Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LArcHer (Breaking barriers between Science and Heritage approaches to Levantine Rock Art through Archaeology, Heritage Science and IT)
Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2022-09-30
LArcHer project aims at producing a meaningful change in the way we understand, care, use and manage Levantine rock art (LRA), one of Europe’s most extraordinary and fascinating bodies of prehistoric art. In 1998 it was awarded Unesco World Heritage status for the outstanding universal value of the hundreds of sites “providing an exceptional picture of human life in a critical phase of human development” (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/874/).
LArcHer has a threefold objective, each with a series of milestones:
- 1. To develop new ways to explore previously answered questions in the definition of this art: such as the chronology, the materiality of rock art, to understand both how it was produced and how it has survived; and the changing nature of this tradition over space and time.
- 2. Use LRA not just to write the local history but to think globally. This art represents a major shift in the history of prehistoric art, a shift from Palaeolithic art focusing on the natural world, to a new art focusing on humans and culture through naturalistic scenes illustrating activities such as hunting, violence, dances or ceremonies, war, and so forth. This change in content represents a step further in the sophistication of the human mind, that can be used to explore a question of global relevance: the birth of narrative art for visual storytelling. This topic will be explored through comparative analysis with other major international bodies of rock art with equivalent developments.
- 3. To build bridges between science and heritage approaches, to understand the conservation history of this art, the potential impacts of conservation interventions on the archaeological values of the sites and envisage ways to minimize them. We also aim at influencing policy making to define best practices for research, conservation and management of LRA, securing a balance between preservation of scientific and heritage values and contemporary uses.
Our final aim is to achieve a more global understanding of this tradition through a multidisciplinary and a multistep approach (combining Archaeology, Heritage Science and Information technologies).
LArcHer has a threefold objective, each with a series of milestones:
- 1. To develop new ways to explore previously answered questions in the definition of this art: such as the chronology, the materiality of rock art, to understand both how it was produced and how it has survived; and the changing nature of this tradition over space and time.
- 2. Use LRA not just to write the local history but to think globally. This art represents a major shift in the history of prehistoric art, a shift from Palaeolithic art focusing on the natural world, to a new art focusing on humans and culture through naturalistic scenes illustrating activities such as hunting, violence, dances or ceremonies, war, and so forth. This change in content represents a step further in the sophistication of the human mind, that can be used to explore a question of global relevance: the birth of narrative art for visual storytelling. This topic will be explored through comparative analysis with other major international bodies of rock art with equivalent developments.
- 3. To build bridges between science and heritage approaches, to understand the conservation history of this art, the potential impacts of conservation interventions on the archaeological values of the sites and envisage ways to minimize them. We also aim at influencing policy making to define best practices for research, conservation and management of LRA, securing a balance between preservation of scientific and heritage values and contemporary uses.
Our final aim is to achieve a more global understanding of this tradition through a multidisciplinary and a multistep approach (combining Archaeology, Heritage Science and Information technologies).
To achieve the proposed objectives and building on the knowledge, expertise and skills of our multidisciplinary team (two senior scholars and several postdoctoral and predoctoral researchers), with backgrounds in archaeology, conservation, chemistry, geology, topography and GIS, we have performed the following actions:
- Obj. 1. We’ve published various state-of-the-art reviews summarizing major challenges for dating rock art, the variety of physicochemical methods used so far to explore LRA, and prehistoric art, and their main results. We’ve then proposed a multistep and multitechnical method to maximize results and minimize impact in the art when conducting this sort of approaches. We’ve conducted various archaeological surveys and excavations, as well as systematic recording of rock art sites and particular subject matters, and the first campaigns for pigment and bedrock sampling. We’ve also explored potential relationships with other major traditions.
- Obj. 2. We’ve started publishing our thoughts on the role of rock art in human evolution in several volumes celebrating the 150 anniversary of Darwin’s book on human evolution. We’ve also published our first comparative analysis between LRA and Arnhem Land rock art, to explore the birth of visual narratives and anthropocentrism in both territories. Other publications on rock art from this territories are feeding key to feed our comparative analysis of these two regions.
- Obj. 3. We’ve published the first state-of-the art review of conservation interventions conducted in LRA sites, identifying some alarming impacts for research on ancient pigments. We’ve also conducted field campaigns to understand the geology of LRA landscapes and implications in rock art conservation. Site monitoring has also started.
Our research has resulted in 20 journal papers, 19 book chapters and 3 edited volumes. We’ve conducted 6 excavation campaigns at 4 sites, 1 survey and 30 field campaigns for rock art and site recording. Other dissemination actions include organizing 1 workshop, 9 conference and 1 workshop presentations, 4 master lectures, and one major exhibition on prehistoric art hosted at Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya, Museu de Lleida and Centre d’interpretació de la Roca dels Moros de Cogul). We’ve created a webpage and are active in social media.
- Obj. 1. We’ve published various state-of-the-art reviews summarizing major challenges for dating rock art, the variety of physicochemical methods used so far to explore LRA, and prehistoric art, and their main results. We’ve then proposed a multistep and multitechnical method to maximize results and minimize impact in the art when conducting this sort of approaches. We’ve conducted various archaeological surveys and excavations, as well as systematic recording of rock art sites and particular subject matters, and the first campaigns for pigment and bedrock sampling. We’ve also explored potential relationships with other major traditions.
- Obj. 2. We’ve started publishing our thoughts on the role of rock art in human evolution in several volumes celebrating the 150 anniversary of Darwin’s book on human evolution. We’ve also published our first comparative analysis between LRA and Arnhem Land rock art, to explore the birth of visual narratives and anthropocentrism in both territories. Other publications on rock art from this territories are feeding key to feed our comparative analysis of these two regions.
- Obj. 3. We’ve published the first state-of-the art review of conservation interventions conducted in LRA sites, identifying some alarming impacts for research on ancient pigments. We’ve also conducted field campaigns to understand the geology of LRA landscapes and implications in rock art conservation. Site monitoring has also started.
Our research has resulted in 20 journal papers, 19 book chapters and 3 edited volumes. We’ve conducted 6 excavation campaigns at 4 sites, 1 survey and 30 field campaigns for rock art and site recording. Other dissemination actions include organizing 1 workshop, 9 conference and 1 workshop presentations, 4 master lectures, and one major exhibition on prehistoric art hosted at Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya, Museu de Lleida and Centre d’interpretació de la Roca dels Moros de Cogul). We’ve created a webpage and are active in social media.
The project has published so far some reference papers, including the first and much needed systematic summaries of achievements in particular fields (pigment analysis of LRA and prehistoric art, conservation interventions in LRA and their potential impacts, state-of-the-art reviews of the art and the context of the end of the Paleolithic).
We’ve identified a variety of pigment recipes and technologies previously unseen. New analyses, both non-invasive and invasive, will allow us to broaden our knowledge of the raw materials, technologies, and cultural practices of Levantine artists and to place this art in global debates on the technology of prehistoric art.
We’ve used for the first time LRA for comparative analyses with other major bodies of rock art: this time rock art in Arnhem Land. Through similar comparisons with other major rock art traditions LRA will become a proxy to explore a key issue in the history of prehistoric art more widely: the birth of narrative art for visual storytelling, and the birth of visual anthropocentrism.
We are using for the first time geometric morphometrics to explore changes in animal shapes and identify animal species.
We’ve discovered new rock art and archaeological sites, and the number will potentially increase in the next couple of years. These finds are important not just to fill a gap for the archaeological and historical understanding of human occupations and practices in the regions under study, but also to increase their heritage values. And this is extremely important, as many of these regions are in rural areas suffering from depopulation. Interestingly, some of these finds are already contributing to develop new tourism products.
The study of the remains recovered in our excavations are also feeding debates on human occupations and practices of the study regions and more globally. In particular, we are offering new finds on key periods in prehistory (such as the Pleistocene-Holocene, and hunter-gatherers vs farmers transitions).
We’ve identified a variety of pigment recipes and technologies previously unseen. New analyses, both non-invasive and invasive, will allow us to broaden our knowledge of the raw materials, technologies, and cultural practices of Levantine artists and to place this art in global debates on the technology of prehistoric art.
We’ve used for the first time LRA for comparative analyses with other major bodies of rock art: this time rock art in Arnhem Land. Through similar comparisons with other major rock art traditions LRA will become a proxy to explore a key issue in the history of prehistoric art more widely: the birth of narrative art for visual storytelling, and the birth of visual anthropocentrism.
We are using for the first time geometric morphometrics to explore changes in animal shapes and identify animal species.
We’ve discovered new rock art and archaeological sites, and the number will potentially increase in the next couple of years. These finds are important not just to fill a gap for the archaeological and historical understanding of human occupations and practices in the regions under study, but also to increase their heritage values. And this is extremely important, as many of these regions are in rural areas suffering from depopulation. Interestingly, some of these finds are already contributing to develop new tourism products.
The study of the remains recovered in our excavations are also feeding debates on human occupations and practices of the study regions and more globally. In particular, we are offering new finds on key periods in prehistory (such as the Pleistocene-Holocene, and hunter-gatherers vs farmers transitions).