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Knowledge of salt and moisture distribution is a key factor for understanding rock decay at cultural heritage sites. The cave town of Uplistsikhe in Georgia, carved from sandstone in late bronze age to medieval times, suffers from progressive scaling and flaking processes. Multi-method investigations of rock moisture and salt distribution were carried out in order to better understand the patterns of decay. Salt distribution was investigated using drill dust samples and paper pulp poultices; moisture was determined by 2D-resistivity and handheld microwave sensors, supplemented by infrared thermography. The combined results from the different methods revealed a complex pattern of salt and moisture distribution. At most sites, K2SO4 (arcanite) and its hydrates dominate, sometimes in combination with CaSO4 (gypsum). At one site (Grandhall), halite (NaCl) and niter (KNO3) prevail. Sulphates are assumed to be a legacy of air pollution; origin of halite and niter remains unsolved but might be due to concrete reinforcements. Two main sources of moisture were evidenced depending on season and spatial situation: (1) Condensation of air humidity at cool cave backwalls in spring (combined with and aided by salt hygroscopicity), evidenced by 2D-resistivity and infrared thermography; (2) seepage along joints particularly at the cave backwalls and roofs, evidenced by handheld microwave sensors. Further investigations should focus on identifying seepage pathways and on clarifying the origin of destructive halite and nitrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the field of archaeoastronomy and the challenges faced by researchers when analyzing and interpreting rock art. Rock art, such as pictographs and petroglyphs, can serve multiple meanings and applications, including as a memory map of the land and a representation of astronomical knowledge. However, without the contextual information provided by the creators of the art, it can be difficult to prove specific astronomical interpretations. The article emphasizes the importance of rigorous scholarship in archaeoastronomy to avoid the proliferation of pseudoscience and the perpetuation of unfounded claims. [Extracted from the article]

At present, there are very few remaining cases of wooden buildings of the Tang Dynasty preserved in China, and what have been left of these buildings do not show an overall layout. Information on the preserved buildings and their groups in the southwestern grottoes themed on sukhabati is a key historical source to support the study. However, the sources of architectural elements, the evolution of composition rules and the components of artistic processing have not been systematically and fully explained. Taking the grottoes themed on sukhabati as the object, this paper explores the adaptive development process of the architectural image and the complex relationship of Chinese wooden architecture in the artistic conception of expressing sukhabati, sorts out the real and valid architectural information between them, and establishes a new perspective and historical basis for "demonstrating history through images". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grottoes in China are crucial components of immovable cultural heritage. According to the 2020 national survey conducted by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Sichuan-Chongqing region boasts a total of 2,850 grottoes and rock carvings, accounting for approximately half of the national total. Among these, Anyue County, situated in the central part of Sichuan Province, stands out as one of the most concentrated and distinctive areas for grottoes in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. Therefore, conducting a spatial pattern analysis of grottoes holds significant theoretical and practical value for the protection and cultural dissemination of cultural heritage in Anyue County. Building upon the spatial distribution of grottoes in Anyue County, this study integrates multiple geospatial data sources, such as water systems and elevation. By employing methods such as buffer analysis, kernel density analysis, and standard deviation ellipse analysis, it delineates the spatial distribution pattern in Anyue County and preliminarily identifies their Spatial distribution rules. The findings of this study are as follows: (1) Within the administrative boundaries of Anyue County, grottoes exhibit a distribution pattern characterized by "less in the west and more in the east" and "one belt with three cores." (2) Grottoes and rock carvings in Anyue County primarily concentrate within a 1500-meter range on both sides of rivers, with the number decreasing as the distance from the rivers increases. Moreover, there are significantly fewer sites near inward-flowing rivers compared to outward-flowing rivers. (3) Natural factors influence the distribution of grottoes, with the number of grottoes being much lower in higher-altitude areas than in lower-altitude areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revista de Arqueologia is the property of Revista de Arqueologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper brings forth preliminary results of recent re-examination of the cave shrine at Jebel Qeili, the site best known for the rock carving shoving Meroitic Prince Shorakaror. The painted depictions in the cave shrine were examined, described, and published by H. A. MacMichael and other scholars in the 20th century. Their descriptions and reproductions are summarised and commented upon. Then they are confronted with the results of recent documentation. Using the modern digital imaging it was possible to improve the previous observations and partly re-evaluate the painted depiction of the god Amun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay seeks to conduct a short study for the first time of the classification of a number of petroglyphs in Mianeh County in the Eastern Azarbaijan Province. The north-western region of Iran is one of the richest regions in rock art; due to its abundant springs, landscape, and the specific lifestyle of nomads who regularly move around the same places. The petroglyphs were discovered 20 km west of Mianeh City on the right side of Tabriz Road, and are located on a black mountain in the Chupughlu region. One of the key challenges in the study of the petroglyphs in Iran and northwestern region of Iran is their dating. Due to the lack of laboratorial equipment, they have not been studied yet. During the survey in 2016 of the Chupughlu region almost seventy sites were identified and are located at a distance of between 60-100 m from each other. Here we present eleven sites. The petroglyphs of Mianeh are among the most original and admirable petroglyphs that reflect parts of the life of the residents of this region in the past. The most remarkable images found through the petroglyphs consist of human, animal, and geometrical images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from rock shelters in southern Belize show evidence of tool making, hunting, and aquatic resource exploitation by 10,500 cal b.c.; the shelters functioned as mortuary sites between 7600 and 2000 cal b.c. Early Holocene contexts contain stemmed and barbed bifaces as part of a tradition found broadly throughout the neotropics. After around 6000 cal b.c., bifacial tools largely disappear from the record, likely reflecting a shift to increasing reliance on plant foods, around the same time that the earliest domesticates appear in the archaeological record in the neotropics. We suggest that people living in southern Belize maintained close ties with neighbors to the south during the Early Holocene, but lagged behind in innovating new crops and farming technologies during the Middle Holocene. Maize farming in Belize intensified between 2750–2050 cal b.c. as maize became a dietary staple, 1000–1300 years later than in South America. Overall, we argue from multiple lines of data that the Neotropics of Central and South America were an area of shared information and technologies that heavily influenced cultural developments in southeastern Mesoamerica during the Early and Middle Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has one of the largest concentrations of rock-art sites. However, these rock shelters have deteriorated due to natural agencies. The present study was carried out in one such site in Central India, which is hosted by argillaceous and ferruginous sandstones, showing prominent chemical, biological and mechanical weathering. The results based on field investigations, petrography, XRD, FE-SEM-EDS and FTIR measurements have indicated that chemical weathering is caused due to infiltration of hydrothermal fluids through innumerable zones of weaknesses formed due to neotectonic activities in the Satpura Lineament Zone, especially along Gawilgarh and Salbardi Faults in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Yuanjue Cave, located in Big Buddha Bay, Mount Baoding, Dazu Rock Carvings Area, has extremely high historical, artistic, and religious value and is an important grotto cultural relic in China. Due to the cutting action of the fissures and weak interlayers, the South Cliff of Big Buddha Bay where Yuanjue Cave is located showed signs of instability. In order to fully evaluate the stability of the rock mass around the cliff where Yuanjue Cave is located, a three-dimensional geological model of the surrounding rock of Yuanjue Cave was established by using FLAC3D software, combined with three-dimensional scanning, fissure investigation, and indoor tests. The stability of the surrounding rock mass adjacent to Yuanjue Cave has been studied by precise numerical simulation, and the results of numerical simulation and monitoring have been compared and analysed. The results show the following: (1) The west of J10 fissure, above the mudstone interlayer, is the main deformation area. The cliff displacement increases gradually from the east to the west. The independent block above the corner has the largest free space displacement, and there is a risk of independent collapse. Special attention should be paid to the stability of this block. The displacement of the upper monitoring point of the cliff wall is significantly greater than that of the lower layer. (2) In the surrounding rock block in the adjacent area, the various concentrated stresses of the body are mainly located at the entrance of Yuanjue Cave, the height of the chest of the Zhengjue Buddha statue, and the lower mudstone erosion and reinforcement zone. Among them, the stress concentration in the erosion and reinforcement area under the Zhengjue Buddha statue is the largest. The conclusions obtained can provide a useful reference for the stability assessment of the surrounding rock of Yuanjue Cave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Palaeolithic rock engravings that are located along the Nalón river basin in Northern Spain (central area of Asturias) have been studied from various perspectives (morphology, depth, style, manual range), but no use-wear studies on the stone tools used to produce such engravings have ever been undertaken. This paper aims to explore a new approach to this type of incisions based on use-wear analysis of experimental lithic tools used to engrave limestone blocks and slabs. Our results show that the use-wear traces generated by engraving limestone are well-developed and can be defined with specific criteria. The principal objective of this study was to provide the first experimental reference collection of use-wear resulting from engraving limestone using flint and quartzite experimental tools to compare with the traces that appear on tools in the archaeological record in contexts with parietal and portable art and, more specifically, to add a new approach to the multidisciplinary study of the La Viña rock shelter. • Experimental collection of use-wear resulting from engraving limestone. • Description of macro and micro traces and residues involving in the stone working. • Combination of SEM and OM to analyse use-wear traces in quartzite and flint tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grotto rock mass is a type of cave structure, formed under the complex forces of environment, geology, and human interventions. Many scholars have carried out a lot of work in the protection of cultural relics. However, the research on detection and monitoring methods based on the parametric evolution system remains incomplete. In recent years, with the intersection and integration of disciplines, IoT (IoT: Internet of Things) systems and sensor technologies have developed rapidly. Under this background, a new monitoring system suitable for the protection of cultural relics was independently developed and applied to the protection and research work of Yuanjue rock cave, and the system was corrected and improved in practice. In this paper, according to the complex force characteristics of the sandstone roof of the Yuanjue rock cave at Dazu Rock Carvings and the geological conditions. Initially, a detailed survey of the geological conditions of the Yuanjue rock cave area was conducted; furthermore, according to the unique structural and load characteristics of the outer and inner surfaces of the roof, the monitoring methods and principles of each main control factor were explored, while the layout of monitoring points was optimized; finally, based on the microsensing technology, intelligent high-precision sensing hardware was installed and debugged for each main control factor, while the network was formed to form a multisource monitoring IoT system for the roof stability of the circular sense hole. After nearly half a year of continuous monitoring, the deformation and denudation rules of the roof of Yuanjue Cave were revealed, and a new approach of evaluating roof stability was proposed. This research provided technical support and research ideas for monitoring the stability of similar cultural relics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determination of agents of, or routes for, entry of fruits, nuts and seeds, is a vital consideration in archaeobotanical research. It is important to determine how plant remains in archaeological deposits were introduced - by people or by other means - to ascertain whether they could be human food remains. We investigated whether baboon faeces are likely to have been the agent of entry for the abundant marula remains recovered from the Later Stone Age levels at Olieboomspoort, a rock shelter in theWaterberg, northern South Africa. A marula tree grows just beyond the drip line of the shelter and baboons rest on the cliff above the shelter. Fresh and dried baboon faeces on the floor of the shelter and along the drip line contained no marula stones or fragments. Our results indicated that baboons did not deposit the marula remains and that people were the probable agents. At Olieboomspoort, the presence of nutting stones and hammerstones associated with marula fruit remains, suggest that people used them for cracking the marula stones to remove the nutritious seeds. The interpretation for Olieboomspoort and, by extension, possibly other rock shelter sites, is that baboon faeces are unlikely to be a route of entry for marula remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Adalya is the property of Koc University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The striking sandstone formation of Zolat el Hammad is located in the southern Libyan Desert, about halfway between the Middle Wadi Howar and El Atrun. The place has been known for its numerous rock engravings for more than a hundred years. Wild and domesticated animals as well as few human figures are depicted. Cattle engravings largely dominate, followed by giraffes and ostriches. In 1997 the first paintings were discovered in a small rock shelter. Very schematic bovids are drawn in red and white colour. However, even though it is one of the most remarkable rock art sites in this part of the Sahara, Zolat el Hammad has never been intensely studied. Observations on rock art and archaeology made during a short stay in 2001 are the basis for presenting an account of the area with the aim of encouraging further research on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pudjinuk Rockshelter No. 1 is one of two small, adjacent shelters located in the limestone cliffs of the River Murray Gorge, South Australia. While both rockshelters represent a crucial node in the cultural landscape of the region, Pudjinuk Rockshelter No. 1 is significant for its remnant pre-contact rock art and the body of historical inscriptions it contains. Site surveys recorded 188 motifs, only one of which was a pre-contact engraving, indicating that the 'graffiti' has almost entirely obliterated a body of Aboriginal petroglyphs. Historical research to ascertain the identities of those represented in the post-contact corpus shows the inscriptions to be the work of members of frontier conflict/punitive expeditions, local European settlers and a non-local Aboriginal man. Of the motifs that can be confidently attributed to German/European settlers from villages in nearby districts, one incorporates a swastika, probably engraved in 1932. Pudjinuk Rockshelter No. 1 reveals deep Aboriginal connection as well as interpenetrating tensions and social histories as a result of European invasion, colonisation and global events. However, even where inscriptions serve to desecrate the site they nevertheless co-exist with the Aboriginal motif, creating a new 'dependency'—entangled for as long as they endure together on the rockshelter walls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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26 sites with Pre-Columbian (Taíno) rock art are known in Jamaica, most with petroglyphs only, but there are four with painted images, and three of these are discussed: Mountain River Cave, Potoo Hole, and Spot Valley Cave. In addition, an account is given of the Warminster rock shelter, which has petroglyphs described as among the best remaining in Jamaica. Spot Valley Cave was newly surveyed in 2005, with the help of the Jamaican Caves Organization, and in the same year a rescue operation to restore the Warminster petroglyphs was carried out, in cooperation with Dr Johannes Loubser. Comparisons are made, where appropriate, to Taíno artefacts in diff erent materials, and also to Pre-Columbian images on other islands in the Caribbean, notably Puerto Rico. The interpretation of the Taíno images, in Jamaica and elsewhere, relies to a considerable extent on the "Account of the Antiquities of the Indians", compiled by Fray Ramón Pané in 1494-1498, on the express instructions of Columbus. Whatever the shortcomings of a narrative compiled by an outsider, we would be much worse off without it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the occurrence of rock carvings in the shape of footprints in rock shelters and caves in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul placing this phenomenon within the archaeological context of the Brazilian Midwestern region as well as the entire continent of South America. Based on available archaeological data the paper refl ects upon the possible areas of genesis and ways of diff usion of this distinct rock art style that is seemingly the most prevalent in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: India has one of the world''s largest and most significant bodies of rock paintings and engravings, yet not a single rock art site or image has been directly and accurately dated using radiometric techniques. Here we report on results from the Billasurgam Cave complex near Kurnool in southern India. Although this cave complex has been investigated archaeologically since the late 1800s, it was not until 2008 that a large petroglyph, consisting of the remains of three nested diamond designs on a stalactite, was noted. In order to determine if this petroglyph had been made recently, flowstone was sampled from on top of and below the engraving. Radiocarbon dating revealed a mid-Holocene age of about 5000 cal BP for the petroglyph, but we cannot rule out the possibility that the engraving is several centuries younger. Similar nested diamond designs at some rock painting sites and on a chert core elsewhere in India have been assumed to be Mesolithic. Our result is consistent with this hypothesis, although we note that it also consistent with the creation of the petroglyph in the early Neolithic. We conclude that the Billasurgam engraved diamond design was probably made by Mesolithic foragers of the Kurnool region and is the oldest surviving form of rock art yet directly dated in southern India. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Recent field and archival studies of the Etna Cave site (26LNlll) in southeastern Nevada have documented the presence of heretofore undescribed rock art, including both pictographs and petroglyphs Some of these images were previously documented in photographs from Samuel M. Wheeler's original fieldwork at the site in the 1930s, while others are newly discovered or rediscovered images. It is unclear why Wheeler failed to include a description of the pictographs and petroglyphs in his publications on Etna Cave, but the historical photographs confirm the ancient origins of the art and highlight the utility of historical museum records for new studies of even well-known sites, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In April 2009, a new rock art site was discovered in Libya. Kaf Tahr is situated in Cyrenaica, in the Djebel Akhdar (the “green mountain”). This new site with engravings displays several interests. Firstly, it is only the third rock art site discovered – or at least published – in Cyrenaica. Secondly, this rock shelter is the only one that had shown engravings belonging to at least two different chronological periods, the first one being very probably prehistoric, and the second, post-prehistoric. Finally, the engraving of a man (with a sword and a shield) and the engraving of a horse are the first discovered in the area. These two engravings could have been realized in the protohistoric period. This period is well-known in the Libyan Fezzan (“libyco-berberian period” or “horse period”) but it has never been defined in Cyrenaica. Owing to the lack of research, the long period separating the end of Prehistory from the beginning of the greek colonization is hitherto totally unknown. If these engravings would belong to this period, they would be the first elements attesting of a metal work and a horse domestication in Cyrenaica before the historic period. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Zephyrus is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)