Preserving our Legacy: Understanding Transformation Processes for Rock Art Conservation

Summary

The Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas retain hundreds of rock art murals exhibiting varying degrees of preservation. Since 2009 Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center has been documenting the murals, some of which date back 4,000 years. As part of this project, we collect Legacy Photographs to assess historic deterioration of the art. Analysis of these photographs has revealed significant changes in the imagery over the past 50 years; however, the factors affecting its preservation are poorly understood. Shumla is now launching a project aimed at understanding the transformation processes affecting its preservation. This will be a long-term study aimed at collecting data for inter- and intra-site comparisons. Some of the tools we are using include: protimeters (to collect substrate moisture readings), light meters (to record light intensity), FLIR thermal imaging cameras (to monitor temperature variation), game cameras (to monitor human and animal traffic), and weather stations (to record relative humidity, temperature, rainfall, wind speed, and wind direction). This data will help us better understand the processes affecting preservation at each site. Working with conservators, we will be able to offer recommendations to site stewards who are working to preserve the art for future generations.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Methodology and Interpretation in the Archaeology of Rock Art

Keywords

Spatial Coverage