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While much has been achieved in understanding and managing weather effects and erosion phenomena affecting ancient imagery within the relatively protected environments of caves and rock-shelters, the same cannot be said of rock-art panels situated in the open-air. Despite the fact that the number of known sites has risen dramatically in recent decades there are few examples in which the weathering and erosion dynamics are under investigation with a view to developing proposals to mitigate the impact of natural and cultural processes. Most of the work being done in different parts of the world appears to be ad-hoc, with minimal communication on such matters between teams and with the wider archaeological community. This richly illustrated book evaluates rock-art conservation in an holistic way, bringing together researchers from across the world to share experiences of work in progress or recently completed. The chapters focus on a series of key themes: documentation projects and resource assessments; the identification and impact assessment of weathering/erosion processes at work in open-air rock-art sites; the practicalities of potential or implemented conservation interventions; experimentation and monitoring programs; and general management issues connected with public presentation and the demands of ongoing research investigations. Consideration is given to the conservation of open-air rock-art imagery from many periods and cultural traditions across the Old and New Worlds. This timely volume will be of interest to conservators, managers, and researchers dealing with aesthetic and ethical issues as well as technical and practical matters regarding the conservation of open-air rock-art sites.
Open-air rock-art forms one of the most widely distributed categories of prehistoric culture with examples recognized across the Old and New Worlds. It is also one of the most threatened features of human heritage and is susceptible to accelerated decay as a result of natural processes. Considering the specific case of the Côa Valley rock-art complex in Portugal, but also analysing case studies originating from other countries (Norway, Brazil, Southern USA and South Korea), this richly illustrated book addresses open-air rock-art natural degradation causes, suitable methods to assess current condition and the creation of urgency scales for conservation interventions.
Global Perspectives for the Conservation and Management of Open-Air Rock Art Sites responds to the growth in known rock art sites across the globe and addresses the need to investigate natural and human-originated threats to them as well as propose solutions to mitigate resulting deterioration. Bringing together perspectives of international research teams from across five continents, the chapters in this book are divided into four discrete parts that best reflect the worldwide scenarios where conservation and management of open-air rock art sites unfolds: 1) ethics, community and collaborative approaches; 2) methodological tools to support assessment and monitoring; 3) scientific examination and interventions; and 4) global community and collaborative case studies innovating methodologies for ongoing monitoring and management. The diverse origin of contributions results in a holistic and interdisciplinary approach that conciliates perceived intervention necessity, community and stakeholders’ interests, and rigorous scientific analysis regarding open-air rock art conservation and management. The book unites the voices of the global community in tackling a significant challenge: to ensure a better future for open-air rock art. Moving conservation and management of open-air rock art sites in from the periphery of conservation science, this volume is an indispensable guide for archaeologists, conservators and heritage professionals involved in rock art and its preservation.
Rock art is one of the most visible and geographically widespread of cultural expressions, and it spans much of the period of our species' existence. Rock art also provides rare and often unique insights into the minds and visually creative capacities of our ancestors and how selected rock outcrops with distinctive images were used to construct symbolic landscapes and shape worldviews. Equally important, rock art is often central to the expression of and engagement with spiritual entities and forces, and in all these dimensions it signals the diversity of cultural practices, across place and through time. Over the past 150 years, archaeologists have studied ancient arts on rock surfaces, both out in the open and within caves and rock shelters, and social anthropologists have revealed how people today use art in their daily lives. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art showcases examples of such research from around the world and across a broad range of cultural contexts, giving a sense of the art's regional variability, its antiquity, and how it is meaningful to people in the recent past and today - including how we have ourselves tended to make sense of the art of others, replete with our own preconceptions. It reviews past, present, and emerging theoretical approaches to rock art investigation and presents new, cutting-edge methods of rock art analysis for the student and professional researcher alike.
This is the fifth volume in the series Rock Art Studies: News of the World. Like the previous editions, it covers rock art research and management across the globe over a five-year period, in this case the years 2010 to 2014 inclusive.
The Prehistoric Rock Art of Portugal presents significant interpretive perspectives in Portuguese rock art research and offers an excellent representation of core rock art areas, along with current thinking and interpretations. The various chapters deliver a personal approach to the many issues, themes and approaches that are embedded within the rock art of the outpost of western Atlantic Europe. Ethnographical perspectives have often dominated the study of rock art but unlike other well-studied regions, the western Iberian Peninsula is absent of an ethnographical or ethno-historical past and therefore the production of rock art can only be archaeologically assessed. Thus, the work promotes interpretive perspectives on Portuguese rock art, illustrating the richness, chronology and context of these unique artistic expressions and explores the variability of rock art imagery and the diversity of landscapes and social contexts in which it was produced. Although focusing on Portuguese rock art the book includes a number of universal themes that will appeal to a broad range of scholars researching in archaeology and anthropology, history of art, as well as professionals engaged in rock art heritage and conservation.
This book argues that the development of symbols and signs informing scripts, mainly the idea of coding thoughts through symbols and images, has always been uniquely ‘historical.’ Rock art abuts and occupies long periods of time in which the translation of indigenous thoughts was perfected through numerous mnemonic practices.