Tracing Ice Age Artistic Communities: 3D Digital Modeling Finger Flutings

Summary

Finger flutings are lines and markings drawn with the human hand in soft cave sediment in caves and rock shelters throughout southern Australia, New Guinea and southwestern Europe, dating back to the Late Pleistocene. Two decades ago, Kevin Sharpe and Leslie Van Gelder developed a rigorous methodological framework for the measurement and analysis of finger flutings that allows researchers to identify characteristics of the creators, such as age, sex and group sizes. However, despite a comprehensive framework of study, data collection is still reliant on in-field measurements and is often constrained by physical challenges within the caves. With advances in technology, new methods of digital documentation are emerging. Creating three-dimensional models of finger fluting panels would allow for off-site measurements and other forms of analysis. This paper presents the results of an experimental archaeology project that tests three different 3D scanning techniques to determine the most appropriate method for the documentation of finger flutings based on factors such as portability, cost, efficiency, accuracy, as well as other challenges present in cave and rock shelter settings. A consistent method of 3D documentation for finger flutings will allow researchers to document sites globally and give rise to new perspectives and questions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21036