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Advances in rapid condition assessments of rock art sites: Rock Art Stability Index (RASI)
Abstract
The Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) is a rapid, quantitative approach to rock art condition assessment. Research carried out at Petrified Forest National Park, USA, demonstrates that, following a 2-day training session, site evaluators obtained replicable results, facilitating a condition assessment of over 3500 engraved panels.
Two electron microscopy case studies allowed us to identify the specific rock decay processes and major causes of destruction on panels that were RASI-scored as in high threat, suggesting potential avenues for future conservation interventions. This approach illustrates a holistic strategy for rock art conservation.
... Thus, the aim of this study is to establish minimum parameters for the control and monitoring of cave conservation status. At this stage, the goal is not yet to fully understand the underlying processes-this would be a later step-but rather to raise awareness of the current condition of rock art and its geological context, the karst system, at each decorated site (Cerveny et al., 2016). ...
The decorated caves contain the earliest artistic expressions of humankind and represent a major cultural heritage. Their significance has been recognized by UNESCO, which has declared them a World Heritage Site. However, they are extremely fragile environments, exposed to various factors of deterioration that threaten their conservation. To implement appropriate protective measures, it is essential to understand the dynamics of these underground systems by analyzing both the processes that shaped the current landscape and those actively altering them today. This task is complex, as each cave is subject to a unique combination of environmental parameters and intrinsic processes , which, in turn, overlap with broader conditions and global changes that tend to affect caves within the same region in similar ways. In this research, three caves were selected for study (Santimamiñe, Altxerri, and Lumentxa), where environmental conditions were monitored, active processes were described, and past events were identified. Based on these data, macro-level (entire cave) and micro-level (specific decorated panels) cartographies were developed , identifying areas that require closer monitoring. This assessment was complemented by a digital colori-metric analysis using microphotographs. The results were compared with previously identified active processes to better understand the dynamics of these caves
... Primary stability assessments were collected using RASI, a rapid noninvasive field survey designed to provide detailed geologic stability information without requiring complicated, and often cost-prohibitive technical training in rock decay and geomorphological sciences (Cerveny et al. 2016;Groom et al. 2019). Individually rating over three-dozen specific rock decay forms and processes, RASI is organized into five thematic categories, each addressing a different aspect of geologic stability and, inversely, weaknesses (Dorn et al. 2008). ...
... Even more importantly, RASI demonstrated not just replicability among trainees (Cerveny 2005;Dorn et al. 2008), but later showed that those trainees gained even deeper understanding of rock decay forms and processes, connecting their analyses to the larger landscape while gaining a greater sense of appreciation for rock art itself (Allen 2008(Allen , 2011Allen and Lukinbeal 2011;Groom, Bevan and Allen 2018;2020;in press). The technique has also been further validated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), where observed decay forms correlated with SEM analyses (Cerveny et al. 2016), adding even more support to RASI's veracity. Additionally, since 2014, an adapted version of RASI has been developed, termed the Cultural Stone Stability Index (CSSI), and has been in use to assess historic buildings and monuments with similar success Groom 2017;Hayes and Hayes 2019). ...
... Moreover, several indexes exist to scientifically estimate the stability of rock art and they are based mostly on biogeomorphology observations and in situ measurements [34,116]. Stability indexes offer the first effective tool to plan investigation and preservation strategies, as in the case of the Rock Art Stability Index [117,118]. Possible gaps between carbonate deposition and rock art production A wide range of geochemical techniques have been used to characterize the composition of rock art and ochre materials ( [107,119] and references therein), in which the mineral composition could be identified by thin section petrography, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transformed infrared spectrometry (FTIR). Elemental analysis could be carried out by semi-quantitative methods such as scanning electron microscopy coupled with dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF), or the concentration of elements could be determined by inductively coupled plasma and atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), neutron activation analysis (NAA), and laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS), in which NAA and LA-ICP-MS are considered the most sensitive to trace elements [120]. ...
Rock art is a widespread cultural heritage, representing an immovable element of the material culture created on natural rocky supports. Paintings and petroglyphs can be found within caves and rock shelters or in open-air contexts and for that reason they are not isolated from the processes acting at the Earth surface. Consequently, rock art represents a sort of ecosystem because it is part of the complex and multidirectional interplay between the host rock, pigments, environmental parameters, and microbial communities. Such complexity results in several processes affecting rock art; some of them contribute to its destruction, others to its preservation. To understand the effects of such processes an interdisciplinary scientific approach is needed. In this contribution, we discuss the many processes acting at the rock interface—where rock art is present—and the multifaceted possibilities of scientific investigations—non-invasive or invasive—offered by the STEM disciplines. Finally, we suggest a sustainable approach to investigating rock art allowing to understand its production as well as its preservation and eventually suggest strategies to mitigate the risks threatening its stability.
... VNIR-SWIR spectroscopy is extremely sensitive, and should, therefore, detect organic molecular absorptions in rock art paint if organic materials are present. The determination of their potential as anthropogenic will then depend on further forensic investigation to exclude natural organic constituents of the ochre (Clarke, 1976:134;Horn, 2018;Lenehan et al., 2017) and weathering effects over time such as UV light (Horn, 2018;Horn et al., 2019) heat, moisture, and biotic interactions that might affect paint and rock surfaces (Bednarik, 1994;Cerveny et al., 2016;Pillans and Fifield, 2013;Ramanaidou and Fonteneau, 2019). ...
This paper reports on the search for organic binder materials in rock art paintings at Genealogy and Stickman Rockshelters in Wajarri Yamaji country, Weld Range (Western Australia). Portable visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared (VNIR-SWIR) reflectance spectroscopy requires no physical sampling or surface preparation. Eleven motifs were analysed in-situ. Only one of the motifs had absorption features characteristic of organic molecular bonds and resembled hematite and blood experimental paint reference materials. Constituent hematite and clay pigment minerals defined the spectra of the remaining ten motifs. This pilot study demonstrates that non-invasive VNIR-SWIR spectroscopy is an effective field characterisation tool for assessing painted rock art motifs for constituent organic materials and mineralogy including clay minerals and iron oxides. Without the need to take samples, the technique will be invaluable for rock art conservation, and as a screening tool in the search for organic materials suited for C¹⁴ direct dating in mineral pigmented rock art paint.
... On the one hand, the products, sand grains and sinkers accumulate in the flat part owing to the weathering of the parent rock. On the other hand, as a tourist site, human activities may interfere with the weathering process, especially at the locations near tourist boardwalks (Cerveny et al., 2016). As a consequence, these locations had higher formation rates of soil organic matter, with more nutrient supply toward rapid plant growth and reproduction (Liu et al., 2015). ...
The accumulation of soil organic matter and nutrients is an important pathway in effectively understanding the mechanisms of plant settlement and rock weathering, while the characteristics of soil organic carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) under different vegetation remain unclear. In this study, the stocks and stoichiometry of soil organic C, N and P were determined in different positions and types of vegetation on the surface of the Leshan Giant Buddha. We found that the total stocks of soil organic C, N and P were 1689.77, 134.6 and 29.48 kg, respectively, for the Buddha. The stocks of soil organic C, N and P under vascular plants were higher than those under other vegetation, with highest values observed under herb. Higher stocks per unit area (m2) of soil organic C, N and P were found on the left and right arms, shoulders, and two platforms. These results provide a full primary picture in understanding soil organic C, N and P accumulation and distribution on the surface of the Buddha, which could supply the fundamental data on weathering management of the Buddha and other similar open-air stone carvings.
... The CARE Toolkit supports Agnew et al.'s (2015) and Cerveny et al.'s (2016) recommendation that rock art monitoring should be easily repeatable. We suggest that this aspect of the CARE Toolkit will be enhanced by its conversion into a high-quality mobile app (Turner et al. 2018;Mazel and Giesen 2018). ...
Neolithic and Early Bronze Age rock carvings in the United Kingdom and Ireland represent an internationally unique rock art tradition as it is, to the best of our knowledge, the only wholly abstract global rock art tradition. This heritage resource is, however, under threat from an array of factors, such as increasing population densities and agricultural intensity. In this paper, we report on the Condition Assessment Risk Evaluation (CARE) project that had as one of its primary objectives the co-production of a user-friendly, non-invasive condition assessment risk evaluation Toolkit for gathering and organising information essential for the long-term conservation of open-air rock art. We describe the public involvement CARE process through co-experience participatory focus groups, which evaluated the Toolkit, concluding that we can have confidence in the results obtained from the public. Furthermore, the variables that form part of the Toolkit and related management recommendations are presented.
... The initial study should take into account deterioration due to different weathering and anthropogenic processes. A valuable initiative in this regard is the rock art stability index (RASI) (Dorn et al., 2008;Cerveny et al., 2016;Whitley, 2016), based on an extensive database of alteration forms affecting rock art carved in different rocks in different climates around the world. This information is not only a useful starting point for risk assessment related to natural or anthropogenic processes, it can also easily be used by personnel with minimal training. ...
Prehistoric rock art sites are endangered despite conservation efforts. The lack of scientific documentation regarding weathering agents affecting rock art and the absence of specific diagnostic protocols hinder the development of conservation strategies. The aim of this research was to investigate active deterioration processes in a granite petroglyph site located in Mougás (Galicia, NW Spain) by characterizing the granite, conducting a geotechnical study of the outcrop and describing and analysing the main weathering processes. Two main deterioration factors were identified. First, water favours block disjunction at the massif scale and causes pitting and surface erosion at the millimetre scale that affects the readability of the engravings. Second, high temperatures associated with wildfires cause mineral transformations that increase the susceptibility of the rock to weathering. Identifying deterioration factors is a first step in developing appropriate preventive conservation measures, which should aim to reduce rock contact time with water (technically affordable in the short term) and to reduce the probability of wildfire occurrence (technically more complex and possibly with longer‐term results).
... Accordingly, RASI has potential for wide appeal and has been employed in a number of previous case studies (e.g., Allen and Groom 2013;Allen et al. 2011;Groom 2017). The index is interoperable with condition-monitoring approaches such as repeat photography (e.g., Groom 2017), and it can accommodate more technical analyses that provide greater insight on particular stone decay agents (e.g., Cerveny et al. 2016). RASI data can also be integrated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) to visualize the stability of rock art across the landscape and analyze the spatial relationships among stability, stone decay agents, and other factors. ...
In light of global trends in human population growth and urbanization, burgeoning cultural heritage tourism industries, and climate change, cultural heritage places in nearly every corner of the world are significantly threatened, and will remain so into the foreseeable future. Rock art sites are some of the most imperiled, with their exposed contexts posing unique challenges to conservation. Consequently, effective management of publically accessible rock art sites necessitates a sustainable approach that weighs visitation in regard to cultural significance and site stability. This essay integrates rock art stability and sustainability assessment methodologies at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site in southwestern Arizona. The study specifically applies the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) to evaluate the natural and anthropogenic weathering forces impacting the site, and the Heritage Asset Sensitivity Gauge (HASG) to assess site sustainability under existing management practices in relation to current and forecasted rates of visitation. A spatial analysis of aggregated RASI data shows that visitor foot traffic has had some of the most profound impacts to the petroglyphs. Unrestricted access to the site area is also highly correlated with the presence and location of vandalism and graffiti, and visitor-related trampling has adversely affected the site’s surface artifact assemblage. Application of the HASG projects that, while existing management practices are fairly sustainable, they become less so under forecasted increases in visitation. Further, the HASG appraises the site’s cultural significance as outweighing its market appeal, indicating management efforts should prioritize conservation over tourism-related development.
... The initial study should take into account dete- rioration due to different weathering and anthropogenic pro- cesses. A valuable initiative in this regard is the rock art stability index (RASI) (Dorn et al., 2008;Cerveny et al., 2016;Whitley, 2016), based on an extensive database of alteration forms affecting rock art carved in different rocks in different cli- mates around the world. This information is not only a useful starting point for risk assessment related to natural or anthropo- genic processes, it can also easily be used by personnel with minimal training. ...
The cultural heritage of medieval Sicily is extraordinary. Yet, although rich and diverse, it confronts numerous challenges that make it vulnerable and often inaccessible. In response to these challenges, we are developing The Norman Sicily Project (http://normansicily.org) to document the cultural heritage of medieval Sicily during its Norman period (c. 1061–1194) so that a wider audience can learn about what was once there and what still remains. This chapter discusses Sicily’s cultural challenges, the resources we have been developing to address them and, more specifically, the completion of the first phase of the project, which focused on the society’s monasteries.KeywordsNorman SicilyDigital conservationReligionMonasticismGeolocation
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.
From the 9th of March 2015 a wildfire burned an area of 25.7 km2, or approximately half of the Jonkershoek catchment (Western Cape, South Africa), over the course of three days. During this period large areas of fynbos and commercial forest plantations were razed, and rocks, including boulders and smaller rocks, were exposed to high temperatures. While a substantial body of work has been carried out to investigate the effects of wildfire on landscape development, less is known about the effect of wildfire on rock weathering within a landscape. Previous studies have reported the overall effect of wildfire on rock deterioration but the effect of intra‐fire temperature differences associated with heat behaviour on a slope has not been sufficiently addressed. In this study we investigate the effects of topography and proximity to moisture on rock deterioration processes. In particular, we focus on the use of in‐field rock deterioration measurements and GIS to investigate the relative influences of distance from burn source, distance from moisture source and topographical positioning of the sample site. The results indicate that boulder size and lithology are of secondary importance to the placement of fire‐affected rocks within the wider topography of the landscape, and that rock exposure to moisture, also a function of landscape position, is likely to exacerbate the response of the rocks to heat. No direct correlation was observed between the type and severity of the outwardly visible damage sustained on the sampled rocks, and the size, lithology or proximity to burn source. We argue that these findings call for a re‐evaluation of fire‐related damage in the wider context of rock response as a function of topographical variations.
Representing countless societies and cultures, rock imagery and cultural stone are diverse and valuable resources that are, despite their perceived resilience, incredibly fragile and vulnerable to copious geomorphological processes. This article discusses various multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks and field assessment research tools that have been employed to better understand the dynamic nexus of heritage sciences, geomorphology, archeology, material sciences, and more. Additional information on ethical considerations scholars must take when researching sensitive materials is also provided.
In order to identify those petroglyph and pictograph panels most susceptible to damage, we propose a field-friendly index that incorporates elements of existing strategies to characterize the stability of stone. The Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) has six general categories: Site Setting (geological factors); Weakness of the Rock Art Panel; Evidence of Large Erosion Events On and Below the Panel; Evidence of Small Erosion Events on the Panel; Rock Coatings on the Panel; and Highlighting Vandalism. Initial testing reveals that training of individuals with no prior background in rock decay can be conducted within a two-day period and yield reproducible results. RASI’s use as a tool to promote cultural resource sustainability includes the use of a Geographic Information System to store, display and analyze rock art.Para identificar los paneles del arte rupestre pintado y engrabados más vulnerables a daños, proponemos un fácil-por-el-campo indexo que incorporan elementos de estrategia que existen para la estabilidad de piedras. El Indexo de Estabilidad de Arte Rupestre (RASI) tiene seis categorías en general: el disposición de sitio (factores geológicos); debilidad del panel de arte rupestre; evidencia de grandes episodios de erosión en y debajo del panel; evidencia de pequeños episodios de erosión en el panel; capas de rocas en el panel; y el punto culminante de vandalismo. Exámenes iniciales revelan que personas con no bases anterior en desmoronamiento de roca formara en dos días con resultados reproducibles. Como una herramienta de la sostenibilidad de recursos culturales, RASI se incluyen una pieza de Sistema de Información Geográfica para amontonar, manifestar, y analizar arte de roca.
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The Rock Art Database (RADB) is a virtual organisation that aims to build a global rock art community. It brings together rock art enthusiasts and professionals from around the world in one centralized location through the deployed publicly available RADB Management System. This online platform allows users to share, manage and discuss rock art information and offers a new look at rock art data through the use of new technologies in rich media formats. Full access to the growing platform is currently only available for a selected group of users but it already links over 200 rock art projects around the globe.
This paper forms a part of the larger Rock Art Database (RADB) project. It discusses the design stage of the RADB System and the development of a conceptual RADB Reference Model (RARM) that is used to inform the design of the Rock Art Database Management System. It examines the success and failure of international and national systems and uses the Australian heritage sector and Australian rock art as a test model to develop a method for the RADB System design. The system aims to help improve rock art management by introducing the CIDOC CRM in conjunction with a rock art specific domain model. It seeks to improve data compatibility and data sharing to help with the integration of a variety of resources to create the global Rock Art Database Management System.
In order to identify those petroglyph and pictograph panels most
susceptible to damage, we propose a field-friendly index that incorporates elements of existing strategies to characterize the stability of stone. The Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) has six general categories: Site Setting (geological factors); Weakness of the Rock Art Panel; Evidence of Large Erosion Events On and Below the Panel; Evidence of Small Erosion Events on the Panel; Rock Coatings on the Panel; and Highlighting Vandalism. Initial testing reveals that training of individuals with no prior background in rock decay can be conducted within a two-day period and yield reproducible results. RASI’s use as a tool to promote cultural resource sustainability includes the use of a Geographic Information System to store, display and analyze rock art.
Yungang Grottoes in north of China are the classical masterpieces of Chinese Buddhists, dating from the Northern Wei Dynasty 1,500 years ago. This rock art is threatened by weathering processes that has been accelerated due to coal mining. The dominant weathering processes occurring on the rock surface are collapse, flaking, and efflorescence. Salt crystal growth plays a major cause of these deteriorations, and it has a close relationship with water movement. The major salt on the rock surface are sulfates, with a primary composition of epsomite, thenardite, and gypsum. In addition, carbonate minerals are found, mostly calcite and nesquehonite. In this paper, three grottoes in the eastern part have been investigated via measuring the rock surface moisture and recording the surface temperature and humidity. These nondestructive techniques are used for the first time in China on cultural relics. The movement of moisture has been calculated and mapped, and then analyzed for its relationship with the weathering process. Three main sources of water transport in the sandstone are adopted to explain the moisture content patterns. The aim of this study is to help rock art conservation in Yungang Grottoes, thus to provide a better understanding regarding the driving processes of internal moisture transport, which results in significant weathering processes. The evidence shows that the natural character of sandstone, water transport mechanism, and continental semi-arid conditions are the major causes of rock deterioration. Meanwhile, air pollution due to coal mining is also an important factor in driving the weathering process.
Concept maps created by introductory physical geography students were analyzed to assess the power of a field index in students learning concepts related to rock decay. Students (n = 571) were randomly selected from introductory physical geography laboratory session where 86% had never taken another college-level geography course, 46% had never taken a "lab science" course, and 22% were from minority (non-white) populations. All students, upon completing a straight-forward demographic survey and open-ended questionnaire, undertook a concept mapping exercise after learning about rock decay through direct instruction (i.e., lecture). From this n, 322 students also took part in a hands-on field-based experience involving analyses of tock decay associated with petroglyphs, and then completed another concept map. Concept maps scores indicate field experience participants understood form and process connections better after the field experience than after direct instruction, and especially minority, where the average score increase approached 23%, compared to 11% in non-minorities. Female students (16% average increase) also scored higher after the field experience compared to male students (11% average increase). Concept maps were compared to open-ended questionnaires to further establish validity, and after testing for normalcy with Kolmogorov-Smirnov, t-tests revealed all score increases to be highly statistically significant (p < 0.001), with minority student score increase compared to non-minority increases yielding a statistical significance (p = <0.01), while learning in females over males yielded a statistical trend (p = 0.067). These findings reveal fieldwork's power to deepened cognitive linkages between complex biophysical processes and the corresponding landscape forms, especially among minority and female students.
M ost integrative approaches to rock art management necessitate far greater financing and specialty skills than land managers have at their disposal. The rock art stability index (RASI, Dorn et al. 2008) remedies this drawback for cultural heritage resource managers by offering an accessible technique to assess a rock art panel's stability. Unlike other rock art assessment methods (cf. Fitzner 2002; Viles et al. 1997), RASI was created as a non-invasive, cost-effective field assessment technique focusing on approximately three-dozen easily identifiable rock weathering forms (or the breaking-down of rock in place) brought on by different geological processes. By combining these key factors, RASI offers an efficient method to help researchers establish the condition of a rock art panel (Cerveny 2005; Dorn et al. 2008). While still scientifically rigorous enough to yield valid scientific results, RASI also remains available to the amateur student of weathering (Dorn et al. 2008), and has also been shown to be a replicable tool for rock art assessment (cf. Cerveny 2005; Cerveny et al. 2006; Dorn et al. 2008), as well as helping people connect science and art in a field setting (Allen and Lukinbeal 2010). Helping to establish a sense of the most endangered rock art panels, RASI permits rapid evaluation of panels, allowing users to categorize, sketch, and assign a "score" to each panel, noting inherent weaknesses based on weathering phenomena that can be immediately analyzed by a cultural resource or land manager (Figure 1). To illustrate RASI in action and demonstrate the effect it can have on rock art panels, sites, researchers, and volunteers, this essay uses anecdotal examples from our current study areas at Petrified Forest National Park to express how RASI functions as a field method. The first anecdote demonstrates how student researchers involved with RASI continue to take the initiative regarding rock art management, while the two following it express how RASI can have an immediate impact for cultural resource managers. Then, before a quick conclusion on how RASI entwines cultural appreciation and science, we briefly discuss the potential for adding cutting-edge technology to RASI, enhancing the overall examination and management of rock art.
a b s t r a c t While not well-known or well-studied, Grenada's (Caribbean) Carib Stones host over 100 individual petroglyphs (rock engravings) representing some of the Caribbean's best examples. Two sites were assessed for this study: Duquesne Bay along the northwest Caribbean coast and Mt. Rich in the northern tropical rainforest. Their importance notwithstanding, little has been done to manage or assess the Stones other than basic glyph recording. This study employed the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) to assess and document each panel's overall geologic stability. Using more than three-dozen rock decay elements, RASI represents an efficient and rapid tool to assess petroglyphs and pictographs, assigning an "Excellent eGoodeProblemseUrgent DangereGreat DangereSevere Danger" ranking based on a quantitative score. Overall, 13 panels were assessed individually, with a few exhibiting "Good" status, two in "Great Danger", and the remaining exhibiting "Problems". Analyses show the Duquesne Bay site remains at the behest of its proximity to water, such as stagnating puddles, waves, or storm and household runoff. In contrast, the Mt. Rich site receives substantial rainfall and remains under rainforest canopy, yet is significantly more stable. This research demonstrates the need for further monitoring efforts and lays the groundwork for continued study and assessment of the Carib Stones, while at the same time raising their profile to the international stage in hopes of securing greater recognition ultimately leading to better management practices.
Detailed figure recording in 2002 indicates engraved figures are suffering from erosion caused by wind-blown sand from adjacent well pad construction. Approximately 27% of one figure has been lost in the last 20 years. Eventual loss of the two remaining horse figures will amount to loss of about 10% of all known North American armored horse petroglyphs, and 20% of those recorded on the northern Plains. Management agencies should consider mitigative measures for such sites during project planning and permitting.
This paper presents results of the first study of pre-fire and post-fire samples collected from rock engravings and adjacent sandstone joint faces. A 2001 wildfire at Whoopup Canyon, Wyoming, stimulated a comparison of 1991 and 2003 samples. Opti- cal microscopy of ultra-thin sections, backscattered electron microscopy, x-ray (energy dispersive and wavelength dispersive) analysis of cross sections, and high-resolution trans- mission electron microscopy reveal that fires create some thermal fractures that enhance panel erosion, but most of the fire-induced erosion occurs along weathering rinds that form long before petroglyph manufacturing. In addition, rock varnish on top of petro- glyphs experiences spalling, and fire ash with a clear potassium spike strongly adheres to rock varnish on petroglyphs and spalled sandstone. In the past, site managers assumed minimal damage away from massive spalls and other macrodamage on fire affected petro- glyphs, an assumption no longer tenable. Since it is difficult to protect rock art after a fire starts, mitigation efforts can include identification of areas of intense weathering-rind development as locales most susceptible to erosion, and clearing trees and shrubs near rock art by hand. (Key words: geomorphology, fire, rock art, sandstone, weathering.)
Thousands of Neolithic and Bronze Age open-air rock art panels exist across the countryside in northern England. However, desecration, pollution, and other factors are threatening the survival of these iconic stone monuments. Evidence suggest that rates of panel deterioration may be increasing, although it is not clear whether this is due to local factors or wider environmental influences accelerated by environmental change. To examine this question, 18 rock art panels with varied art motifs were studied at two
major panel locations at Lordenshaw and Weetwood Moor in Northumberland. A condition assessment tool was used to first quantify the level of deterioration of each panel (called “staging”). Stage estimates then were compared statistically with 27 geochemical and physical descriptors of local environments, such as soil moisture, salinity, pH, lichen coverage, soil anions and cation levels, and panel orientation,
slope, and standing height. In parallel, climate modelling was performed using UKCP09 to assess how projected climatic conditions (to 2099) might affect the environmental descriptors most correlated with elevated stone deterioration. Only two descriptors significantly correlated (P < 0.05) with increased stage: the standing height of the panel and the exchangeable cation content of the local soils, although moisture conditions also were potentially influential at some panels. Climate modelling predicts warming temperatures, more seasonally variable precipitation, and increased wind speeds, which hint stone deterioration could accelerate in the future due to increased physiochemical weathering. We recommend key panels be targeted for immediate management intervention, focusing on reducing wind exposures, improving
site drainage, and potentially immobilizing soil salts.
This paper explores the use of a new pedagogy, the rock art stability index (RASI), to engender deeper understanding of weathering science concepts by students. Owing to its dynamic nature, RASI represents a quintessential actor network for weathering science, because it links task in the landscape with an active material practice and an alternative materialistic world-view recently called for in positivistic science, to cre-ate place. Using concept maps as an assessment tool, 571 college undergraduate students and 13 junior high school integrated science students (ages 12–13) were evaluated for increased learning potential between pre-and post-field experiences. Further, this article demonstrates that when students use RASI to learn the fundamental complex science of weathering they make in-depth connections between weathering form and process not achieved through traditional, positivistic weathering pedagogy. We argue that RASI draws upon inherent actor networks which allow students to link weathering form and process to an animate concep-tualization of landscape. Conceptualizing landscape as sentient actor networks removes weathering science disciplinary connections and their inherent pedagogic practices. Our focus in this paper is not to challenge weathering ontology and epistemology, but rather to argue that there is a need for a pedagogical paradigm shift in weathering science.
The prehistoric Bangudae Petroglyph in the Ulsan area represents an outstanding National Treasure of the Republic of Korea. Since the construction of the Sayeon dam, the petroglyph with about two hundred carvings is periodically submerged by the Sayeon reservoir. The danger of increasing damage has resulted in intensive efforts to protect this cultural heritage. Diagnosis and risk prognosis studies were carried out. Results of petrographical studies, monument mapping and in situ measurements are presented. Types, degree and zonation of damage are evaluated. The risk estimation derived from the studies confirms the necessity of preservation measures.
Natural processes are known to cause significant damage to archaeological monuments. In fact, the key to understanding the decay of building materials is the internal movement of water through the mineral matrix, which influences the distribution of chemical, physical and biological deterioration processes. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) was traditionally used as a surveying tool within archaeology, but a new high-resolution technique that accurately traces the movement of moisture in building materials could provide a vital tool for understanding the decay of many archaeological monuments. This paper considers current progress, the shift of ERT from soil to rock research and the impact that this development could have on future conservation, using Hertford College (Oxford) and Neolithic rock art (Golden Gate Reserve, South Africa) as case studies.
Australian rangelands are rich in Indigenous cultural heritage sites and Indigenous rangers increasingly manage them. It is well documented that climate-change adaptation planning on a local scale benefits from a stakeholder-led or bottom-up process. However, to date, few bottom-up, practical adaptation pathways exist for Indigenous Australians. This paper describes the development of a planning tool that supports Indigenous rangers' plan for climate-change impacts on cultural heritage sites. To date, a limited number of methodologies for managing climate-change impacts on heritage sites have been developed internationally. Importantly these are not geared to a bottom-up planning process. By contrast, many generic adaptation decision-support tools exist that support bottom-up planning. These tools commonly begin with a scoping phase. The scoping phase of a tool that supports Indigenous rangers manage climate-change impacts on heritage sites is described. A validation model, consisting of central assumptions behind each element of the scoping phase, is then set out. Future testing in the field would involve assessment of the tool through confirmation or otherwise of these assumptions. The first two assumptions in the validation model are then addressed: that Indigenous rangers perceive climate-change impacts on heritage sites and that planning for them is a priority need. Previous literature has not addressed these questions in detail. Only if positive responses are gained for these foundational assumptions can future testing of the tool be justified. Results from preliminary fieldwork undertaken in northern Australia found Indigenous rangers in two out of three case studies perceive impacts on heritage sites, and regard addressing these impacts as a priority.
The strategies of water resource conservation and management project designed by the Ocean University of China to solve the water scarcity problem in Loashan district, China are discussed. The project is focusing on runoff collection and use, wastewater reclamation and seawater utilization to meet the domestic water demand of the Laoshan district. The project activities include development of cost effective wastewater treatment and rain water harvesting systems and groundwater reservoir replenishment activities. Ecologically friendly and natural treatment technologies are used by the project to avoid pollution and deteriorating water resources.
The rock cracking, inducing rock flaking and topling, on the limestone cliff with Rock Painting is a dangerous threaten for the relics conservation. A detailed field investigation and statistics have been carried out. The geometrical sizes, shapes, fillings have been recorded. There are four sets of fractures control the broken. Non-destructive tests have been accomplished in situ for evaluating the property of the rock of the painting cliff. The temperature sensors were installed on and inside the rock cliff for studying the heat field of the cliff and cracked rock influenced by sunlight. Shear and tension stresses induced by the temperature fluctuation are main damage agents for rock cracking. Surface flow is another important threatens to the relics conservation.
During the early autumn of 2014 a field-based near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy study was carried out at Swedish and Norwegian Stone Age rock painting sites. This article presents results from one of them, namely Flatruet, Härjedalen, Sweden. Here, field-based NIR measurements were conducted using the 908-1676 nm wavelength range to gather 479 spectra: 427 of rock paintings and 52 of local lithology background. The whole dataset was analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) and four principal components were extracted explaining 98.5% (PC1), 1.4% (PC2), 0.06% (PC3) and 0.04% (PC4). The PCA results showed that there was a large spread in the spectra of both background and red paint objects, but also some evidence of clustering could be seen where background and paintings could be separated. An improvement in separation was achieved with partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) using the background and paint as categorical variables. The most important components of the PLS-DA model showed a better separation in the score plot. A small test set of 10 paint and 10 background samples showed that one of the paint samples and two of the background samples were misclassified. One conclusion is that there is a large spread in background due to varying precipitation of secondary iron oxides. It was also decided to look deeper into local models of painted elks and their pigments alone. This was done using local PCA models and soft independent modelling of class analogies showing that some painted elks could be separated from each other while others were quite similar, which is important for answering questions about origin, age and weathering.
Increasing evidence indicates that the tumor microenvironment has critical roles in all aspects of cancer biology, including growth, angiogenesis, metastasis and progression. Although chemokines and their receptors were originally identified as mediators of inflammatory diseases, it is being increasingly recognized that they serve as critical communication bridges between tumor cells and stromal cells to create a permissive microenvironment for tumor growth and metastasis. Thus, an important therapeutic strategy for cancer is to break this communication channel and isolate tumor cells for long-term elimination. Cytokine CXCL12 (also known as stromal-derived factor 1α) and its receptor CXCR4 represent the most promising actionable targets for this strategy. Both are overexpressed in various cancer types, and this aberrant expression strongly promotes proliferation, migration and invasion through multiple signal pathways. Several molecules that target CXCL12 or CXCR4 have been developed to interfere with tumor growth and metastasis. In this article, we review our current understanding of the CXCL12/CXCR4 axis in cancer tumorigenesis and progression and discuss its therapeutic implications.Oncogene advance online publication, 11 May 2015; doi:10.1038/onc.2015.139.
The Burrup Peninsula and surrounding Dampier Archipelago, in Western
Australia, contain the world's largest known gallery of rock art
engravings (petroglyphs), estimated to number up to 1 million images.
The peninsula is also the site of major industrial development and there
are concerns that industrial emissions may adversely affect the
stability and longevity of the rock art. We have studied the natural
processes and rates of weathering and erosion, including the effects of
fire, that affect the stability of rock surfaces and hence the longevity
of the rock art, using cosmogenic nuclides. The concentration of
10Be in quartz yields erosion rates in the range
0.15-0.48 mm/1000 years on horizontal rock surfaces and
0.34-2.30 mm/1000 years on vertical rock faces. The former,
largely caused by mm-scale surface flaking, are amongst the lowest
erosion rates measured by cosmogenic nuclides anywhere in the world. The
latter are inferred to represent a combination of mm-scale flaking and
very rare centimetre- to metre-scale block falls, controlled by failure
along joint planes. Such low erosion rates result from a combination of
resistant rocks, low relief and low rainfall, favouring long-term
preservation of the petroglyphs - long enough to encompass the
known period of human settlement in Australia.
Thousands of Neolithic and Bronze Age open-air rock art panels exist across the countryside in northern England. However, desecration, pollution, and other factors are threatening the survival of these iconic stone monuments. Evidence suggest that rates of panel deterioration may be increasing, although it is not clear whether this is due to local factors or wider environmental influences accelerated by environmental change. To examine this question, 18 rock art panels with varied art motifs were studied at two major panel locations at Lordenshaw and Weetwood Moor in Northumberland. A condition assessment tool was used to first quantify the level of deterioration of each panel (called “staging”). Stage estimates then were compared statistically with 27 geochemical and physical descriptors of local environments, such as soil moisture, salinity, pH, lichen coverage, soil anions and cation levels, and panel orientation, slope, and standing height. In parallel, climate modelling was performed using UKCP09 to assess how projected climatic conditions (to 2099) might affect the environmental descriptors most correlated with elevated stone deterioration. Only two descriptors significantly correlated (P < 0.05) with increased stage: the standing height of the panel and the exchangeable cation content of the local soils, although moisture conditions also were potentially influential at some panels. Climate modelling predicts warming temperatures, more seasonally variable precipitation, and increased wind speeds, which hint stone deterioration could accelerate in the future due to increased physiochemical weathering. We recommend key panels be targeted for immediate management intervention, focusing on reducing wind exposures, improving site drainage, and potentially immobilizing soil salts.
Rock art conservators are faced with complex decisions to prioritize rock art panels for protection from destructive forces of weathering. We provide a system to facilitate such decision making that blends traditional remote sensing with interactive techniques of exploratory spatial data analysis. Our system, ‘mapping weathering forms in three-dimensional (3D)’ (MapWeF) uses a 3D laser scanning device for sub-centimetre data collection from in situ rock surfaces. After image and digital surface model processing, key rock weathering forms are highlighted through classification. Supervised classification builds training classes as a user probes known weathering forms. Guided by these training classes, the user then interactively brushes and assembles pixels from scatter plots until the user is confident that all manifestations of a particular weathering form have been mapped. The purpose of MapWeF is to construct detailed maps that highlight regions of decay on rock art panels. These maps can help rock art conservators take action on panels in need of urgent preservation or remediation.
At Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park in southern Alberta, Canada, weathering is causing deterioration and loss of archaeologically important Indian rock art. A procedure devised for the use of park personnel identified four classes of weathering ranging from largely unweathered rock to severely weathered. The technique employed simple visual, qualitative assessment and photo interpretation of 50 sample sections of sandstone cliff face covering a total area of 354 m2. Schmidt hammer tests indicated large variations in rock strength and provided a numerical basis for the visual assessment. About 43 per cent of the cliffs are severely to completely weathered, 41 per cent show moderate weathering.
To aid rock art conservation, rock temperatures have been monitored at different depths and at low (30 min) and high (1 min) acquisition rates in a painted rock shelter in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park (South Africa). Preliminary data for winter (cold and dry) show that in that season cryoclasty is unlikely to occur (rare subzero thermal events and probable reduced moisture availability) and thermal shocks are improbable (highest measured ΔT/Δt < 2 °C min−1). High amplitude (about 30 °C) rock temperature cycles accompanied by reversals of the thermal gradient have been observed to occur almost daily and hint at the possibility of thermal stress fatigue. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Trofimov and Phillips (Geomorphology 5 (1992) 203) suggest that the ultimate goal of any science is to predict the behaviour of entire systems. With regard to the decay of building stone, making accurate predictions of stone behaviour remains an elusive goal but given our improved understanding of decay dynamics it should be possible to provide a forecast of likely system behaviour. However, forecasting system behaviour requires classification of the system state with the classification, whether formal or informal, founded on knowledge of the factors that control response. In the context of building stone decay these controlling factors include, structural properties, mineralogical properties, inheritance effects, contaminant loading and natural change. In trying to formalise building stone condition assessment and incorporate a forecast component, an analogy can be made between the requirements for classification and treatment determination of cancer patients and the approach to condition assessment and conservation of stone structures. In medicine, one of the most widely used and refined patient assessment schemes is the TNM Staging System. The rationale underpinning the TNM Staging System has many similarities with approaches to building stone assessment in that it seeks to impose a more formal structure on condition assessment that provides a commonality of approach, language and meaning and a procedure for forecasting the extent of remedial intervention required and outcome in terms of ‘life expectancy’.
The San rock art of southern Africa is an international heritage subject to degradation and loss resulting from weathering. The paintings occur within rock shelters, where many are exposed to direct solar radiation for varying periods, rather than occurring in dark caves. As part of a study on the factors thought to be impacting weathering, data were collected pertaining to rock and pigment temperatures as well as humidity within the rock shelters. In addition, XRD analyses were undertaken on pigment samples, and the pigment to rock and pigment to pigment contacts were investigated by means of SEM. Pigments were found to be composed of ferric oxide (the ochre) and a gypsum-clay mix (the white) and to occur as a layer on top of, rather than penetrating into, the sandstone. Noncontact infrared sensors were used to monitor the temperatures of the actual pigments while micro-thermocouples to monitor the surrounding (nonpainted) rock surfaces. Thermal data show that there are significant differences between the white and the ochre pigments, both in terms of actual temperatures and short-term thermal responses. Noticeably, the white paint exhibits (relatively) large thermal fluctuations, as compared to the ochre or the rock, over the 20-s to 1-min timescale; these thermal variations may induce pigment-to-pigment stresses within the painting. The pigmented areas also exhibit different temperatures to the surrounding paint-free rock, suggesting that there may be both within-painting and between painting and rock (including the rock beneath the painting) stresses that can lead to degradation. Humidity data were found to be inadequate for any meaningful evaluation of the moisture conditions.
International Scientific Committee on Rock Art
ICOMOS, 2000. International Scientific Committee on Rock Art.http://www.international.
icomos.org/risk/isc-rockart_2000.htm (accessed3/5/05).
Conservation of rock art
- J Paul Getty Trust
Paul Getty Trust, J., 2003. Conservation of rock art. (http://www.getty.edu/conservation/
education/rockart/accessed July 9, 2005).
The destruction of America's Cultural Resources
- G R Varner
Varner, G.R., 2003. The destruction of America's Cultural Resources. http://www.
authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=1215&id=10400 accessed 3/8/05).
Arminto petroglyphs: rock art damage assessment and management considerations in Central Wyoming
- Keyser