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A new method to date petroglyphs
Abstract
A new calibrated method based on erosion phenomena is presented for the dating of petroglyphs (rock carvings and engravings) and geomorphic surfaces. In contrast to previous methods of petroglyph dating, which sought to determine the age of various mineral and organic deposits coating the art, microerosion analysis attempts to ascertain the time of mark production itself, by creating a geomorphologically based time frame. The method involves the establishment of calibration curves for the crucial variables to be considered. These are the rock type and climate of a particular region, microerosional indices and age. The theory, practical application, and prerequisites of the method are considered, and the paper concludes by defining the disadvantages and advantages of the method.
... Therefore, in the present report, only approximate estimates are given (for proposed tolerances, see individual publications cited). Nevertheless, the results of seven 'blind tests' conducted in Russia, Portugal, Italy, Bolivia, Australia (2) and China matched archaeological expectations very well [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. In terms of their magnitude, results from this method are fully reliable. ...
... At that time, the edges of these fractures were totally sharp, but erosion gradually rounds them at the microscopic level in a quantifiable process that is a function of time. The resulting microwanes reflect the time since the fractures occurred [12,13]. In contrast to most other known direct dating methods, it refers to criteria that are functions of actual age rather than minimum or maximum ages. ...
... At that time, the edges of these fractures were totally sharp, but erosion gradually rounds them at the microscopic level in a quantifiable process that is a function of time. The resulting micro-wanes reflect the time since the fractures occurred [12,13]. In contrast to most other known direct dating methods, it refers to criteria that are functions of actual age rather than minimum or maximum ages. ...
The most extensive corpus of ancient immovable cultural heritage is that of global rock art. Estimating its age has traditionally been challenging, rendering it difficult to integrate archaeological evidence of early cultural traditions. The dating of Chinese rock art by ‘direct methods’ began in the late 1990s in Qinghai Province. Since then, China has acquired the largest body of direct dating information about the rock art of any country. The establishment of the International Centre for Rock Art Dating at Hebei Normal University has been the driving force in this development, with its researchers accounting for most of the results. This centre has set the highest standards in rock art age estimation. Its principal method, microerosion analysis, secured the largest number of determinations, but it has also applied other methods. Its work with uranium-thorium analysis of carbonate precipitates in caves is of particular significance because it tested this widely used method. The implications of this work are wide-ranging. Most direct-dating of rock art has now become available from Henan, but results have also been reported from Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Jiangsu, Hubei, Guangxi, Yunnan, Qinghai, Tibet, and Xinjiang. Intensive work by several teams is continuing and is expected to result in a significantly better understanding of China’s early immovable cultural heritage.
... It must also be emphasized that microerosion analysis is not one specific method, but a cluster of possible methods around a basic concept. Two have so far been applied practically: the measurement of micro-wanes on fractured crystals (Bednarik 1992(Bednarik , 1993, and the selective, often alveolar retreat in certain rock types of components that weather at vastly different rates (Bednarik 1995). There is no doubt that various alternative indices of microerosion may also prove to be useful, but, so far, their potential remains entirely unexplored. ...
... The microerosion method has been used in six blind tests now. At Lake Onega in Karelia, northern Russia, its results confirmed archaeological estimates (Bednarik 1992(Bednarik , 1993. At Grosio, in the Valtellina of northern Italy, it met archaeological expectations precisely, even with the use of only one component mineral: the result is tied to the time of the last retreat of the glacier at the location, and, depending on when this happened (about ten or twelve thousand years ago), provides a particular anthropomorphous petroglyph with an age-estimate of about five-or six-thousand years ago. ...
The basis of microerosion analysis as a tool in estimating the age of petroglyphs is briefly considered as are some of its applications, in particular, the three 'blind tests' of the method conducted in three European countries. A description of the various advantages of the method as well as its disadvantages shows that the former outweigh the latter. The method's main limitation is inadequate information about presumed variability in solution processes.
... I have been engaged in trying to establish the age of Pilbara rock art since the 1960s, when I discovered the huge petroglyph concentration on Burrup Peninsula as well as many inland petroglyph sites (Bednarik 1973; for a history of rock art research in the Pilbara, see Bednarik 2002). Having anticipated for many years that such scientific dating would succeed via microgeomorphic methods (Bednarik 1979), and having developed the microerosion method in 1989 (Bednarik 1992), I had decided that the most promising approach would be to secure a series of microerosion calibration readings from Historical inscriptions with dates. Australia unfortunately lacks the multitude of rock surfaces of historically known ages particularly common in Eurasia (monu-ments, bridges, gravestones, quarries, glacial abrasions etc.). ...
... In contrast to all other currently used methods of estimating the age of rock art, microerosion analysis addresses the 'target event' of Dunnell and Readhead (1988); it seeks to estimate the actual age of petroglyphs rather than that of a phenomenon associated with them physically. The microerosion method by micro-wane measurement has been used on petroglyphs in six blind tests now, in Russia, Italy and Bolivia (Bednarik 1992(Bednarik , 1995(Bednarik , 1997. Archaeological expectations were matched in all cases except one, where, however, results matched those of other scientific analyses (Bednarik 1995;Watchman 1995Watchman , 1996. ...
The results of microerosion analysis applied to a series of Australian petroglyphs are briefly reported.
... Los petroglifos son manifestaciones del arte rupestre elaborados a partir de procesos reductivos como remoción por percusión, abrasión o por el infrecuente grabado con agentes corrosivos (Dubelaar 1986;Bednarik 1992). Este arte es un fenómeno ligado al pensamiento humano, relacionado con su supervivencia física e ideológica, sus creencias, temores y necesidades, así como su desempeño intelectual, emocional, social y económico (Casado López 2015). ...
El valle de Mascota es una región del centro occidente de México, donde se han registrado 4.042 petroglifos individuales, de los que aproximadamente 305 han sido denominados genéricamente como “animales”. Los glifos datan del año 1 al 1.600 d.C. Se seleccionaron 38 petroglifos zoomorfos para, con base en sus características morfológicas, identificar las especies de mamíferos representadas. Se inventariaron al menos seis especies: coatí Nasua narica, venado cola blanca Odocoileus virginianus, felino (huellas de puma Puma concolor o jaguar Panthera onca), coyote Canis latrans, perro doméstico Canis lupus familiaris, zorra gris Urocyon cinereoargenteus y armadillo de nueve bandas Dasypus novemcinctus. Se comenta el significado etnográfico de los mamíferos representados en el arte rupestre del valle de Mascota (presas, deidades, como parte de ritos). Asimismo, algunos petroglifos probablemente representen eventos específicos de comportamiento e historia natural de los mamíferos de la región.
... Üstteki yuvarlak kuvars 6.9 mm uzunluğundadır; ancak mikroerozyon analizi için uygun bulunmamıştır (Bednarik 1992(Bednarik , 1993. Daha aşağıdaki tanecik ise kalp şeklinde, 8,3 mm. ...
The discovery of a previously unknown rock art complex is reported from northern Saudi Arabia. It is located roughly halfway between two major rock art precincts recently added to the World Heritage List, but will be preserved in pristine forensic condition by not disclosing its very isolated location. The rock art complex includes an extensive gallery of pictograms and two cave art sites; both features are very rare on the Arabian Peninsula. Its surviving rock art dates from 6000 years bp to the present. It includes petroglyphs, rock paintings and inscriptions of the most recent past, including of the 20th century CE. This adds new evidence to the observation, made also elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, that Arabian rock art production and rock art use is a continuing tradition of the Bedouin that may have locally survived to the present time.
... También es común encontrar caras redondas simples como es, por ejemplo, el caso observado en Cueva del Abono. Esperamos que, en un futuro cercano, métodos como la liquenometría y los estudios de microerosión, entre otros (Bednarik, 1992;Benedict, 2009), presenten la resolución necesaria para comenzar a fechar absolutamente este tipo de arte rupestre tallado, que es por mucho el más común en la isla. ...
Puerto Rico cuenta con un amplio y diverso registro de arte rupestre. Aunque se han realizado importantes contribuciones al estudio de este tipo de manifestación cultural, al presente se tiene información muy limitada sobre su cronología. Sobre la base de 61 fechados obtenidos de los pigmentos orgánicos empleados en la producción de pictografías en diversos contextos arqueológicos de Puerto Rico, se hace una aproximación inicial a la temporalidad absoluta del arte rupestre pintado en la isla. Los resultados obtenidos presentan un panorama amplio del uso de este tipo de manifestación en sus diversos periodos de ocupación, con fechas iniciales directas que se remontan entre cal. 740 y 400 a.C., representando esta la primera evidencia concreta de arte rupestre asociado con los primeros pobladores de la isla. De igual forma, se logró documentar la producción de este tipo de arte rupestre posiblemente asociado a la tradición Saladoide del suroeste de la isla, con fechas entre cal. 220 y 380 d.C. La producción de imágenes pintadas se incrementa en cantidad y diversidad después del 700 d.C., comenzando con la grafía de elementos antropomorfos y, posteriormente, de imágenes zoomorfas, las cuales se comienzan a registrar de forma marcada después del 1000 d.C. La producción de pictografías de humanos y animales, así como de otros elementos foráneos, se extiende al periodo colonial de la isla, lo que demuestra continuidades en el uso de las cuevas como contextos de registro tras la llegada de los invasores europeos al territorio de la isla.
... The word petro or Petra are a Greek derivation meaning 'stone 'and 'glyphein' indicates carving. This word was coined in France for rock carvings and engravings and was termed as 'Petroglyphe' (Bednarik, 1992). Petroglyphs are an advantaged form of evidence in this controversy for two reasonsfirst, they are unquestionably cultural in origin, and thus are not subject to the debates of authenticity that pertain to lithics and other archaeological features, second, they are largely immune to the preservation and visibility problems that affect other types of Late Pleistocene archaeological remains (Whitley 1996). ...
Mapping and spatial analysis of petroglyphs in Ratnagiri district was done using Aerial photography and digital image analysis. Aerial photography was carried out using drones while image processing was done using QGIS software. The image processing done on the digital images, especially the edge enhancement of the 'Blue' band negative image, brought out features hitherto not visible in normal colour photos. The consistency of such map like petroglyphs, with complex geometrical patterns, close to places of worship may suggest that these petroglyphs could be the work of ancient religious sects. Further work in these sites such as calculating spatial and topographic parameters of the known sites and delineating possible sites using GIS, measurement the rates of weathering, and suggestion of a feasible mode of preservation will be taken up by authors.
Yazı, insan ilişkilerini mikro sevide yansıtan bir araç olduğundan “tarih yazıyla başlar” tezi haklı bir söylemdir. Lakin yazıdan önce de insan vardı ve varlığını bir şekilde duyurmak, sonraki nesillere nasihatte bulunmak ya da hiç değilse iç dünyalarını yansıtmak isteyen kimseler; malzeme yetersizliğine aldırış etmeden taşların üzerine resimler çizmişlerdir ki bunlar alfabeye dayalı olmayan bir aktarım sistematiğinin ürünleridir. Yazıdan önce veya sonra hiç fark etmez, insan ilişkilerini kompozisyonlar hâlinde sunan kaya resimleri 19. yüzyıldan itibaren dikkatleri üzerine topladığından arkeologlar, taşlar üzerine resmedilen geçmişi keşfetmeye yöneldiler. Dünya genelindeki bu zengin miras, birçok coğrafyanın tarihini aydınlatmaya ve bazı genel kanaatleri değiştirmeye namzettir. Tarihî materyal mahiyeti taşıyan kaya resimleri, Arap Yarımadası’na gelişleri çok eski olan Arapların tarihini aydınlatmada da argümandır. Kısmen dinî haberler ve İslâmî dönemdeki kurgularla anlatılan kadim Arap tarihi, sınırlı bilgilerden ibaret olduğundan bunların bir milletin uzak geçmişini aydınlatmaya yeterli gelmeyeceğini artık kabul etmek gerekir. Tarihteki bu boşluk, son birkaç asır boyunca sürdürülen arkeolojik kazılar sayesinde doldurulabilir. Zira uzman arkeologların öncülüğünde yürütülen kazılarda bugünkü Suudi Arabistan’da 4 bin sit bölgesi ve 1.500 civarında kaya resmi alanı keşfedilmiştir. Yarımadanın farklı yerlerinde ortaya çıkan bu zengin miras, birçok kaya yüzeyinde belirgin veya yarı belirgin şekilde durarak ulusal kimliğin tespiti de dâhil olmak üzere çeşitli konularda işe yarayacaktır. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmada İslâm öncesi Arap tarihini gün yüzüne çıkarmada kaya resimlerinin konumunu belirlemek amacıyla kaya resimleri tabirinden başlayarak ören yerleri, kayalarda bulunan şekil ve yazıların değerlenmesi ile bunların tarihe olan katkıları üzerinde durulacaktır. Arkeolojik buluntular henüz yeni bir uğraş olduğundan araştırmada daha çok güncel kaynaklardan ve web sitelerinden yararlanılacaktır.
Tribology, the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion, is at the basis of interpreting rock art and portable palaeoart by scientific means, and yet it has remained almost entirely ignored in that application. Tribological work conducted with palaeoart, but without involving its discipline, is briefly summarised, and examples are cited to illustrate the value of a scientific approach. In particular, the focus is on the contact mechanics of petroglyphs and the compressive-tensile principles involved. The tribology of rock art has also been invoked in the discrimination of anthropogenic from other rock markings.
Absolute dating of rock paintings has always used an indirect means, generally by dating material in strata sealing or overlying the pictures. AMS dating of very small carbon samples now allows direct determination of the age of an organic portion in the matter of the picture itself.