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- Title
ROCK ART CONSERVATION RESEARCH AT WRITING-ON-STONE PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA.
- Authors
BRINK, Jack W.
- Abstract
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park (WOSPP), in southern Alberta, is home to a large collection of Aboriginal rock art images. Numerous erosional and weathering forces are destroying the images, most of which cannot be retarded. However, select images, threatened by specific weathering processes, may experience an extended life span through implementation of remedial conservation measures. Passive measures, with no impact to the rock, include installing artificial drip lines to shed water, spot welding with epoxy to bond plates of rock that are detaching, and putting caps over sites to shelter them from water and water-born chemicals. Active measures of rock art conservation include impregnating the rock with chemical consolidants. Such treatment is irreversible. A multi-year study with the product Conservare at WOSPP indicates that sandstone bedrock can be strengthened about 300%, with a maximum loss of porosity of about 40%. At present, there are no known detriments to the use of this stone consolidant; however no actual rock art images have been treated. Portable laser scanning has been employed at experimental sites as a means to observe minute differences in changes in rock topography over time. Two scan episodes, spaced over 27 months, serve as benchmarks of the surface topography of a replica panel that has been treated with Conservare on one side, and untreated on the other. Comparison of the two scans suggests that erosion is taking place on short time intervals, and that greater weathering is occurring on the surface not treated with Conservare. While all rock art will ultimately disappear, there is hope for extending the life of select images.
- Subjects
ALBERTA; CANADA; ROCK art (Archaeology); ART conservation &; restoration; ARCHAEOLOGY &; art; NATURE reserves; ABORIGINAL Canadians; WRITING-on-Stone Provincial Park (Alta.)
- Publication
Revista de Arqueología Americana, 2007, Issue 25, p55
- ISSN
0188-3631
- Publication type
Article