The Sustainability of Rock Art: Preservation and Research

Andrea Zerboni, Federica Villa, Ying-Li Wu, Tadele Solomon, Andrea Trentini, Alessandro Rizzi, Francesca Cappitelli and Marina Gallinaro
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Andrea Zerboni: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via L. Mangiagalli 34, I-20133 Milano, Italy
Federica Villa: Dipartimento di Scienze per gli Alimenti, la Nutrizione e l’Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via L. Mangiagalli 31, I-20133 Milano, Italy
Ying-Li Wu: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via L. Mangiagalli 34, I-20133 Milano, Italy
Tadele Solomon: EHA—Ethiopian Heritage Authority, Addis Ababa 1000, Ethiopia
Andrea Trentini: Dipartimento di Informatica “G. Degli Antoni”, Via Celoria 18, I-20133 Milano, Italy
Alessandro Rizzi: Dipartimento di Informatica “G. Degli Antoni”, Via Celoria 18, I-20133 Milano, Italy
Francesca Cappitelli: Dipartimento di Scienze per gli Alimenti, la Nutrizione e l’Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via L. Mangiagalli 31, I-20133 Milano, Italy
Marina Gallinaro: Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Sapienza Università di Roma, I-00185 Rome, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-24

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 present—and 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.

Keywords: rock art; sustainability; ecosystem; surface processes; non-invasive sampling; scientific analyses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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