Rock art is a widespread cultural heritage, representing an immovable element of the material culture created on natural rocky supports. Paintings and petroglyphs can be found within caves and rock shelters or in open-air contexts and for that reason they are not isolated from the processes acting at the Earth surface. Consequently, rock art represents a sort of ecosystem because it is part of the complex and multidirectional interplay between the host rock, pigments, environmental parameters, and microbial communities. Such complexity results in several processes affecting rock art; some of them contribute to its destruction, others to its preservation. To understand the effects of such processes an interdisciplinary scientific approach is needed. In this contribution, we discuss the many processes acting at the rock interface—where rock art is presentand the multifaceted possibilities of scientific investigations—non-invasive or invasive—offered by the STEM disciplines. Finally, we suggest a sustainable approach to investigating rock art allowing to understand its production as well as its preservation and eventually suggest strategies to mitigate the risks threatening its stability.

The Sustainability of Rock Art: Preservation and Research / A. Zerboni, F. Villa, Y.L. Wu, T. Solomon, A.M. Trentini, A. Rizzi, F. Cappitelli, M. Gallinaro. - In: SUSTAINABILITY. - ISSN 2071-1050. - 14:(2022 May 22), pp. 6305.1-6305.25. [10.3390/su14106305]

The Sustainability of Rock Art: Preservation and Research

A. Zerboni
Primo
Funding Acquisition
;
F. Villa
Secondo
;
Y.L. Wu
Formal Analysis
;
A.M. Trentini;A. Rizzi;F. Cappitelli;
2022

Abstract

Rock art is a widespread cultural heritage, representing an immovable element of the material culture created on natural rocky supports. Paintings and petroglyphs can be found within caves and rock shelters or in open-air contexts and for that reason they are not isolated from the processes acting at the Earth surface. Consequently, rock art represents a sort of ecosystem because it is part of the complex and multidirectional interplay between the host rock, pigments, environmental parameters, and microbial communities. Such complexity results in several processes affecting rock art; some of them contribute to its destruction, others to its preservation. To understand the effects of such processes an interdisciplinary scientific approach is needed. In this contribution, we discuss the many processes acting at the rock interface—where rock art is presentand the multifaceted possibilities of scientific investigations—non-invasive or invasive—offered by the STEM disciplines. Finally, we suggest a sustainable approach to investigating rock art allowing to understand its production as well as its preservation and eventually suggest strategies to mitigate the risks threatening its stability.
rock art; sustainability; ecosystem; surface processes; non-invasive sampling; scientific analyses
Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica e Geomorfologia
   Piano Sviluppo Unimi - Linea 3 - Bando SEED 2019 - Progetto CHROMA
   CHROMA
   UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO
mag-2022
22-mag-2022
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/6305
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/928916
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