Abstract
Ancient rock engravings evoke the interest of archeologists and art historians as an important remnant of human cultures. Traditionally, engraved images are studied based on iconography, iconology, and stylistic characteristics, with little emphasis on execution technology. In contrast, the research method presented in this study strives to characterize the techniques adopted for making rock engravings in ancient times, with technological variations considered as indicators of the engraver’s production process. 3-D scans of two ancient engravings and contemporary graffiti were obtained from Site 25 in Timna Park, Southern Israel. The models were analyzed with ArchCUT3-D, a software specifically developed to precisely evaluate the 3-D micromorphological characteristics of the incisions making up the engraving. The software analyzes the surface micromorphology by extracting 3-D slices of the incisions using an accurate and repeatable method. Our results indicate that different incisions were executed by remarkably distinct techniques of stroking the rock surface with a sharp tool. The identification of discriminant characteristics enabled us to demonstrate the particularities of the engraving operations, such as ergonomic conditions and the level of consistency of the engraving gesture. ArchCUT3-D thus provides a computational method for incision technique recognition through micromorphology specifications, and the reconstruction of engraving gestures and individual production procedures.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 316 |
| Journal | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank the Timna Park staff for their help and cooperation, specifically Assaf Holzer and Aviel Pipman for their support. Special thanks go to Erez Ben-Yosef for sharing his expertise and knowledge of the Timna area. We are grateful to the Computational Archeology Laboratory team at the Institute of Archeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Asaf Ben-Haim, Neta Fridman, Hadas Goldgeier, Ortal Harush, Antoine Muller, Liron Narunsky, Keren Nebenhaus, Heeli Schechter, Francesco Valletta, and Talia Yashuv. Viviana R. Moscovich edited the manuscript. We thank the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LD) and the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust (LG) for their financial support. This work was supported by the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).