Rock Art Research Articles

New prehistoric rock art from the Caucasus? Results of the study of the Damirgaya rock shelter in Georgia

This paper presents the results of the multidisciplinary study carried out at the Damirgaya rock art site located in Georgia, southern Caucasus. The research has aimed to conduct archaeological excavation and obtain contextual data based on multidisciplinary investigations including geology, photogrammetry, digital image enhancement, archaeological survey of the surrounding landscape, etc. Archaeological excavation has demonstrated that the shelter does not include any in situ layers, although some interactions are still observed. Detailed examination of the paintings has revealed almost 70 paintings in contrast with the previously reported 20 due to limited access to the site in the past. Zoomorphic, geometric, and anthropomorphic motifs, excluding modern graffiti, represent Schematic rock art and based on regional comparisons and a small number of lithic tools, are suggested to belong to the prehistoric period, but more reliable dating is required.

A Multi-Analytical Approach to Infer Mineral–Microbial Interactions Applied to Petroglyph Sites in the Negev Desert of Israel

Petroglyph sites exist all over the world. They are one of the earliest forms of mankind’s expression and a precursor to art. Despite their outstanding value, comprehensive research on conservation and preservation of rock art is minimal, especially as related to biodeterioration. For this reason, the main objective of this study was to explore the factors involved in the degradation of petroglyph sites in the Negev desert of Israel, with a focus on biodegradation processes. Through the use of culture-independent microbiological methods (metagenomics), we characterized the microbiomes of the samples, finding they were dominated by bacterial communities, in particular taxa of Actinobacteria and Cyanobacteria, with resistance to radiation and desiccation. By means of XRF and Raman spectroscopies, we defined the composition of the stone (calcite and quartz) and the dark crust (clay minerals with Mn and Fe oxides), unveiling the presence of carotenoids, indicative of biological colonization. Optical microscopy and SEM–EDX analyses on thin sections highlighted patterns of weathering, possibly connected to the presence of biodeteriorative microorganisms that leach the calcareous matrix from the bedrock and mobilize metal cations from the black varnish for metabolic processes, slowly weathering it.

A Numerical Study of the Effect of Vegetative Windbreak on Wind Erosion over Complex Terrain

Wind erosion is a typical issue for stone carvings in northwest China caves, and windbreaks such as shelterbelts have proven to be effective in mitigating wind erosion. This study has the main purpose of examining the effect of shelterbelts on alleviating the wind erosion degree of stone carvings. The applicability of the canopy model for reproducing the aerodynamic effects based on the realizable k–ε and LES model was examined by using a validation metric. The shelterbelt structure has been discussed with the goal of finding the optimum canopy structure to provide a guideline for designing shelterbelts. Compared with the LES model, the realizable k–ε model was adopted in this study based on its comprehensive performance. The results show that a canopy with porosity of φ = 30% and a width of 0.3 to 0.5 H has better sheltering efficiency. Compared to the case with no shelterbelt, the wind speed amplification coefficient decreased by 43%, and the significant decrease in the value of the wind speed amplification coefficient in the primary-harm wind direction demonstrates the effectiveness of the shelterbelt. By exploring preventive protection technology in the context of historical stone carving, this study can promote the practice of scientific and technological protection of cultural relics.

Always Ritual, Symbolic and Religious? An Essay on the Alta Rock Art and the Archaeological Quest for Meaning

Since its discovery in the 1970s, the rich rock art assemblage of Alta, Northern Norway, has been increasingly examined and interpreted. Central to the interpretations are topics such as ritual, circumpolar cosmology, landscapes and communication. The interpretative frame of reference has grown steadily, while discussions and disagreements have been surprisingly few. This paper argues that the outcome of this is a broad but still closely related set of understandings that define the kind of interpretations that qualify as likely or eligible. The paper offers a critical view on how ethnographic sources as well as concepts such as circumpolarity, rituals, and shamanism are mobilized in this interpretative formation. It also questions the increasingly more profound and intricate understandings of the rock art as a world-shaping and mediating tool. The interpretative imperative of finding a ‘deeper meaning’ is discussed and alternative approaches to rock art suggested.

Escape and abscond: the use of ostrich potency by nineteenth-century rock artists in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

ABSTRACT Ostriches are depicted at rock art sites that appear to be associated with raiding dating to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Taking into account the well-attested spiritual beliefs that relate to rock art made by past San hunter-gatherer populations and the understanding that the art does not depict scenes of daily life, it is highly unlikely that the artists were painting scenes of actual raids that somehow involved ostriches. An examination of broader Khoe-San beliefs concerning ostriches demonstrates instead that the depiction of these animals within a raiding context makes sense. This paper examines the historical significance of the Great Fish River region, as the former boundary of the Cape Colony and the location of frequent banditry, exemplified by stock-theft carried out by mixed groups of ‘Bushman’ bandits — comprising San, Khoekhoen, runaway slaves and military deserters — against European settlers. When such raids targeted European settlers, punitive expeditions were undertaken by commandos that included members of military regiments which themselves consisted of Khoe-San members. It was common for such individuals to desert their regiments and join up with the very bandits whom they were expected to combat, the reasons for which are examined in detail. An investigation of San and Khoekhoe beliefs about ostriches, both past and present, reveals a reverence for this bird as an animal of great strength that is able to escape dangerous situations by means of its powerful legs. This paper suggests that these raiders painted ostriches because they were purposefully drawing on ostrich potency to enable their own escape from military service as well as from pursuing commandos after stock raids.

Utilitarian art and art-related objects in the Urals’ Palaeolithic

Stone and bone artefacts serving as expedient food-procurement and processing implements are the principal and most frequent findings at Palaeolithic sites. Utilitarian art items, often aesthetically fashioned artefacts, are much less common. Emergence of cognitive art within the broader Ural region was determined by progressive cultural developments and adaptations of anatomically modern human beings to mosaic mountain settings and parkland-steppes. At the Urals’ Late Pleistocene cave sites, objects, which were made frequently of unusual and rare materials and are presumed to be of a ritual nature, are represented by adornments and artworks bearing stylized pictorial images. Zoomorphic figurines produced from flint and mammoth ivory document the high skills of Stone Age artisans. The earliest, utilitarian, art-related works of the Urals include sculptures using natural pre-forms such as river pebbles and animal bones, occasionally ochre-painted or ornamented by incising or engraving. Personal decorations are represented by pendants and beads made of stone, shell, bone, and teeth of animals. Rare exemplars are made from material of non-local provenance, such as petrified wood or segments of fossil sea-lily (crinoids) and are indicators of a broad geographic activity-range and/or regional interactions among local groups of hunter-gatherers. Artisanal instruments associated with rock art, for example, lamps made from stone and clay as well as pieces of ochre, belong to a specific category. Aesthetic-looking minerals with appealing colours and textures, such as serpentine, rock crystal, chalcedony, and jasper, it may be assumed, were intended for religious or cultic purposes, but also may have been curated simply because of their natural rarity. These art-related items likely had symbolic value and spiritual meaning apart from purely decorative function. Understanding utilitarian art objects offers insights to every-day life of the Palaeolithic people of the Urals, and their behavioural and environmental adjustments, which culminated in multifarious, iconographic expressions at the end of the Last Glacial stage.

HANDICRAFT ARTISANS OF RURAL GUJARAT: FROM THE VIEW POINT OF EXPERTS

Handicraft Industry of India is one of the most important sectors for economic, social and cultural point of view. Handicrafts of Gujarat such as Hand embroidery, Pottery work, Bamboo work, Hand-made jewellery, Bead-work, Tie-dye work, Patolas, Woolen blankets and shawls, Tangaliya, Namdhas, Wood carving, Lacquer work, Ivory inlay boxes, Patara making, Zari-work. Pithora painting, Kalamkari, Warli painting, Metal art, Stone carving, etc. are famous worldwide. But the scenario has been changing in the present era of heavy industrialization, technological advancement and globalization. Despite various government and non government programmes, policies and schemes to protect the interest of handicraft artisans, the result is still not satisfactory. There must be proper means, methods and efforts to enhance the income of the artisans so that they can be economically and socially powerful. It is required to have the fair opinion of experts who have been directly or indirectly involved in the field of handicraft promotion programmes. Hence, the experts like government officials, NGO workers, fashion designers, handicraft project coordinators, trainers, etc have been selected as respondents so that we can come to know about grass-root realities and the prevailing facts. For this purpose opinion and suggestions of 40 experts have been collected and analyzed so that appropriate strategies and policies can be designed keeping in view the priority of actions needed.

Zoomimesis: How Birds Taught Us That We Can Fly

The relationship with other species has played a fundamental role in cultural evolution. Animal behavior has always been a source of inspiration for the human being: dance, music, costumes, rituals, art and technology were born through zoomimesis. The encounter with animal otherness is an epiphany and not simply an example: it is the unfolding of a different form of existence. To understand this, it is essential to question the traditional conception of animality. Animality is a metapredicative condition that also encompasses human beings, so that animal otherness is recognized as a partner in a contaminative dialogue. Humans are particularly interested in other species: many anthropological and psychological studies demonstrate this. This animal appeal has characterized the history of humanity since its origins, as shown by rock art. Posthumanist philosophy recognizes the hybridization between the human and the non-human, in a perspective of relational ontology. For this reason, zoomimesis represents a central topic in the posthumanist vision.

An Evaluation of the Detection Study of the Petroglyphs in the Region of Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan

The rock paintings (petroglyphs) are seen in different regions and in many parts of the world. They spread around the world, from Southern America to Africa, from Australia to Europe and to Asia. The different symbols and depictions on the rock paintings give various clues about the ethnographic lives as well as the relations of cultures with their surroundings as an indicator of their beliefs. Today, in research on petroglyphs, the meanings of symbols and the origins of the cultures they belong to are mostly discussed within the scope of different topics such as chronological order. In Central Asia, petroglyphs are found in many regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. On the northwestern of the city Cholpon-Ata situated on the northern shore of the Issık Lake in Kyrgyzstan found approximately a thousand petroglyphs in various sizes. Today, only a part of this area is enclosed by wire and used as an open air museum and is protected by a watchman sent by a museum in Cholpon-Ata. These monuments, which are proof of ties with past cultures, have unfortunately started to dissolve in the destruction of time, human and nature. Although the petroglyphs in this region are legally protected, they are gradually disappearing due to various factors arising from tourism activities, vandalism, natural life, climatic conditions and the geological structure of the stone. The main purpose of this study is to document these monuments witnessing history, to make basic determinations to create an archive, to bring them to the literature and to contribute to the history, culture and promotion of the country.

A Study of Decimal Place Value System in Ancient Indian Mathematics

The aim of this article is to overview of ancient Indian Mathematics in respect of decimal place value system. The base ten system is not much different than other number systems. It is called the Hindu Arabic system. The digits were started to appear in India a few centuries before Christ. The decimal system emerged as we know it in 825 in a book by Arabian mathematician al-Khwarizmi. Fibonacci popularized it in Europe around 1200. The earliest evidence of decimal place value system in India and south east Asia is from the middle of the first millennium CE. The written evidence in a decimal place value notation was found on the copper plate from Gujarat, India in the date 595 CE. The decimal numerals recording have also been found in stone inscriptions in Indonesia and Cambodia in the years 683 CE, where Indian cultural influence was substantial.

On the use of Machine Learning methods in rock art research with application to automatic painted rock art identification

Rock art is globally recognized as significant, yet the resources allocated to the study and exploration of this important form of cultural heritage are often scarce. In areas where numerous rock art sites exist, much of the rock art is unidentified and therefore remains, unrecorded and unresearched. Manually identifying rock art is time-consuming, tedious, and expensive. Therefore, it is necessary to automate many processes in rock art research, which can be accomplished by Machine Learning. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) can greatly facilitate rock art research in many ways, such as through Object Recognition and Detection, Motif Extraction, Object Reconstruction, Image Knowledge Graphs, and Representations. This article is a reflective work on the future of ML for rock art research. As a proof-of-concept, it presents a machine learning method based on recent advances in deep learning to train a model to identify images with painted rock art (pictograms). The efficacy of the proposed method is shown using data collected from fieldwork in Australia. Furthermore, our proposed method can be used to train models that are specific to the rock art found in different regions. We provide the code and the trained models in the supplementary section.

TRADITIONAL CRAFTS OF DAGESTAN IN THE CONTEXT OF HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL RELATIONS WITH THE REGIONS OF RUSSIA, COUNTRIES OF THE CAUCASUS AND THE MIDDLE EAST

The present study examines the formation and mass development of artistic crafts in Dagestan for the past millennium. The evolution of traditional arts and crafts of Dagestan can be seen through the history of their formation, contacts of the inhabitants with foreign cultures. The leading approach in the study of the problem that combines historical-cultural, historical-comparative and artistic-descriptive methods, which allow for a comprehensive consideration of the cultural influences of neighboring (Transcaucasia, Russia) and the Middle Eastern countries on the development of arts and crafts in Dagestan over the past millennium. The article shows that the spread of Islam, close contacts of Dagestan with the peoples of Transcaucasia, Iran, the Middle East, the accession of Dagestan to Russia, foreign cultural influences of the Soviet era provided prerequisites for the development of professional and folk arts and crafts in Dagestan. At the same time, the craftsmen of Dagestan not only borrowed, but also redesigned many other cultural and ethnic traditions, creating new artistic forms and phenomena, often of a world and regional level. The historical development of Dagestan, associated with the spread of Islam, the influence of the Transcaucasian, Iranian, Middle Eastern, Russian-European, Soviet traditions of artistic culture, contributed to the formation in Dagestan of the traditions of religious architecture, ordinary, glazed and painted ceramics, carpet weaving, weapons, jewelry, coppersmithing, decorative stone and wood carvings, embroidery with gold and silk thread, etc. The provided material is of great scientific value for historians of culture and art, ethnographers, practitioners of arts and crafts and fine arts, for specialists engaged in educational practice in schools and universities.

Gender recognition of Guanyin in China based on VGGNet

Gender transformation of Guanyin (Avalokitesvara in India) in China is an intrinsically fascinating research topic. Besides the inner source from the scriptures, literatures and epigraphs, iconological analysis is usually as the external evidence of Guanyin’s gender recognition. However, the ambiguous gender of the Guanyin image is often intentional and can be objectively assessed. Can computer vision be applied to the recognition objectively and quantitatively? In this paper, VGGNet (VGGNet is a very deep convolutional network for large-scale image recognition proposed by Visual Geometry Group of Oxford University) is applied to propose an automatic gender recognition system. To validate its efficiency, abundant experiments are implemented on the images of Dazu Rock Carvings, Dunhuang Mogao Caves, and Yungang Grottoes. The following conclusions can be made according to the quantitative results. Firstly, VGG-based method can be effectively applied to the gender recognition on non-Buddhist and Buddhist images. Compared with five classical feature extraction methods, VGG-based method performs not much better on non-Buddhist images, but superior on Buddhist images. Furthermore, the experiments are also carried out on three different training datasets, real-world facial datasets, including CUHK (CUHK is a student face database of Chinese University of Hong Kong). IMFDB (IMFDB is an Indian movie face database.) and CAS-PEAL (CAS-PEAL is a Chinese face database created by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) with varying pose, expression, accessory, and lighting (PEAL). The unsatisfactory results based on IMFDB indicate that it is not valid to apply Indian facial images as a training set to the gender recognition on Buddhist image in China. With the sinicization of Buddhism, there were more Chinese rather than Indian characteristics on Buddhist images in ancient China. The results based on CAS-PEAL are more robust than those based on CUHK, as the former is mainly composed of mature adult faces, and the latter consists of young student faces. It gives the evidence that Buddha and Bodhisattva (Guanyin included) were as ideally mature men in original Buddhist art. The last but the most meaningful is that besides the time factor, the relationship between image making and the scriptures, or the intentional combination of male and female features, the geographical impact should not be ignored when we talk about the gender transformation of Guanyin in ancient China. The gender of Guanyin frescoes in Dunhuang Mogao Caves painted in the Sui, Tang, Five, Song and Yuan dynasties were always with prominent male characteristics (with tadpole-like moustache), while bodhisattvas in Yungang Grottoes engraved in the Northern Wei Dynasty were feminine even though they were made earlier than those in Dunhuang Mogao Caves. It is quite different from the common idea that the feminization of Guanyin occurred in the early Tang Dynasties and completely feminized in the late Tang Dynasty. Both the quantitative results and image analysis indicate that there might be a common model in a specific region, so the image-making of Guanyin was affected much more by geographical rather than temporal factor. In a word, it is quite a complicated issue for the feminization of Guanyin in China.

ARCHEOLOGY OF THE LOWER AMUR RIVER: TO THE STUDY OF THE SUKPAI ARTISTIC STYLE AMONG THE PETROGLYPHS OF THE AMUR AND USSURI

Among the hundreds of archaeological sites in the lower reaches of the Amur basin, a special place belongs to the stones and rocks with ancient drawings. The rock art of the Lower Amur region has been studied since the sixties of the nineteenth century. Among the discoverers and researchers are the names of local historians and scientists. Systematic academic scientific research of petroglyphs monuments was carried out only 100 years later, in the sixties of the twentieth century, by Soviet archaeologists. The research source base (topography, description, tracing, scientific interpretation and publication of materials) was prepared by a team of employees of the Far Eastern Archaeological Expedition of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences under the leadership of A. P. Okladnikov. Pisanitsa on the Sukpai River in the Ussuri River basin is one of the new sites of rock art in the region, it was discovered in the 1980s by archaeologist V. I. Dyakov, an employee of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The article offers the experience of studying the stylistic diversity of the Lower Amur rock art monuments, namely, the drawings of the Sukpai petroglyph, which predetermines its relevance. The novelty of the study is due to the fact that the article highlights the signs of the Sukpai artistic style, the extent of its distribution among the petroglyphs of the region and adjacent territories. To write the work, a wide range of research methods was used, including the method of analyzing scientific literature, the sources were scientific papers on the topic of the study. The result of the research: a) the distinctive features of the style of plots on the rock of the Sukpai River are highlighted; b) similar images were traced on the stones and rocks of the Sikachi-Alyan-Malyshevo site; c) substantiation of the identification of the Sukpai artistic style among the petroglyphs of the Lower Amur; d) the similarity of the drawings of the sukpai style with the plots of the shamanic thematic direction of the rock art monuments of the adjacent territories of Eastern Siberia, Yakutia, the Upper and Middle Amur Region, and Transbaikalia was traced.

Artificial weathering of rock types bearing petroglyphs from Murujuga, Western Australia

AbstractMurujuga in Western Australia has the largest concentration of ancient rock engravings (petroglyphs) in the world. However, the Murujuga rock art is potentially threatened by local industrial air pollution, in particular by acid rain, but unambiguous scientific evidence is still missing. Here, we report on results of an accelerated weathering experiment, simulating Murujuga weather and climate conditions that was designed and performed to test whether the expected small changes in chemical, mineralogical, and physical characteristics of the rock surface can be detected and reliably quantified by various analytical means. Locally acquired Murujuga granophyre and gabbro samples with natural varnish were artificially weathered for up to four months in a climate chamber under conditions that simulated 2 years of natural weathering. Mineralogical, chemical, and physical changes were qualitatively monitored by X-ray diffraction and confocal Raman spectroscopy, and quantified by colorimetry, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and micro-computed tomography. In addition, artificial rainwater that was sprinkled over the rock samples was collected and analysed by inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results show significant chemical and physical changes of the surfaces of the rock varnish after 1 month of artificial weathering. The analytical results demonstrate that it is possible to quantitatively monitor small changes caused by the weathering of gabbro and granophyre. Therefore, such a semi-actualistic experimental approach, when carefully designed, potentially allows testing the hypothesis that the weathering rate of the Murujuga petroglyphs is increased by local industrial air pollution. Further experimental work is currently under way.

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.

Neither prelegal nor nonlegal: Oral memory in troubled times

Oral testimony, oral tradition and documents, as represented by written accounts of the facts and the material instruments of the acts and the records, are all ways of indirectly accessing the past. In both cases of oral and written records, what is considered ‘true’ is entirely dependent on the trustworthiness of its source. African societies have been communicating and storing valuable information through memory, murals and rock art paintings since time immemorial. The dominant Western canons have previously classified this memory as prelegal and nonlegal. This study, using a literature review, mainly through previous work of this author, explores oral memory as a trusted record in troubled times. It is concluded that, like digital records, oral memory requires proactive efforts to be preserved, as in both instances the content migrates from one carrier to another. Therefore, oral memory is trustworthy when transmitted in its context. Oral memory, it is argued, perfectly fits the description of a record and thus cannot be classified as either prelegal or nonlegal. The transmitter of information through oral history is no different from other media of records.Contribution: The study contributes to the ongoing academic discourse of decolonising and Africanising archives. The study is linked to the scope of the journal for advocating the inclusion of silenced voices into the national archival system.

Marking the crown: Chimú territorial expansion and the appropriation of ancestral water resources in the highland Andes (AD 1000–1476)

AbstractRock art in the precontact Andes was frequently associated with venerated, pacarina water spring features. As nodes in the cultural landscape, pacarina were, and still are, considered critical access points to the primordial underworld from which the Ancestors arose to the world above and appropriating them was vital linking identity to the land, and to territorial expansion. During the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1476), the Chimú Kingdom on present‐day Peru's central and north coasts aggressively expanded their influence in a time characterized by drought, conflict, and political fragmentation. This research focuses on a key rock art panel at Diablo Retrato, a rock shelter and pacarina situated at the headwaters of the Fortaleza River (4087 m above sea level), a highland landscape feature that was beyond the sphere of Chimú control and was a protected locale of the neighboring Chancay peoples to the south, a polity with whom the Chimú had combative relations. I combine colonial, ethnographic accounts with iconographic analysis, and radiocarbon dates obtained from soot samples on Diablo Retrato's walls to demonstrate how this rock art panel linked this pacarina to the Chimú royalty in the interest of expanding influence and appropriating valuable cultural and water resources.This article is categorized under: Human Water > Rights to Water Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented

Investigation on Distribution Status and Research on Historical Value of Cliff Stone Carving Ancient Sites in Liaoning Province

Investigation on Distribution Status and Research on Historical Value of Cliff Stone Carving Ancient Sites in Liaoning Province

Hematite as unprecedented black rock art pigment in Jufri Cave, East Kalimantan, Indonesia: the microscopy, spectroscopy, and synchrotron X-ray-based investigation

Hematite as unprecedented black rock art pigment in Jufri Cave, East Kalimantan, Indonesia: the microscopy, spectroscopy, and synchrotron X-ray-based investigation