Tag: rock art
Live Science. That was not always the case, however. “There are literally many thousands of Safaitic inscriptions and petroglyphs in the Jebel Qurma region, which suggests that people intensively used the area.” The petroglyphs (rock art) include renderings of lions, horses, gazelles and large birds – possibly ostriches. The writing found near the petroglyphs is mostly short texts of names. Several texts contain information on the activities of people, while a few hint of a conflict between the people of Jebel Qurma and the Nabataeans, the people responsible for building the ancient city of Petra. One such inscription reads: “I am on the lookout for the Nabataeans.” Other inscriptions describe the challenges and obstacles encountered by the residents of Jebel Qurma. “May there be strength against hunger,” one text reads, while another describes a man who was “distraught over his beloved.” Specialists are analyzing petroglyphs and texts to get a clearer understanding as to their meaning and the reason they were created. “The precise reason for producing rock art — inscriptions and/or representations — is still unclear and open to discussion. What was the message which the producers of the rock art tried to convey?” Akkermans asks in Live Science. In addition to the inscriptions and rock art, archaeologists discovered the remains of shelters, camps and tombs which were used by the people living in the area, who were likely nomadic. The team continues to look for additional evidence indicating what the environment may have been like in ancient times and how the landscape turned into the desolate region of today. “Our excavation at one site revealed masses of charcoal from the third century A.D., which appeared to represent several taxa [groups] of trees, which needed water year-round,” Akkermans says in the Live Science article. “Hence, the conditions in at least the third century A.D. may have been quite different from today. This is certainly something I wish to explore in the next field seasons, by coring for pollen.” The goal of the Jebel Qurma Archaeological Landscape Project is to study the extraordinary archaeological heritage in Jordan’s Black Desert. The project involves field surveys and excavations in the Jebel Qurma range east of the oasis of Azraq, close to the Jordan-Saudi border. The findings have been published in the American Journal of Archaeology. ]]>
Antiquity. The composition, they write, is typical of Fremont art, which often depicts human shapes with elongated bodies and round heads that are surrounded by “attendants”, smaller images of animals such as cats, dogs, badgers, bears, and birds. Commenting on the news, one biologist who had seen the painting himself, Phil Senter from Fayetteville State University, told Live Science that what Bahn and Le Quellec had found was in line with his own view of the image, that it was clearly a collection of several images rather than one “pterodactyl”. Another scientist, world rock art professor Benjamin Smith, noted that dinosaurs only rose to fame in the nineteenth century, when palaeontology gained traction. It is difficult to imagine that a culture as ancient as the Fremont would have known about pterodactyls, regardless of the fact that the region around Black Rock Canyon is rich in pterosaur fossils. For more information: “The death of a pterodactyl” Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user: Franko Fonseca]]>
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Vandalism a crime, not art
Rock art could be used for understanding ancient symbols, religions, cultural boundaries, origins, beliefs and even factors like gender relationships and should be protected from Vandalism
Rock art can be an extremely precious phenomenon especially depending on the era it belongs to, the impact of the images and the significance of historic background. They are supposed to be preserved the way they are, so archeologist and anthropologists can extract the comparative study of the human societies that existed before, their culture and development. It is a complex field as well, as one has to predict the most accurate depiction of these pieces of art and establish a link, if any.
Thanks to the Pharaoh, Egypt is an example many of us know for rock art reflecting heritage and culture. The Egyptians had their Gods and language carved all over the ancient rocks is an evidence of how they lived, what their beliefs were, what their culture was, what psyche they followed and much more can be concluded from these precious pieces of artifacts. But not being famous for rock art does not mean that there are no such sites reflecting heritage anywhere else in the world.
Every place has a history and heritage to go with and same is the case with Australia. Australia has a number of sites that contain rock art that date back to 40,000 or even 100,000 years old. The rock art is a reflection of the culture and beliefs of these localities. These indigenous pieces of art, especially those in the Kimberly, are believed to be 60,000 years old, which is five times older than the Egyptian pyramids. These pictures of men, women and children with their tools, animals and the different actions reflect a lot about how they lived and what their beliefs were.
This rock art should be protected from a serious crime, vandalism, as no one wants to lose track or disrupt history. A recent case of vandalism was witnessed in Burrup Peninsula, where the biggest and most important collection of rock carving can be found which is dated back to the ice ages. The maximum fine for such an act is a hefty one as well of up to $20,000.
These sites have to be protected by the Government in case of vandalism. The Australian Government should also make sure that all the sites of rock art and ancient rocks are recorded and registered with all the details so we never lose track of them in the times to come. They should start a campaign about such sites and what they reflect about our heritage. In fact, one should cover the 100 most important sites across the globe and have a comparative analysis of the heritages worldwide.
With the rain, dust and reptiles crawling over these precious pieces of art, they have survived and they will survive in the future as well, only if protected from vandalism. Such rock art that reflects history is a precious symbolic sign of the past, one can relate to. These sites are a library for history, and should be registered and recorded which is a very inexpensive process.]]>
