New Getty Volume Charts the Evolution of Rock Art Conservation

Rock art is the oldest and most widespread example of humanity’s cultural expression and communication.

Found everywhere people have lived, it constitutes an invaluable archive of human cultural evolution. Because of its great age, however, rock art is often very fragile and vulnerable to environmental catastrophe and change, careless land development, and deliberate vandalism. It has also suffered from lacking a cohort of professionals dedicated to its understanding and conservation, with professional responsibility for its care distributed uneasily among archaeologists, anthropologists, geologists, and others.

Rock Art: The Changing Landscape of Conservation and Management (Getty Conservation Institute, $75) is the first interdisciplinary anthology to focus on the conservation and management of rock art sites. Its 133 essays by archaeologists, scientists, conservators, and other researchers survey the arc of published writings on the subject, ranging from early academic theories and oral narratives of First Nations and Indigenous peoples to an abundant selection of recent scholarship covering current best practices and advances in portable instrumentation that can be used in the field. Initial sections probe the origins and significance of these often-enigmatic works of art, then survey scientific and technological methods of dating, monitoring, and documenting them. Subsequent readings discuss rock art’s physical characteristics and weathering, its importance to Indigenous communities, the decolonization of site management, the role of governments, the value of public outreach, and climate change. The volume closes with a selection of case studies drawn from major sites worldwide.