Rock Art management & Awareness

Rock Art Studies Bibliographic Database © https://musnaz.org/search_rock_art_studies_db/ The Rock Art Studies Bibliographic Database is an open access, online resource that fulfills the need for a searchable portal into the world's rock art literature. Geared to the broadest interests of rock art researchers, students, cultural resource managers, and the general public, the RAS database makes rock art literature accessible through a simple searchable interface. An ever increasing number of citations within the database include web links to online versions of the reference cited, and many citations include full author's abstracts. Over 39,175 citations are currently contained in the database.

Interest in the historiography of Rock Art Studies has been increasing steadily over the years in keeping with the exponential growth of the field of study around the world. The rate of publications increase for the field as a whole, or on a more nuanced level by region or country is easily illustrated graphically using data extracted from the Rock Art Studies Bibliographic Database. The present example focuses on the rock art research in North Africa, graphed by country over time beginning in 1880 to the present (2019). The data set for this illustration is drawn from 39,037 citations to the world's rock art literature.

Abstract: The Rock Art Studies Bibliographic Database is an open access, online resource that fulfills the need for a searchable portal into the world's rock art literature. Geared to the broadest interests of rock art researchers, students, cultural resource managers, and the general public, the RAS database makes rock art literature accessible through a simple search interface that facilitates inquiries into multiple data fields, including authors' names, title and publication, place-name and subject keywords, ISBN/ISSN number, and abstract. The results of a data search can further be sorted by any of the data fields, including: authors' names, date, title, and so forth. An ever increasing number of citations within the database include web links to online versions of the reference cited, and many citations include full author's abstracts. The data compilation has been undertaken by Leigh Marymor with the year 2018 marking the 25th year of continuous revision and expansion of the data. Over 38,900 citations are currently contained in the database.
The RAS database first launched online as a joint project of the Bay Area Rock Art Research Association and University of California's Bancroft Library. After thirteen years of collaboration, the project found a new home and collaborator at the Anthropology Department at the Museum of Northern Arizona. The Rock Art of Portugal bibliography results from an export of data from the RAS database and captures a freeze-frame in the state of the rock art literature for Portuguese rock art as compiled at the beginning of the year 2019.
The online version of the RAS Bibliographic Database at the Museum of Northern Arizona is updated annually, and we refer the reader to that resource for up-to-date bibliographic data revisions and additions. Researchers who consult the online database in concert with their reference to the Portugal Rock Art bibliography will discover a powerful ally in further refining geographic and thematic inquiries.
Keywords: Portugal; Europe; rock art studies; bibliography.

A recently recorded Colorado Desert rock art site within the Palen-McCoy Wilderness, CA-RIV-12421, reflects a fascinating intersection between prehistoric and historic peoples. The vibrant petroglyph expressions include Western Archaic Tradition, Patayan, and equestrian motifs. The heaviest concentration of scratched motifs known in the Colorado Desert can be found here. Historic inscriptions are also present beginning in 1873, including that of O. P. Calloway and possibly the “infamous” land grafter John Benson. All tolled, CA-RIV-12421 provides a relatively high mixture of potential chronological markers. An attempt has been made to analyze the context of this site utilizing its environmental setting and the extant temporal clues available in the rock art. Findings of this investigation include a suggestion that much of this art was created in the Historic Period (ca. 1540-1774), with equestrian motif creation occurring between the early 1700s and 1873. The site’s geomorphology, ecological, and archaeological aspects, in conjunction with its high concentration of bighorn sheep petroglyphs, suggests that it may have functioned as a destination locality for spiritual and hunting purposes.

The cave of Daraki-Chattan (in Rewa river, India) bears important palaeolithic rock art (petroglyphs),while the environs is exceptionally rich in stone tools, mostly of the Acheulian. The field survey and excavations in the area found cupule panel fragments almost down to bedrock; Acheulian industry to Oldowan-like industry including several hammerstones. Early work demonstrated that at least some ofthe petroglyphs were of the earliest documented occupation of the region. Exfoliated pieces and boul-ders from the rock surface were found in the sediments, some bearing cupules and grooves. Here a detailed methodological procedure is enacted consisting of luminescence dating reinforced by miner-alogical issues, where the latter secures credibility of the former. The optically stimulated luminescence(OSL), of the luminescence versus depth profiles, following blue LED and Single Aliquot Regeneration(SAR) technique of quartz, was applied following the surface luminescence dating versions to date this fallen rock. The two dose profiles from the sandstone studies provided an average date for the fallen boul-der in the 13th millennium, providing a constrained terminus post quem. Surface patina and intrusion of(Fe, Mn) aluminosilicate weathering solution was examined in both luminescence profiles, properly dealtwith issues of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy–Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy(SEM–EDS), X-Ray Florescence-Energy Dispersive mode (XRF/ED), Cathodoluminescence, stereomicro-scope, thin sections optical microscopy (OM) and microdosimetry. Analytical petrographic results aidedinterpretation of luminescence data obtained.From the above rationale the two ages obtained from the two profiles can be considered close withinerrors, that coincide with the drastic change from last glaciation transition to the milder climate of the Holocene and the sudden end of colder Younger Dryas in ∼13th Ka BP, having an impact on the weathering,erosion and exfoliation of rock surfaces caused by the significant temperature change and the resulted thermal differential expansion of rocks (onset of the Holocene).© 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved

The Rock Art Studies Bibliographic Database is an open access, online resource that fulfils the need for a searchable portal into the world's rock art literature. Geared to the broadest interests of rock art researchers, students, cultural resource managers and the general public, the RAS database makes rock art literature accessible through a simple search interface that facilitates inquiries into multiple data fields, including authors' names, title and publication, placename and subject keywords, ISBN/ISSN number and abstract. The results of a data search can further be sorted by any of the data fields, including: authors' names, date, title and so forth. An ever increasing number of citations within the database include web links to online versions of the reference cited, and many citations include full author's abstracts. The data compilation has been undertaken by Leigh Marymor with the year 2018 marking the 25th year of continuous revision and expansion of the data. Over 37 200 citations are currently contained in the database. The RAS database first launched online as a joint project of the Bay Area Rock Art Research Association and University of California's Bancroft Library. After thirteen years of collaboration, the project found a new home and collaborator at the Anthropology Department at the Museum of Northern Arizona. The Australian Rock Art Bibliography results from an export of approximately 1980 citations from the RAS database and captures a freeze-frame in the state of Australian rock art literature as compiled here in the year 2018. The online version of the RAS Bibliographic Database at the Museum of Northern Arizona is updated annually, and we refer the reader to that resource for up-to-date bibliographic data revisions and additions. Researchers who consult the online database in concert with their reference to the Australian Rock Art Bibliography will discover a powerful ally in further refining geographic and thematic inquiries.

Contribution to disseminate the relevant role of
new digital technologies in the interpretation of rock art sites,
namely through photogrammetry and the use of the
Morphological Residue Model (MRM).
The author presents the results of the application
of this method in the Mu mountain area (Almodôvar),
at a rock formation known as “Pedra da Lua” (Moonstone),
where 25 fossettes / “little holes” made by abrasion and
pricking are represented. The site is contextualised within
the local geomorphology and related with other
archaeological evidence found in the area.
KEY WORDS: Rock art; Comet; Methodology.