Paleoart and Materiality

The Scientific Study of Rock Art

Robert G. Bednarik, Danae Fiore, Mara Basile, Robert G. Bednarik, Danae Fiore, Mara Basile

• Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781784914295
• eBook ISBN:
  9781784914301
• Topic: Sciences sociales
• Subtopic: Archéologie

This book contains a series of selected papers presented at two symposia entitled 'Scientific study of rock art', one held in the IFRAO Congress of Rock Art in La Paz, Bolivia, in June 2012, the other held in the IFRAO Congress in Cáceres, Spain, in September 2015; as well as some invited papers from leading rock art scientists. The core topic of the book is the presentation of scientific approaches to the materiality of rock art, ranging from recording and sampling methods to data analyses. These share the fact that they provide means of testing hypotheses and/or of finding trends in the data which can be used as independent sources of evidence to support specific interpretations. The issue of the materiality of visual productions of the distant past, which in archaeological theory has attracted much attention recently and has stimulated much conceptual debate, is addressed through a variety of scientific approaches, including fieldwork methods, laboratory work techniques and/or data analysis protocols. These, in turn, will provide new insights into human agency and people-image engagements through the study of rock art production, display and use.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Relevant Issues for the Design of a Protocol for the Interdisciplinary Study of Rock Art
• Superimpositions and Attitudes Towards Pre-existing Rock Art: a Case Study in Southern Patagonia
• Pigments Used in Rock Paintings from the East and West of the Iberian Peninsula Analysed by X-ray Fluorescence: Analogies a d Differences
• The Material Scientific Investigation of Rock Art: Contributions from non-Invasive X-ray Techniques
• Methodological Approach to the Materiality of Rock Paintings Based on Their Physicochemical Characterisation. Proposal and Reflections from Their Study in Chile
• Step Forwards in the Archaeometric Studies on Rock Paintings in the Bogotá Savannah, Colombia. Analysis of Pigments and Alterations
• What Should We Do or Not Do for the Preservation or Remedial Action in Prehistoric Painted Caves?
• Forensic Replication Work with Australian Cave Art
• Experimental Rock Art Studies. Replication of Pictographs from La Primavera Locality (Santa Cruz, Argentina)
• Measurements and Replications of Hand Stencils: a Methodological Approach for the Estimation of the Individuals’ Age and Sex
• Time and Rock Art Production: Explorations on the Material Side of Petroglyphs in the Semiarid North of Chile
• Taphonomy of the Early Petroglyphs at Daraki-Chattan and in the Region Around It in Chambal Basin, India
• The Tribology of Petroglyphs
• Understanding the Technology of Very Small Cupules in Daraki-Chattan, India
• Evidence of Collaboration Among Art-Makers in Twelve Upper Palaeolithic Caves
• A Survey of Developments in Dating Australian Rock-Markings
• A New Cold Plasma System for Pictogram 14C Sampling
• Direct Dating of Bolivian Petroglyphs Using Indirect Microerosion Analysis
• Use of Theodolite and Photographic Techniques in the Recording and Analysis of the Geographical and Astronomical Entorno (su rounding)