A Feasibility Analysis of Rock Art Recorded Thus Far for the Alexandria Project

Summary

The Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas is home to over 350 identified rock art sites depicting multiple styles, complexity, and intricacy. In 2017, Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center launched the Alexandria Project, a three year mission to revisit each known rock art site in Val Verde County and perform baseline documentation, with the aim to answer overarching questions requiring a large and consistent dataset. Our documentation methods utilize Structure from Motion 3D modeling, high resolution gigapanoramas, specialized recording forms, and GPS coordinates. We are collecting a dataset intended for future research and analyses including stylistic variation, attribute identification, and iconographic interpretation. To examine the feasibility of conducting such analyses from baseline data, a test analysis was conducted using a sample of the sites recorded thus far. We conducted figure identification, stylistic classification, and iconographic inventory using only the recording forms, gigapanoramas, and 3D models processed from baseline data. This presentation discusses the results from the analysis along with what further research questions may be addressed from the Alexandria Project dataset.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Methodology and Interpretation in the Archaeology of Rock Art   •
• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20241