐dated rock carvings make the material suitable for a temporal study of the rock art and the frequency of rock art production over c.5500 years. Based on new detailed elevation measurements performed by Alta Museum of the 92 panels with rock art and individual measurements of a total of 442 individual figures it is possible to discuss the temporal and spatial distribution of the rock art in Alta in detail. This up‐to‐date study shows that the rock art in Alta was made between c.5300 BC and AD 100 (6300–1900 BP). This raises the question whether the rock art record represents an even production of figures, accumulated gradually over more than five millennia, or whether there were more intensive phases of activity in the Alta area. Further, were all main areas used throughout the five millennia or did activities shift in the landscape? Based on the current record, the frequency of the rock art argues for a clear division of the material into four chronological phases. The material record shows an intense production in the earliest period from c.5300–4000 BC, with about 60% of the rock art being made then. The results from this study indicate that the rock carvings in Alta support a framework for the Alta rock art into four phases.

Elephant seismicity: Ichnological and rock art perspectives from South Africa

An association between round or oval features and linear features has been noted in South African Pleistocene coastal deposits, in apparent association with elephant tracks. The round or oval features sometimes exhibit concentric rings, and the latter often comprise near-parallel grooves and ridges. In one case the concentric rings and parallel grooves are closely connected. Such an association requires interpretation, even if this remains hypothetical until further sites are identified. Elephants are the heaviest extant land mammals, and their capacity to impart substantial forces onto the substrates on which they tread is well documented. Such forces include a seismic component, and seismic communication between elephants has received considerable attention in recent decades. Comparisons with dinosaur tracks are instructive in interpreting the available ichnological evidence. In the absence of plausible alternatives, the possibility that the noted features represent an ichnological signature of elephant seismicity or seismic communication needs to be considered. The rock art record in southern Africa suggests that ancestral humans were aware of elephant seismic communication. A comprehensive approach to elephant seismicity can involve not just research into the habits of extant elephants, but also the rock art record and the trace fossil record. To illustrate these concepts, findings from South African trace fossil sites and rock art sites are presented.

Animals hidden in plain sight: stereoscopic recording of Palaeolithic rock art at La Pasiega cave, Cantabria

Cantabrian cave art is familiar from photographs reproduced in textbooks, but these two-dimensional images do not capture the irregularities of the rock surfaces on which animals and other designs were painted or engraved. Here, the authors use stereoscopic photography to review the parietal art of La Pasiega cave. By documenting the uneven surfaces of the cave's walls alongside painted and engraved marks, they identify new animal figures and reinterpret others, previously thought to be partial representations, as complete. The results show the positioning of animal figures to make use of concave/convex surfaces and rock edges to define the outlines of animals, reinforcing the need to record and interpret cave art three-dimensionally.

The Rock Arts of Metolong: Paintings, Archaeology and Cultural Resource Management in Western Lesotho

Abstract Archaeological mitigation efforts in advance of Lesotho’s Metolong Dam involved comprehensive documentation of rock paintings in the area threatened with inundation, as well as pigment characterisation and direct dating. This paper gives an overview of the rock arts found and their key features. Four traditions are present. Most paintings belong to the fine-line San tradition, but there are also examples of Type 3 images previously only recognised in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Two other traditions are identified as being made by local Basotho communities. Contextual evidence suggests that they relate to male identity and, in the case of ochre smears and handprints, specifically to male initiation rituals. Some of the rock art sites identified are, in fact, used today by male and female initiation schools. The importance of comprehensively documenting rock art in other locations where it is at risk of being lost via development projects is stressed. Metolong sets a standard for rock art recording in cultural resource management work in the wider region.

Exploring ideas behind the whale images in the Norwegian Rock Art Record

Exploring ideas behind the whale images in the Norwegian Rock Art Record

Rock paintings, soot, and the practice of marking places. A case study in North-Central Chile

The study of rock art production has been traditionally focused either on the tools used in the process and/or in the components of rock paintings. In this paper we consider the role of fire and soot as substances that participated in the dynamic process of rock art making by Late Holocene hunter-gatherers from the Limarí River Basin (North-Central Chile). Through Optical Microscopy, Raman Spectroscopy and SEM-EDS analyses, together with traditional strategies of rock art recording and radiocarbon dating of paintings, soot and materials recovered from a stratigraphic excavation, we study how fire and soot structured the practice of rock art making in Alero Cachaco. The results show that the deposition of soot on the walls and ceiling of the rockshelter, produced by fire associated with daily activities of the communities that inhabited it, covered paintings, leading people to re-paint the rockshelter for almost 3000 years.

Replication in Rock Art Past and Present: a Case Study of Bronze and Iron Age Rock Art in the Altai, Eastern Eurasia

Change to rock art has been treated as an unforgiveable act in many contemporary cases; however, rock art in many parts of the world was most likely not created with the intention that it would endure for eternity unaltered. This paper highlights three ways in which the rock art creation process has been ‘replicated’ in the past and present. These forms of replication behaviours—of form, place, and action—are identified in the case study of the rock art of the Bronze Age and Iron Age Mongolian Altai. Additionally, examples of modern imagery that represent continuity of tradition are also presented. I argue that the cognitive processes suggested by these forms of replication have been influential in forming the rock art record, and they can be used to explore contemporary, regional worldviews. In eastern Eurasia, replication behaviours in rock art reference place-making strategies and regional cosmological traditions that see the landscape as occupied by non-human beings. The goal is to provide a constructive framework by which alteration and change can be considered innate aspects of the archaeological record, as opposed to mere vandalism, in our interpretation of prehistoric rock art.

Results of archaeological surveys of the Pianamu cultural landscape, central Cape York Peninsula, 2014-2016

This paper presents preliminary results of archaeological investigation of the northern Cape York Peninsula highlands, the homelands of the Kuuku I’yu (northern Kaanju) people. Despite intensive and long-term research programs elsewhere in Cape York Peninsula, no previous archaeological work has been undertaken in this particular region. The aim of this research was to identify the location of archaeological places and artefacts throughout the Kaanju Ngaachi Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) and the broader Wenlock region. The preliminary research results outlined here include the recording of rock art, culturally modified trees, lithic material, pastoral sites and the remains of a Native Mounted Police camp. This study clearly indicates that the highlands of Cape York Peninsula have substantial research potential; however, further work is required to achieve a greater understanding of both physical and cultural landscapes.

An evaluation of the visualisation and interpretive potential of applying GIS data processing techniques to 3D rock art data

Rock art provides a tangible visual link to past communities and has significant value in building our understanding of prehistoric societies. Its recording and interpretation has long provided a window to intangible aspects of society, such as belief systems and folk narratives. Petroglyphic rock art has traditionally been recorded through simple rubbing, or frottage, and the majority of interpretations and narratives to date have been based on this work. Recently, three-dimensional capture techniques have become readily available and they replace traditional approaches to rock art recording. These techniques are valuable, but the data-heavy outputs lack the interpretive clarity of traditional methods. This paper explores these issues through a novel approach that employs topographic landscape analysis techniques, initially developed for LiDAR processing, to produce clear images that have the precision and dimensional accuracy of 3D captured data, but the visual clarity of traditional methods. Specifically, this paper outlines an approach based on local relief modelling (a technique that highlights subtle topographic features) and explores its efficacy through case studies of Bronze Age Scandinavian petroglyphs. This method was developed to aid the analysis of 3D models and to improve visualising the results based on such investigations. This work offers a significant impact on rock art studies as it facilitates the identification of previously unidentified motifs, and allows a clearer sense of petroglyphic world views. The technique can be applied to models of other archaeological surfaces.

On the limits of 3D capture: A new method to approach the photogrammetric recording of palaeolithic thin incised engravings in Atxurra Cave (northern Spain)

Rock-art recording has been significantly improved in recent years by new technologies. Nonetheless, accurate documentation of certain engravings is a challenge for these cutting-edge technologies, especially the extremely thin incised lines used in many Palaeolithic engraved motifs. In this paper, we propose a new methodology for recording these engravings with the objective of producing results comparable to the information available for Palaeolithic portable art.We are currently testing a multi-scale modelling methodology for these engravings. The objective is to produce affordable ultra-high resolution 3D models. Our methodology is completely built around close-range photogrammetry techniques, capturing scenes in increasingly higher resolutions and with different light settings. These entities are referenced to a local coordinate system allowing the overlapping of the different captures. Finally, the detailed tracings achieved from the independent higher resolution 3D models can be accurately gathered in an overall 3D model of lower resolution without geometric distortions.

Beeswax rock art from Limmen National Park (Northern Territory), northern Australia: new insights into technique-based patterning and absence in the rock art record

The known geographic distribution of beeswax rock art is largely restricted to the Arnhem Land plateau and Kimberley regions of northern Australia. While considerable research has focussed on the antiquity and meaning of beeswax rock art, much less attention has been directed to the nature and extent of the distribution pattern for this unique motif production technique. In this article, we present details of two beeswax motifs recently discovered in Marra Country at Limmen National Park (southwest Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory). In the first instance, the motifs are explored in the context of their meaning, drawing on ethnography collected in the region over the last 40 years. The motifs are then used as a platform to engage with questions around the low frequency, and in some cases complete absence, of beeswax rock art across other areas of northern Australia. While it is highly unlikely there is one single, homogenous explanation for this in the Gulf country and northeastern Australia, we suggest that exploring the social, cultural and relational understandings of beeswax in these areas offers considerable potential to understand better how people engaged with and inscribed their cultural landscapes.

From Plastic Sheets to Tablet PCs: A Digital Epigraphic Method for Recording Egyptian Rock Art and Inscriptions

Since 2010, the recording of rock art and inscription sites with Yale Egyptology concession areas in Upper Egypt has led to the development of new digital techniques. Those combine easily available technology with archaeological expertise to produce and collate publishable facsimiles within the fieldwork period, while remaining true to the conventions of the finest of earlier epigraphic publications. The ongoing threat to rock art sites and the recent ban of the Ministry of Antiquities on contact copies or direct tracings of petroglyphs brought urgency to effective and efficient means of documenting our archaeological sites. The nature of rock art itself, always unique and heterogeneous at the same time, does not allow technology to replace specialist knowledge: only an effective dialog between humans in the field and new technology has produced results both graphically attractive and practically useful. The present article will discuss the workflow we have developed, including the important role of tablet PCs in avoiding the potential distortion that intermediary copies may create (as well as multiple plastic sheets requiring re-alignment). Using an imaging-based recording technique called Structure from Motion, we are able to generate faithful and detailed three-dimensional models of the rock surface that are used to produce high-resolution ortho-rectified views (orthoimages) of each panel. Working on the orthoimages loaded into the tablet PC and tracing/collating in front of the original rock surface, the epigrapher can annotate, modify, or delete in real- time any information—both graphic and iconographic—pertaining to the petroglyphs. This facilitates the reading of the subject inscribed on the rock surface, even if irregular. It allows for a better control during the recording of inner and outer lines, especially for those areas that are damaged or weathered. Although our methodology was developed on Egyptian case studies, the series of tools and techniques involved are, in our opinion, much more broadly applicable to the wider panorama of African rock art and beyond.

A (Digital) Future for Saharan Rock Art?

First visited by westerners in the mid-nineteenth century, Saharan rock art has since received a great deal of attention. The richness and diversity of this region is recognised by the inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage list of three properties: Tassili-n-Ajjer in Algeria, Tadrart Acacus in Libya, and Ennedi in Chad. The situation in many North African countries now makes this vast region very difficult to access: safety in the field is not guaranteed and few research funds are available. Today, a new generation of African and foreign scientists has no access to rock art sites in the north of the continent and the lack of fieldwork may entail a lack of safeguard and awareness. The growth of digital technologies over the last 15 years has revolutionised methods for recording rock art sites. Digital technologies are also used to mitigate the gap between artworks and accessibility in those countries where turmoil and social instability make fieldwork impossible. However, much of the documentation and most digital recordings of artworks currently available on the Internet lack an archaeological context. Equally, many of these websites barely mention methodological and theoretical aspects. It is also difficult to understand the extent of awareness among local communities in remote areas—sometimes suffering a digital and linguistic divide—and if (and how) they are genuinely able to exploit these digital resources. Here, I collate some examples from different parts of the Sahara illustrating that the recording, management and dissemination of rock art still present highs and lows. I argue that we should share theories and methods within the digital scientific community, with a view to adopting a shared nomenclature and a public thesaurus, making our cataloguing criteria explicit and, finally, developing an ethical code of conduct involving local communities.

Engravings and rock coatings at Pudjinuk Rockshelter No. 2, South Australia

This paper presents the results of analyses of rock coatings from Pudjinuk Rockshelter No. 2 in South Australia (SA) using the following methods: 1) Raman microscopy; 2) X-ray powder diffraction; and 3) Scanning electron microscopy coupled with integrated energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The deposits analysed contained a mixture of thenardite, glauberite, halite, sylvinite, gypsum, probable palygorskite and amorphous carbon. The engravings previously extant at the rockshelter are also described and contextualised. This article provides the first record of thenardite in any context in SA. It is argued that the accumulation of the salt crystals, likely caused or exacerbated by run-off from irrigation, led to significant haloclasty (salt weathering) that caused or contributed to the destruction of the pre-contact petroglyphs in the rockshelter. The presence of amorphous carbon is interpreted as possibly deriving from firewood sources. The effects of salt weathering on petroglyphs in the Murray River Gorge, as demonstrated in this paper, reveals the urgent need for a systematic program of rock art recording in the region.

The body as intelligent tool: the making and reading of trace and trace-derived forms in rock art

ABSTRACTMy focus in this article is on the primary perceptual, or universal, apprehension of rock art marks, as distinct from ways in which this apprehension may subsequently be made to serve culture-specific symbolic ends. A major aim is to give a new, body-centred and biology-based explanation of the way we read traces, especially trails, in life and in art. Trace images of the kind found in the rock art record as stencils and prints constitute a key category of human graphing (or marking) which might shed light on the origins of story-telling by means of images. I argue that traces of hands and feet in life and art are understood not through a process of inference but through own-body awareness (‘proprioception’), and suggest that a suitable place to begin an inquiry into graphing is with human footprint and animal traces in the landscape and the manner in which these have been depicted in rock art corpora such as the Australian Panaramitee with its co-presented trails and line-based forms.

Digital Rocks. An integrated approach to rock art recording: the case study of Ossimo-Pat (Valle Camonica), monolith 23

This paper addresses the different methods of recording prehistoric rock art, with specific focus on the northern Italian area (Valle Camonica, UNESCO Site n. 94), and presents a new integrated way of recording and tracing engravings. This method combines different sources of data, both traditional, as an ‘enhanced’ way of rubbing, and technological. The active use of Structure from Motion photogrammetry and the subsequent mesh manipulation, as well as the implementation of digital macrophotography with artificial oblique lighting, are among the methods used for the recognition of the correct features of the carvings, while the tracing of the engraved figures, executed in vector graphics, is structured on layers. Combining the benefits of the digitally enhanced visibility of the figures with the precision and versatility of digital vector drawing, this method produces state of the art tracings of rock art, for a better comprehension of the symbols carved on the stone. All steps of this method are demonstratedusing, as a selected case study, the unpublished monolith n. 23 from the Copper Age Sanctuary of Ossimo, Pat (BS) in Valle Camonica, Northern Italy.

Paisajes tatuados. Revaloración de la distribución del Arte Atlántico, métodos de investigación y cronología a la luz del hallazgo de un gran conjunto de arte rupestre en Monte Faro (Valença, Portugal)

The Winter 2012 marks the beginning of a pioneer research in Portugal intended to approach Atlantic Art under the theoretical and methodological principles of Landscape Archaeology, targeting a confined geomorphological unit. This paper presents the results of systematic field surveys at Monte Faro, carried out between 2013 and 2015, and announces the discovery of the largest concentration of Atlantic Art sites ever found in this country. This evidence will contribute to reassess the widespread believe in the peripheral character of Atlantic Art in Portugal, if put against the realities found in Galicia, Ireland, England and Scotland. Yet, most importantly, it will allow us to reexamine aspects that have been at the forefront of Atlantic Art studies, from chronology to fieldwork methodologies and the application of digital technologies in rock art recording. But we shall also tackle issues that have been lacking in-depth discussion like the question of style, the concept of biogeography and its usefulness in rock art studies, aiming towards a theoretical and methodological revitalization of research on the prehistoric art of Atlantic Europe.

Prehistoric landmarks in contrasted territories: Rock art of the Libyan Desert massifs, Egypt

In the Libyan Desert, the Gilf el-Kebir and Jebel el-'Uweināt are two large rock formations located in the extreme South-West of Egypt, at the edge of the Libyan and Sudanese borders. A hundred and twenty kilometers from each other, they are surrounded by plains and sandy formations, punctuated by a few smaller massifs. Although they are of different ages and geological formations, the two great massifs both offered interesting and complementary refuges for prehistoric groups who used rock shelters, cliffs and boulders for engraving and painting. The existence of a multitude of styles and techniques allow to detect striking parallels between the rock art record of the two regions, providing a dynamic view of the regionalization of rock art and of how these territories were conceived and occupied by semi-nomadic groups during the Holocene optimum period (8000–3500 BCE). Paintings from the Gilf el-Kebir show very close stylistic affinities with representations identified in the Jebel el-'Uweināt. But the fact that they remain a minority in the overall rock art record from both areas tends to evidence that, contrary to what has been hypothesized before, migrations between the Gilf el-Kebir and the Jebel el-'Uweināt were not systematic. This paper also highlights a possible increase in the contacts and migrations between the two massifs after the adoption of pastoralist lifestyles. The repartition of rock art and the evolution through times of the parallels offers interesting insights into land use strategies of both hunter-gatherers and herd keepers in such contrasted environments, and into what can be called symbolic territories.

Digital technologies and quantitative approaches to recording rock art in the Great Basin, USA

A recent cultural resources inventory project recorded rock art sites in the Great Basin using a number of digital techniques. This streamlined data collection enabled comprehensive documentation of the rock art and improved analytical approaches to understanding the art's nature and extent. The Lincoln County Archaeological Initiative focused on three Nevada rock art assemblages (in Mount Irish, Shooting Gallery and Pahroc). These three areas are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and the overall project involved a comprehensive heritage inventory of >700 recorded sites.Building on legacy data from previous rock art recorders, one of this project's goals was to provide a comprehensive digital record of the areas' heritage resources. Digital innovation was achieved using hand held recording devices linked to a rock art database, digital enhancement, photogrammetric software, and a GIS-based database, leading to improved recording, analysis and management of prehistoric rock art. Research goals included the archaeological contextualization of legacy data and newly recorded rock art. Previous models for understanding Great Basin rock art have included hunting magic, costly signaling behavior and shamanism. This paper deploys Information Exchange Theory as a way of understanding the stylistic relationships between these three rock art sub-provinces. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis of Big Horn Sheep is used to demonstrate synchronic and diachronic stylistic variability in the Pahranagat Valley.

Evaluating conventional and advanced visible image enhancement solutions to produce digital tracings at el Carche rock art shelter

Advances in rock art recording techniques through non-destructive methods are a priority in rock art research. Developments on computer science, digital photography and more specifically on digital image enhancement have revolutionized the way rock art motifs are recorded and documented today. Conventional software for digital image processing is widely used to produce digital tracings, with reasonable results so far. But this manual process is still time consuming, especially when motifs are either faded, deteriorated or part of complex superimpositions. This paper explores the potential of two advanced digital image enhancement decorrelation techniques, principal components analysis (PCA) and decorrelation stretch (DS) to facilitate and accelerate motif recognition on visible digital images, as a first step in the rock art recording process. Statistical analysis revealed that the performance of PCA is slightly better (5%) than DS, when compared to the results of conventional image enhancement solutions.