Heritage Cases

For the past decade I along with my colleague Adelphine Bonneau have been pioneering work in southern Africa to determine the composition of rock art paints and to radiocarbon date them. Much of this work has focused on the Maclear District. I should like to extend this work to include the Zamenkomst site. We intend to couple this work with similar analysis of the removed panel in the Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town. This work would involve the collection of samples of paint from rock paintings for physical analysis and, if possible, AMS radiocarbon dating. Samples of approximately 0.5 mm2 are needed for initial characterization and about 1–2 cm2 (depending on paint thickness) for radiocarbon dating. Final decisions as to what should be sampled should be made in the field where paintings can be examined closely and under magnification. Photographs will be taken before and after each sample is collected and detailed records will be kept of the locations and nature of each sample. These samples will be analysed using Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy coupled with X-ray dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) to determine the inorganic composition of the paint. The analysis should also provide information on mineral contaminants in the sample. Results of the initial analysis will inform decisions about collecting additional samples for radiocarbon dating. Each phase of sampling would require one day of field work. The characterization chemistry will be undertaken by Dr Bonneau at the University of Sherbrook, Canada and the samples would be dated by the University of Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, UK, following the protocols we have developed (Bonneau et al. 2017a, 2017b). I therefore request a permit from the Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resources Authority to collect paint samples as described for characterisation and AMS radiocarbon analysis. Details of the collections and analytical protocols to be used are provided in Bonneau et al. (2017a, 2017b).