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Temporary export of Mount Tyndall painted flakes for radiocarbon analysis

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ProposalDescription: 

Temporary export of painted flakes from Mount Tyndall 2, Maclear District, Eastern Cape Province, for radiocarbon analysis in Canada and USA. Where possible, each flake will be dated twice using two different radiocarbon methods.

Expanded_Motivation: 

Aim/rationale: Since 2010, Dr Adelphine Bonneau and I have been running a project undertaking detailed chemical characterization of the inorganic composition of southern African rock art paints (Bonneau et al. 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017a, 2017b; Hoerle et al. 2016). This research has provided much new insight into the composition and manufacture of rock art paints and has led to us producing 43 new radiocarbon dates for southern African rock art. Key to the success of the radiocarbon work has been the development of new protocols for extracting and dating carbon in rock art paints (Bonneau et al. 2011, 2017a, 2017b). Another technique, developed in the United States, has also been employed in extracting carbon from rock art paints: the use of oxygen plasma (Armitage et al. 2001; Russ et al. 1990, 1991). This technique has not yet been tried on southern African rock art. In this project, we propose to test the oxygen plasma technique alongside the protocol we have developed. To do this, we propose to radiocarbon date black paint on several flakes of painted stone from the Mount Tyndall 2 site using both techniques. Mount Tyndall 2 is one of the major sites used in previous phases of this project. We have determined nine direct dates on paintings in this site (Bonneau et al. 2011, 2017a, 2017b), making it the best-dated rock art site on the African continent. Our initial work on the Mount Tyndall 2 site was on a series of painted spalls of rock collected beneath the main painted panel (Pearce 2010; Bonneau et al. 2011, 2012). None of these spalls could be re-fitted to imagery remaining on the wall, and none contained identifiable imagery. We propose to apply both dating techniques to some of these flakes and compare the results. Methodology (short): Plasma oxidation developed in the 1980s has the potential to selectively extract carbon from a sample. It has been used to date rock art in the Americas and in Europe (e.g. Armitage et al. 2001; Chaffee et al. 1994). As part of a research project on the potential and limits of this technique, fragments of rock with paints detached from the rock surface will be fully characterized using the protocol designed in 2017 (Bonneau et al. 2017b). It uses a combination of observations, elemental and molecular analyses in order to investigate the presence of carbon as a constituent of the paint, and to identify and to quantify carbon-based components that may produce a false radiocarbon date. From those results, the carbon constituting the paint will be extracted by both the conventional method for radiocarbon dating (scrapping under a binocular microscope and chemical pre-treatment), and by plasma oxidation. Radiocarbon dates will then be obtained by accelerator mass spectroscopy. Comparing the two dates will enable us to determine the potential and limits of the plasma oxidation extraction for radiocarbon dating as well as providing new dates for San rock art.

ApplicationDate: 

Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 09:57

CaseID: 

16263

OtherReferences: 

ReferenceList: 

CitationReferenceType
Armitage, R. A., Brady, J. E., Cobb, A., Southon, J. R. and Rowe, M. W. 2001. Mass spectrometric radiocarbon dates from three rock paintings of known age. American Antiquity 66:471–480.
Bonneau, A., Brock, F., Higham, T., Pearce, D. G. and Pollard, A. M. 2011. An improved pretreatment protocol for radiocarbon dating black pigments in San rock art. Radiocarbon 53(3):419–428.
Bonneau, A., Pearce, D. G. and Higham, T. 2016. Establishing a chronology of San rock art using paint characterization and radiocarbon dating. In Gutierrez, M. et Honoré, E. (eds) L’art rupestre d’Afrique, Actualité de la recherche, Actes du colloque International Paris, 15 au 17 Janvier 2014, Université Paris 1, Centre Panthéon et Musée du Quai Branly:245–251. Nanterre: Editions l’Harmattan.
Bonneau, A., Pearce, D. G. and Pollard, A. M. 2012. A Multi-technique characterization and provenance study of the pigments used in San rock art, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 39:287–294.
Bonneau, A., Pearce, D. G., Mitchell, P., Arthur, C., Higham, T., Lamothe, M. and Arsenault, D. 2014. Comparing painting pigments and subjects: the case of white paints at the Metolong dam (Lesotho). In Scott, R. B., Braehmans, D., Carremans, M. and Degryse, P. (eds) Proceedings of the 39th International Symposium on Archaeometry, Leuven, Belgium:319–323. Leuven: Centre for Archaeological Sciences.
Bonneau, A., Pearce, D., Mitchell, P., Staff, R., Arthur, C., Mallen, L., Brock, F. and Higham, T. 2017a. The earliest directly dated rock paintings from southern Africa: new AMS radiocarbon dates. Antiquity 91:322–333.
Bonneau, A., Staff, R., Higham, T., Brock, F., Pearce, D. and Mitchell, P. 2017b. Successfully dating rock art in southern Africa using improved sampling methods and new characterization and pretreatment protocols. Radiocarbon 59(3):659–677.
Chaffee, S. D., Hyman, M., Rowe, M. W., Coulam, N. J., Schroedl, A. and Hogue, K. 1994. Radiocarbon dates on the All American Man pictograph. American Antiquity 59:769-781.
Hœrlé, S., Pearce, D. G., Bertrand, L., Sandt, C. and Menu, M. 2016. Imaging the layered fabric of paints from Nomansland rock art (South Africa). Archaeometry 58:182–199.
Pearce, D. G. 2010. Conservation and management of collapsing rock paintings: three sites in Maclear District, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin 65:96–103.
Russ, J., Hyman, M., Shafer, H. J. and Rowe, M. W. 1990. Radiocarbon dating of prehistoric rock-paintings by selective oxidation of organic-carbon. Nature 348:710-711.
Russ, J., Hyman, M., Shafer, H. J. and Rowe, M. W. 1991. 14C dating of ancient rock art: A new application of plasma chemistry. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing 11: 515–527.
 
 

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