Project to unveil Ochre-based Rock Art with Magnetic Susceptebility
Submitted by coldrum on Tuesday, 01 February 2011 Page Views: 2754
Rock ArtCountry: Australia Type: Rock ArtInternal Links:
The use of geophysical techniques in archaeology has become widespread, however these methods have rarely been applied to rock art research. This project trials the use of magnetic susceptibility (MS) meter to non-invasively detect and spatially resolve ochre rock art images.
There is a need to record and document rock art images as they face deterioration from environmental, industrial and human impacts.
Ochre is frequently used in rock art production and previous research in other contexts has shown that it emits a MS signature due to its inherant magnetic characteristics. These ochre images can be hidden behind silica or carbonate crusts or may deteriorate ove time limiting their visibility. The rock art images that lie behind such crusts are likely to be protected from weathering and are amenable to dating using such techniques as uranium mass spectometry (AMS).
This research demonstrates that, if present in sufficient abundance, red ochre can be imaged and spatially resolved with a MS meter when applied to a rock face in a varietyof geological environments. More important to the success of a survey is the equipment setting, spatial resolution of the survey and the use of a correction to control instrument drift. Imaging ochre beneath a proxy crust was trialled without success; however this is attributed to poor survey design rather than a fundemental problem with the technique. The success of this trialdemonstrates the validity of contimuing investigations in the emerging field of rock art geophysics ad highlihts the importance of future trials on field sites.
For further information contact:
Jennifer Milani, Master of Archaeology
Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia
http://www.flinders.edu.au
For more, see www.archnews.co.uk/world-archaeology/australasian-archaeology.
Note: Pilot Protect Detects Hidden Rock Art.
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