Rock Art Research Articles

The first investigation of an Iron Age shell midden in Oman: The Nafūn complex

The Nafūn shell midden complex is a cluster of eight shell mounds in al-Wusṭā Governorate (south-central Oman). Located 40 km north of Duqm, the shell midden is part of a unique cultural landscape encompassing a variety of archaeological features. With a total of 207 recorded archaeological sites, the Nafūn area emerges as a significant site for studying the Early and Late Iron Age communities in south-central Oman. The first investigations of the shell midden were conducted between 2019 and 2022. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples from the site provided a date range of 1012–536 BCE (cal. 2σ), aligning with the Iron Age II (1000–600 BCE) material culture. Together with stratigraphic observations, this indicates that the midden was intermittently occupied for at least 500 years. Additional evidence indicates that there was also activity in the area during the Late Iron Age, evidenced by the presence of a large rock art site, circular stone burial mounds and numerous clusters of trilith stone monuments along the wadi Nafūn route, with a source of drinking water 3 km from the coast. Such findings underscore the importance of Nafūn as a significant site for enduring socio-economic and cultural contacts, strategically located at the mouth of the wadi that connects with the Indian Ocean. The effective utilisation of marine resources by the local communities not only supported their economic and subsistence needs but also fostered strong economic, social and cultural connections with the inland regions. Furthermore, it facilitated their active engagement in long-distance trade and interactions along the coastal areas. The unique combination of sites and the fusion of elements from both northern Oman and Dhofar make Nafūn an intriguing and, so far, undocumented intersection along the long-distance routes connecting the northern and southern cultural circles.

Exploring the utility of Geometric Morphometrics to analyse prehistoric hand stencils

Hand stencils are a remarkable graphic expression in Prehistoric rock art, dating back to 42 ka BP. Although these stencils provide direct impressions of the artists’ hands, the characterization of their biological profile (i.e., biological sex and age) is very challenging. Previous studies have attempted this analysis with traditional morphometrics (TM), whereas little research has been undertaken using Geometric Morphometrics (GM), a method widely used in other disciplines but only tentatively employed in rock art studies. However, the large variation in relative finger position in archaeological hands poses the question of whether these representations can be examined through GM, or, in contrast, if this creates an unmanageable error in the results. To address this issue, a 2D hand scans sample of 70 living individuals (F = 35; M = 35) has been collected in three standardized positions (n = 210) and digitized with 32 2D conventional landmarks. Results show that the intra-individual distance (mean Procrustes distance between Pos. 1–2 = 0.132; 2–3 = 0.191; 1–3 = 0.292) is larger than the inter-individual distance (mean in 1 = 0.122; 2 = 0.142; 3 = 0.165). Finally, it has been demonstrated that the relative finger positions, as well as the inclusion of all hand parts in the analysis, have an overshadowing effect on other variables potentially involved in the morphometric variability of the hand, such as biological sex.

A multiscalar methodology for holistic analysis of prehistoric rock carvings in Scotland

Prehistoric rock carvings are one of Scotland’s most enigmatic and poorly understood monument types. This article discusses the pioneering approach used by Scotland’s Rock Art Project to enhance understanding of the abstract motifs through multiscalar computational analyses of a large dataset co-produced with community teams. The approach can be applied to suitable rock art datasets from other parts of the world and has international relevance for rock art reserach. Our analysis incorporates data from across Scotland in order to investigate inter-regional differences and similarities in the nature and contexts of the carvings. Innovative application of complementary analytical methods identified subtle regional variations in the character of the rock art and motif types. This variability suggest an understanding of the rock art tradition that was widely shared but locally adapted, and reflects connections and knowledge exchange between specific regions.

Game board rock carvings in Hong Kong and Macao: reexamining their significance and dating

Game board rock carvings in Hong Kong and Macao: reexamining their significance and dating

Water and the Afterlife – Water-related Resources in the Burial Construction of the Nordic Bronze Age

The waterscape, including the sea, rivers, and lakes, was highly important to communities living during the Nordic Early Bronze Age (1800/1700–1100 bc). Waterways acted as highways that facilitated journeys, trade, and warfare, enabling maritime warriors and others to distinguish themselves. This is reflected in the maritime location of rock art and important Early Bronze Age burials, which have been used to reconstruct the Nordic Bronze Age cosmology. This centres on the journey of the sun across the sky during the day, and the underworld during night. This article analyses the use of water-related resources, such as seaweed, petrified organics, beach pebbles, and molluscs, in the construction of burials, which has received little attention despite renewed interest in the maritime seascape. The data demonstrate that local communities used different resources, indicating that a common belief system was realised in local differences. These marine materials were collected from the beach, which can be conceptualised as the liminal zone between the land of the living and the sea of the dead. It is suggested that these materials, in line with other funerary practices, helped to guide the recently deceased into the afterlife in the sea.

Duncan Wright: Rock Art and Street Art

In this article, archaeologist Dr Duncan Wright explores the intertwined realms of rock art and street art. Through an examination of the motivations, methods and materials of rock artists, Wright offers a nuanced reflection on these creative expressions (and their meanings) in their specific cultural contexts. The article investigates geographical, historical and cultural research-based dimensions of art on walls, coupled with an insightful analysis of the intersections between rock art and graffiti/street art, to better understand the power of public art in communicating knowledge.

Chronology of Upper Paleolithic human activities recorded in a stalagmite at Points Cave (Aiguèze, Gard, France)

AbstractIn this article, we propose an approach to reconstruct the timing of human activity at Points Cave, an Upper Paleolithic rock art site located in the middle of the Ardèche River Gorge (Rhône valley, France), based on the dating and characterisation of a stalagmite containing soot. Points Cave (‘Grotte aux Points’ in French), also called the ‘little sister of Chauvet Cave’, is famous for its parietal art including a series of dots made of palm prints. A large number of stalagmites formed in the cave during the last 500 ka. However, quarrying of the cave floors during historic times led to the partial destruction of the sedimentary deposits, and many of the stalagmites were found lying on the floor. In particular, one of them (STM‐18‐04) showed the presence of at least four dark layers in cross‐section, which appeared as possible remnants of fire‐related activities in the cave. Despite being present at the same site, no other specific link between STM‐18‐04 and the rock art has been documented. This stalagmite, however, allows us to identify phases of human presence, located at the cave entrance. To do so, we performed a series of analyses to determine its period of growth and the nature of the dark layers that it contains. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman microspectroscopy confirmed that the dark layers include soot, and uranium‐series dating indicated that the fire events occurred, respectively, around 14,200–14,100 and 12,500 years ago, in agreement with the radiocarbon ages of charcoal specimens recovered from the excavation areas nearby. We thus highlighted phases of human activity at the site during the Upper Magdalenian and/or beginning of the Epipaleolithic. By comparing our results with the regional paleoclimatic record, the soot layers trapped in the stalagmite appear to be synchronous with two cold periods, likely the Older Dryas and the Younger Dryas.

From Stone Inscriptions to Digital Text: Enhancing Archaeological Scripts and Automated Conversion

From Stone Inscriptions to Digital Text: Enhancing Archaeological Scripts and Automated Conversion

Наскальное искусство Мурманской области

Since 1973, the Kola expedition of the IHMC RAS has discovered and studied 4 rock art sites located in the Arctic. They demonstrate both similarities with other sites of Fennoscandia and significant differences. Individual figures and their compositions are classified into a small number of types. This suggests that it was not “scenes from life” that were depicted, but mythological subjects.

Adaptive response of prokaryotic communities to extreme pollution flooding in a Paleolithic rock art cave (Pindal Cave, northern Spain)

A flood event affecting Pindal Cave, a UNESCO World Heritage site, introduced a substantial amount of external sediments and waste into the cave. This event led to the burial of preexisting sediments, altering the biogeochemical characteristics of the cave ecosystem by introducing heightened levels of organic matter, nitrogen compounds, phosphorus, and heavy metals. The sediments included particulate matter and waste from a cattle farm located within the water catchment area of the cavity, along with diverse microorganisms, reshaping the cave microbial community. This study addresses the ongoing influence of a cattle farm on the cave ecosystem and aims to understand the adaptive responses of the underground microbial community to the sudden influx of waste allochthonous material. Here, we show that the flood event had an immediate and profound effect on the cave microbial community, marked by a significant increase in methanogenic archaea, denitrifying bacteria, and other microorganisms commonly associated with mammalian intestinal tracts. Furthermore, our findings reveal that one year after the flood, microorganisms related to the flood decreased, while the increase in inorganic forms of ammonium and nitrate suggests potential nitrification, aligning with increased abundances of corresponding functional genes involved in nitrogen cycling. The results reveal that the impact of pollution was neither recent nor isolated, and it was decisive in stopping livestock activity near the cave. The influence of the cattle farm has persisted since its establishment over the impluvium area, and this influence endures even a year after the flood. Our study emphasizes the dynamic interplay between natural events, anthropogenic activities, and microbial communities, offering insights into the resilience of cave ecosystems. Understanding microbial adaptation in response to environmental disturbances, as demonstrated in this cave ecosystem, has implications for broader ecological studies and underscores the importance of considering temporal dynamics in conservation efforts.

Analysis of Pigments Unearthed from the Yungang Grottoes Archaeological Excavations

The Yungang Grottoes, excavated during the 5th to 6th centuries AD, stand as a pinnacle of Buddhist sculpture, representing a precious world cultural heritage. Since their excavation, the grottoes have undergone multiple phases of painting, with a significant amount of pigment still present on the surfaces of the stone carvings. Since the 1990s, two large-scale archaeological excavations have been conducted on both the front ground and the summit of Yungang Grottoes. During these excavations, various artifacts with accompanying pigments were unearthed, encompassing stone carvings, grinding tools, architectural components, fragments of murals, and remnants of clay sculptures, spanning the historical periods of the Northern Wei, Liao-Jin, and Ming-Qing dynasties. Using portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, portable microscopy, polarizing microscopy, scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and confocal Raman microscopy, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of these painted elements. The investigation revealed the presence of hematite, vermilion, goethite, malachite, calcium carbonate, lead white, and ivory black pigments in the Northern Wei samples. The Liao-Jin samples exhibited hematite, while the Ming-Qing samples contained vermilion, minium, atacamite, lead white, and Prussian blue.

Archeometrical Characterization of Rock Art Pigments from Puerto Roque Open-Air Rock Art Shelter (Valencia De Alcantara, Extremadura, Spain)

The study seeks to unravel the intricate operational sequence involved in preparing prehistoric pigments for rock art within the Puerto Roque rock art shelter. Sixteen pigment samples were meticulously collected from specific figurative representations. Additionally, three ochre samples were sourced from the shelter’s soil. Employing a comprehensive multi-analytical approach, including Raman microspectroscopy, X-ray microfluorescence (EDxrf), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS), all nineteen samples underwent thorough analysis. Notably, darker pigments revealed a composition of hematite with the added presence of carbon. Meanwhile, one sample exhibited an orange hue primarily composed of goethite and bright red pigments predominantly characterised by hematite, as confirmed by Raman analysis. EDxrf analysis demonstrated an elemental composition akin to the three ochre pieces examined. Furthermore, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy suggested the potential influence of a heating process in enhancing red coloration, corroborated by spectral results from specific samples. This finding aligns with prior research, underscoring the technological sophistication embedded in early artistic endeavours.

Comparative study: enhancing legibility of ancient Indian script images from diverse stone background structures using 34 different pre-processing methods

In recent times, there has been a proactive effort by various institutions and organizations to preserve historic manuscripts as repositories of traditional knowledge and cultural heritage. Leveraging digital media and emerging technologies has proven to be an efficient way to safeguard these invaluable documents. Such technologies not only facilitate the extraction of knowledge from historic manuscripts but also hold promise for global applications. However, transforming inscribed stone artifacts into binary formats presents significant challenges due to angle distortion, subtle differences between foreground and background, background noise, variations in text size, and related issues. A pivotal aspect of effective image processing in preserving the rich information and wisdom encoded in stone inscriptions lies in employing appropriate pre-processing methods and techniques. This research paper places a special focus on elucidating various preprocessing techniques, encompassing resizing, grayscale conversion, enhancement of brightness and contrast, smoothening, noise removal, morphological operations, and thresholding. To comprehensively assess these techniques, we undertake a study involving stone inscription images extracted from the Tanjore Brihadeeswar Temple, dating back to the eleventh century during the reign of Raja Raja Chola. This choice is informed by the manifold challenges associated with image correction, such as distortion and blurring. We undertake an evaluation encompassing a diverse array of stone background structures, including types like flawless-bright-moderately legible, dark-illegible, flawless-bright-illegible, flawless-dull, flawless-irregular-moderate, highly impaired-dark-legible, highly impaired-irregular-illegible, impaired-dark-moderate, impaired-dull-moderately legible, impaired-dusky dark-moderate, and very impaired-dusky dark-legible. Subsequently, the processed outputs are subjected to character recognition and information extraction, with a focus on comparing the outcomes of various pre-processing methods, including binarization and grayscale conversion. This study seeks to contribute insights into the most effective pre-processing strategies for enhancing the legibility and preservation of ancient Indian script images etched onto diverse stone background structures.

Didactic discourse in the poetry of the Turkic peoples

Relevance. The stone inscriptions written even in the V-VIII centuries, testify to the ancient development of the literature and culture of the Turkic peoples. From the essence and content of the works of the Turkic peoples living in Central Asia, we see commonalities, such as being a conscious person, escaping from ignorance, defending the country, becoming a nation. Purpose. The article deals with the issue of didactic discourse in the works of the great thinkers of Turkic literature N. Ganzhaui, A. Nauai, A. Kunanbayev. Methodology. The issues of reading, comprehensive education and intellectual development of poets, the acquisition of moral qualities have been compared and analyzed. Results. Instructive ghazals, philosophical thoughts aimed at educating the younger generation of society with such moral qualities as diligence, humanism, patriotism, kindness, truthfulness, justice, honesty are defined. Conclusions. The genius poet Abai Kunanbayev, the pinnacle of Kazakh poetry, recognized the statesmen and genius thinkers of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan N. Ganjaui and A. Nauai as his teachers. In Kazakh literature, Abai's “Words of edification” and poems are examples of the traditional continuation of oriental didactic works.

Earliest directly dated rock art from Patagonia reveals socioecological resilience to mid-Holocene climate.

The timing for the evolution of the capacity to inscribe the landscape with rock art has global relevance. While this was an in-built capacity when Homo sapiens first colonized the Americas, the heterogeneous distribution of rock art shows that it was a facultative behavior arising under unknown socioecological conditions. Patagonia was the last region to be explored by humans. While its rock art is globally important, it remains largely undated by absolute methods. We report the earliest set of directly radiocarbon-dated rock art motifs from the archaeological site Cueva Huenul 1 (northwestern Patagonia, Argentina), starting at 8.2 thousand years before the present (ka B.P.), predating previous records by several millennia, and encompassing over 3 ka (~130 human generations). This mid-Holocene "rock art emergence" phase overlaps with extremely arid conditions and a human demographic stasis. We suggest that this diachronic rock art emerged as part of a resilient response to ecological stress by highly mobile and low-density populations.

A study of stone carving workers in Tang Dynasty -- taking Shao Jianhe and Shao Jianchu as examples

The Tang Dynasty was a period of extreme prosperity of stone carving culture in Chinese history. In this period, stone carving was rich in content and huge in volume, and a large number of classic stone inscription calligraphy works emerged. This paper first studies the background of the development of stone carving in the Tang Dynasty and the general situation of the carving groups in the Tang Dynasty, then further explores the carving business of Shao's family, and finally analyzes the relationship between calligraphers and carving workers by taking the Shao Brothers and Liu Gongquan as examples. This paper aims to further enhance the status of this group in the history of Chinese calligraphy through the analysis and study of the individual cases of the Tang Dynasty carving group, and affirm the contribution of this group in the history of Chinese calligraphy.

EVALUATION OF NERF 3D RECONSTRUCTION FOR ROCK ART DOCUMENTATION

Abstract. Digital documentation of rock art traditionally relies on a point cloud captured by a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) or derived from an oriented image obtained using photogrammetry. In modern photogrammetry, the dense point cloud is generated using multi-view stereo (MVS) and subsequently used to generate a photorealistic 3D model. A recent method to reconstruct 3D models from images is Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF), which uses volume density to render the scenes through neural networks. The advantage of NeRF is that it can construct 3D models faster without using high computer processors and memory. NeRF has been studied in various applications, including cultural heritage, but not specifically for rock art documentation. Therefore, this paper evaluates three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction techniques using NeRF on Nerfstudio platform on two rock art datasets and compares them with the point cloud and 3D mesh models obtained from TLS and photogrammetry/MVS. The results have shown that NeRF does not match MVS in achieving geometric precision and texture quality. However, its learning-based approach accelerates reconstruction and offers potential enhancements to complement photogrammetric workflow.

The Signs of Mental Life: Understanding the Impact of Transculturalism on the Primitive Landscape in Selective Judith Wright Poems

A unique interpretation of land, which influenced and continues to influence human relationships with the Earth. Societies are not sensitized to the natural world in ways that affirm indigenous modes of being and knowing. Indigenous cultures and life ways need to be valued, especially traditional environmental knowledge which includes fire management, regenerative agriculture and climate adaptation. The primitive inhabitants adore carrying over their structural pattern of living style, stereotypes of culture, rituals, tradition and beliefs to the upcoming generation via carvings, rock art, body markings, folk lore and sermons in the ceremonies. The term ‘Migration’ created magical revolution among the innocent nomads. As a result, non – indigenous settlers pollute the landscape, customs and traditions and culture of the indigenous people. Aboriginal inhabitants are still living and preserving their cultures despite the deleterious effects of loss through oppression and settler colonialism. This article analysis the aboriginal intense feelings of searching for identity, disability, quest for the past, oppression in the hands of the white officers and the non – English – speaking immigrants through the selective poems of Judith Wright.

Social valuation of biodiversity relative to other types of assets at risk in wildfire.

Environmental crises, such as wildfires, can cause major losses of human life, infrastructure, biodiversity, and cultural values. In many such situations, incident controllers must make fateful choices about what to protect-and hence what to abandon. With an online representative survey of >2000 adult Australians, we investigated social attitudes to this dilemma. We used best-worst scaling to assess preferences across a set of 11 assets representing human life, infrastructure, biodiversity, and cultural values. Survey respondents overwhelmingly prioritized a single human life (best-worst score of 6647 out of possible score ranging from -10695 to 10695), even if that choice resulted in extinction of other species. Inanimate (replaceable) objects were accorded lowest priority (best-worst scores of -4655 for a shed and -3242 for a house). Among biodiversity assets, respondents prioritized protecting a population of the iconic koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) (best-worst score of 1913) ahead of preventing the extinction of a snail (score -329) and a plant species (-226). These results variably support current policy in that they emphasize the importance the community places on protection of human life, but results diverged from conventional practice in rating some biodiversity assets ahead of infrastructure. The preference for protecting a population of koalas ahead of action taken to prevent the extinction of an invertebrate and plant species corroborates previous research reporting biases in the way people value nature. If noncharismatic species are not to be treated as expendable, then the case for preventing their extinction needs to be better made to the community. Given the increasing global incidence of high-severity wildfires, further sampling of societal preferences among diverse asset types is needed to inform planning, policy, and practice relating to wildfire. Other preemptive targeted management actions (such as translocations) are needed to conserve biodiversity, especially noniconic species, likely to be imperiled by catastrophic events.

Using mask R-CNN to rapidly detect the gold foil shedding of stone cultural heritage in images

As immovable stone cultural heritage is kept in the open air, they are more susceptible to damage, and damage detection is very important for the protection and restoration of cultural heritage. This is especially true for gold-overlaid stone cultural heritage, which is usually more complicated than ordinary stone carvings. However, the detection of cultural heritage damages is mainly based on expert visual inspection, which is often subjective, time-consuming, and laborious. This paper uses the Mask R-CNN algorithm to rapidly and accurately detect the gold foil shedding of stone cultural heritage through two-dimensional images. The research data are from the high-precision images of the Dazu Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva Statue (World Heritage, UNESCO) in Chongqing, China. After cleaning and augmentation, 1900 images are input into Mask R-CNN model for training. Finally, the average precision value (AP) for detecting gold foil shedding is found to be 0.967. In order to test the performance of the model, the new images that do not participate in the training period are used, and it is found that the model can still accurately detect the gold foil shedding even if there are interference factors. This is the first attempt to detect the damages of gold-overlaid stone cultural heritage based on a deep learning algorithm, and it has achieved good results.